The $10 million Bat Mitzvah

kenny gMove over, Amber, there’s a new spoiled brat in town: The NY Daily Dish reports that the price of Elizabeth Brooks’ bat mitzvah was higher than the debt of a third world country, complete with $1000 giftie bags stuffed with new iPods (and not the cheapo shuffle version, neither.) The rest of the millions were spent on hiring huge-name acts to perform — most of whom hit their peaks circa 1985.

Elizabeth’s daddy, bulletproof vest manufacturer David Brooks, bought a Hennessey-swillin’ 50 Cent to perform on his daughter’s big day, but suspiciously, every other entertainer had a Top 40 hit waaay before little Lizzie was a twinkle in her papa’s eye. C’mon — there’s no way a 13- year-old girl likes Aerosmith, Tom Petty, Stevie Nicks and Kenny F*n’ G! Could it be that this was Daddy’s completely narcissistic (and nauseating) attempt to recapture his youth?

As much as I’d love to rip on Elizabeth, who can’t help but feel sorry for her? She obviously had nothing to do with the sins of her nouveau riche dad. Who knows — maybe the shameful excess of the event will drive her into the rabbinate.

Hat tip to the Yada blog.

5 thoughts on “The $10 million Bat Mitzvah

  1. This kind of thing really makes us look bad. Why don’t they make a big deal of her donating that much money to charity for her bat mitzvah instead?

  2. What difference does it make ‘what’ the money was spent on?

    His discresions aside, a Father who has plenty to give his daughter, has the right to do for her as he wishes. It is their money, no one tells another how to spend their good fortune. The money spent will find its’ way into the hands of many others. All of which have the same opportunities to have wonderful life experiences. This is a great country, a truly unique system where dreams are possible. To frown on this is wrong.

  3. Good point, Henri. Very kind and mature of you.
    It isn’t so much the gross display of wealth spent on a private party when Little Lizzie could have put the “mitzvah” in bat mitzvah and bought a goat for every single man, woman and child in Sudan.
    The problem is he hired the soundtrack to his high school prom at a party presumably meant to focus on his daughter. Why didn’t he just rent out a stadium, hire all the those people and give his 15,000 best friends a concert. Why steal his daughter’s day?

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