Echoes of Sixty Six: London family ready for Sunday’s big event… Isla’s batmitzvah

When Stacey and Mark Pleaner began planning their daughter Isla’s batmitzvah nearly two years ago, the last thing on the South African couple’s minds was that of a clash with the England football team and the Euros final.

But so it has proved: England played  Spain in Berlin on Sunday, while in London, the Pleaner family threw “a very big party” to celebrate Isla’s batmitzvah.

To try to continue with the event with the least possible disruption, the Pleaners provided a giant TV screen — with the sound turned down— so that their guests did not need to huddle around mobile phones.

The running order of the event was tweaked, too, so that Isla — who gave “an amazing dvar Torah” at Edgware SEED on Shabbat — did not have to compete with commentary during the game.

Stacey, a GP, said the family would normally be watching the final, as they are all keen football fans and players. Elder daughter Noa, 14, plays for Maccabi Lions, as does their youngest child, Gabriel.

It’s almost an echo of the iconic film, Sixty Six, directed by Paul Weiland, whose own barmitzvah fell on the same day as the 1966 World Cup Final, and the late Jack Rosenthal’s delicious play, Barmitzvah Boy, which marked the same coincidence.

As for JFS student Isla, her mother says that while she would normally have watched the Euros final herself, “she has just embraced it, and is hoping that England win — it will make it more memorable. We have told her that you can’t make lemonade without lemons, so we think it’s more a case of England playing at the same time as Isla’s batmitzvah, rather than the other way around”.

Win or lose, the Pleaners planned to celebrate in style.

It was a great night, the family said. Mrs Pleaner told JN: “We put the screen on the dance floor, which forced those who wanted to watch to be dancing. Our guests went mad when England scored — the noise was electrifying. When the game was over and England had lost, the TV was switched off, and everyone just continued partying for Isla’s batmitzvah.

“Someone texted afterwards and said that ‘Honestly, when England scored, being on the dance floor, able to go wild, it was one of the greatest moments of my life.'”

Timing was everything: “The DJ was playing the song Titanium and as England scored, the chorus kicked in — and we fired some confetti cannons. It was perfect and worked out so well”.