I thought it was a really nice story and I found it interesting.
You're right that these days a Russian adoptee/emigre's bar or bat mitzvah may not be in the New York Times. But it certainly was
not so long ago. The former Soviet Union was not exactly known for religious freedom and back when I was of bat mitzvah age, it was very common to have a bar or bat mitzvah "twin" - a Jewish boy or girl in the USSR who wasn't allowed to have a bar mitzvah.