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Davey said he began exploring his heritage after his son announced plans to marry a Jewish woman.
By Shula Rosen
British Army veteran Barrie Davey celebrated his bar mitzvah at the Royal Hospital Chelsea in London after reconnecting with his Jewish heritage, The Jewish Chronicle reported.
Davey, 86, is one of only two Jewish Chelsea Pensioners currently residing at the historic retirement home for military veterans. He served in the Royal Air Force, Merchant Navy and Royal Army Veterinary Corps.
According to The Jewish Chronicle, Davey was raised without knowledge of his Jewish background because his mother concealed her Jewish identity after fleeing France. He said the subject was never discussed during his childhood.
“It was never spoken about in the family,” he said. “I was never brought up knowing the ways of Jewish people. It was very strange because I knew where I came from but didn’t know anything about the actual life of a Jewish person.”
Davey said he began exploring his heritage after his son announced plans to marry a Jewish woman.
“That changed,” he said, “when my son came home from Bolivia and said, ‘I’m going to get married Dad, to a Jewish lady.’”
“He had no idea I was Jewish – none whatsoever. His mother wasn’t Jewish, so there was no reason to tell him.
“But that moment, when he said he was going to marry a Jewish lady, was magic,” Davey said. “At that moment, when he told me, and I told him where I came from, it was one of the many magic moments that my son and I have had together.”
The couple later married in Cyprus, where Davey had served as a soldier. He described attending the wedding as a significant moment in his life.
“I felt like I had come back to the tribe,” he said.
Davey also recalled visiting his son and daughter-in-law in Israel.
“The minute my foot set down in Haifa Airport was the most magic moment of my life,” he said. “I was back where I belonged. I had been searching all my life for that.”
The bar mitzvah ceremony was organized by Boys Clubhouse with support from AJEX (The Jewish Military Association) and staff at the Royal Hospital Chelsea.
About 50 people attended the service, which was led by Rabbi Nir Nadav, a chaplain with the British Army’s Royal Logistics Corps.
“We know that you’re a good man,” Rabbi Nadav told Davey. “We don’t know how a 13-year-old boy is going to grow up – but you’ve proven yourself already as a man of honor, a man of loyalty, and a good human.”
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