Observing the powerfully built man wearing the starched white Gi he dons when fighting, one gains an immediate respect and understanding why Ronnie Colwell is an internationally renowned martial arts expert. But behind the brawn one sees a gentle giant with placid eyes and a smile that professes a child-like innocence.
Learning martial arts on Liverpool’s rough streets in the 1940s, Colwell, in a career spanning seven decades, has served his country in the armed forces, has worked as a professional bodyguard, martial arts instructor to royalty and as a Special Forces instructor.
But last Thursday afternoon at Liverpool’s Chabad House, the 9th Dan in the arts of Karate-do and Jujutsu laid tefillin and was called up to the Torah for his first ever aliyah. Today was Ronnie Colwell’s bar mitzvah. In the presence of family and friends, Ronnie Colwell came back into the fold as Ron ben Abraham.
As many Jewish men and women are celebrating bar and bas mitzvahs later in life for a number of reasons, Ronnie’s simcha was possible thanks to his friends and Rabbi Avremi Kievman, who helped Ronnie complete his journey back home. As Mr Colwell said so poignantly during the celebratory meal following his laying tefillin, "Unless you've been lost for 150 years, you'll never understand how I feel today".
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[From theJC.com]