Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

Google’s ‘Bar Mitzvah’

If you did an online search yesterday, chances are you saw Google’s homepage decorated with an animated cake, candles and other images celebrating the company’s 13th birthday.

Given the search engine’s Jewish parentage, it makes sense that New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg used the occasion to congratulate the site on a major religious milestone, writing on Twitter, “Happy 13th Birthday … and best wishes on your Bar Mitzvah.”

The Shmooze hopes Google’s founders, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, took a moment to enjoy Bloomberg’s message about their company’s rite of passage. (We imagine Google Translate came in handy as the Bar Mitzvah boy worked on his speech.) We’re sure the party was lively but tasteful, and hope Google will give at least some of the gifts to charity.

How quickly they grow up!

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.