Why Trevor Noah had a ‘barmitzvah’

SUZANNE BELLING

With these words, Patricia Nombuyiselo Noah gave her son Trevor a blessing on his 13th birthday, which she turned into a self-styled barmitzvah, according to her interpretations as a Bible scholar.

Speaking at a jam-packed press conference organised by M-Net at Montecasino last Thursday, while the world-famous comedian was in South Africa for shows in Johannesburg and Durban, Trevor Noah explained to the SA Jewish Report why he had a “barmitzvah”.

“My mom has been a Bible scholar for many years in her quest to delve into religion.

“She started studying Judaism [but was not a convert as some rumours claimed] and at some point, I came home and she was telling me about shul. I guess I woke up one day and had a mom who was ‘Jewish’! 

“She enjoyed learning in Hebrew and studying the Scriptures, as I think many people read that way a long time ago.” So, Noah’s mom told him that was the way she was going to raise him. “When you are 13, you are going to have a barmitzvah.”

Noah did not argue with his mother, a very strong woman – and it is clear from his book, “Born a Crime and other stories”, how much he respects and adores her. His book explains what it was like being the son of a black mother and a white Swiss-German father, Robert, during the days of the apartheid regime.

But after Nelson Mandela was freed, he had the best of all worlds, being schlepped across Johannesburg to three different churches – a “white” church, a mixed charismatic church and a traditional black church – every Sunday.

“I didn’t know what a barmitzvah was – and I don’t think she really did either. We didn’t know how anything was supposed to happen. It was just a thing my mom was celebrating when I was 13.

“None of my friends – I only had black friends at the time – came. They said: ‘We don’t know what this party is’.”

But, undaunted, Noah and his mother continued with the simcha. “Some years later, Noah found out that barmitzvah boys were given presents – mainly money – on their passage into manhood.

“When I told my friends, they said: ‘I must give you money for what, Trevor? Just because you are 15?’ So that’s the crazy world I live in!”

Noah is South African through and through, apparently understanding every ethnic group, which makes him so successful as a comedian. He speaks several official languages and has an innate understanding of all the cultures, having lived in Soweto, a coloured township, and in Highlands North.

The man who was called an international star by some of the media present, refuted that. “I don’t know if I will ever label myself an international star. I am a comedian who is very successful and lucky to be working in the world internationally.

“I am proud of my achievements,” he says, although he is modest to the core and greeted the 50 members of the media as if they were old friends.

Noah, who was the recent recipient of the Comedy of the Year award – among several others he has to his credit – had sell-out shows in both Johannesburg and Durban, attended by as many as 20 000 people at the Dome.

Noah paid tribute to M-Net as the first South African broadcaster that gave him a TV show, and is looking forward to working with the station in his upcoming series “Trevor Noah Presents…”

“I will be working with M-Net, gathering the finest comedians from across the country and showcasing them to viewers in South Africa, and saying ‘these are the comedians who will make you laugh’ – for every walk of life, every single race, every single language.”