Shabbat Shalom and good morning. Thank you for being here with

Shabbat Shalom and good morning. Thank you for being

here with me on this very special day. It is important to me

that you are all witnesses today as I affirm my Jewish

identity.

I would like to start out by discussing what becoming

a Bar Mitzvah means to me. One of the most important

aspects of becoming a Bar Mitzvah is that I am now

responsible for performing mitzvot. To those of you who

may be unfamiliar with the term mitzvot- they are positive

acts, links between God and humanity.

Before today I did mitzvot all of the time but it was by

choice. Now that I have become a Bar Mitzvah, the Torah

commands me to perform mitzvot. On that note,

throughout this past year I chose to perform the mitzvot of

gemilut hasadim (acts of loving kindness) and Tzar Ba’alay

Hayim (kindness to animals) by volunteering at Faithful

Friends (a no-kill animal shelter).

Every Sunday after religious school for a few months,

I went to the shelter and spent time with the cats doing

anything from playing, petting and holding the cats to

cleaning out their cages and feeding them. Although this

doesn’t seem like a lot- it was an important job and very

meaningful to me because what I was doing was helping to

make the cats more adoptable.

The more time the cats spend with human contact the

more they like people. During the months I volunteered at

Faithful Friends I saw many of the cats become friendlier

and lots of them get adopted. I plan to continue

volunteering at this shelter as it is now an obligation to

perform mitzvot.

Becoming a Bar Mitzvah is a rite of passage in the

Jewish religion. This tradition has happened for many

years. Rites of passages happen in cultures all over the

world. Recently, I was watching a T.V. show called Human

Planet and it talked about a rite of passage in the country

Mongolia. When a boy in Mongolia turns 15, he goes out

into the wilderness with his Dad and has to take a baby

eagle from its mothers nest. The boy has to train his eagle

how to fly and be a strong hunter. When the boy thinks his

eagle is ready, they take it to the top of the mountain where

his eagle has to spot a fox and catch it. If the eagle

succeeds, the boy is considered “a man of his people”.

This Mongolian rite of passage is a tradition that has

many similarities to becoming a Bar Mitzvah. The boy’s

training of the eagle to become a strong hunter is like the

years of preparation to become a Bar Mitzvah. The day of

the eagle’s test is similar to today as I become a Bar

Mitzvah. Finally, once the boy has proven he trained his

eagle well, he is considered a “man of his people” just as I

am now considered an adult in the Jewish religion.

As I become a Bar Mitzvah I also get to read from the

Torah for the first time. This is a pretty amazing

experience for me because these are the same words that

were read by my ancestors thousands of years ago. The

portion of the Torah I read today was part of

Bech’a’lotecha chapters 8-12 from the book of Numbers. I

only read a portion of this chapter because if I read the

whole thing, I would have taken even longer than it has

already! Seriously though, each entire Torah portion is

separated into 3 parts. Each year we read 1/3 of the portion

consecutively.

I can easily relate this Torah portion to my life. When

the Israelites asked Moses a question about the second

Passover and Moses didn’t know the answer- he said he

would check with God and get back to them.

This shows great character…Moses wasn’t afraid to

admit he didn’t have the answer. The main message is if

you are unsure of something don’t be afraid to ask someone

with more knowledge for help.

I can relate to this because the same thing happened

before in my life. There was a time at school when a

teacher didn’t know the answer to a question that a student

asked so she told the class she would look it up and get

back to us with the right information. This made me

respect her even more. Another point is that if someone

doesn’t know the correct information and just makes

something up and then I find out later that it was wrong

information- I will lose trust in that person. At school

when I’m not exactly sure about instructions, I always ask

so that I make sure I am doing it correctly. It is always OK

to admit you don’t have all of the answers!

I would like to end with some important thank-yous.

Thank you to the Temple Beth El synagogue for creating a

supportive community that let me grow as a Jew. Thank

you to the Temple Board, Sisterhood and Men’s Club for

the Kiddush cup, Candlestick holders and the Jewish Book

of Why. Thank you to the catering committee and all of

sisterhood for the delicious Oneg last night and the

Kiddush to follow soon. Thank you to Rabbi Micah, and

all of my religious school teachers for all of the Jewish

education you have provided me over the years.... To my

Bar Mitzvah tutors (Mr. Hannaford, Mrs. Romeo and Mrs.

Dior) for helping me prepare for becoming a Bar Mitzvah.

Thank you to XXXXXX for helping me with my Maftir

and to XXXX for being there along the way. Thank you to

XXXX and XXXX XXXX for my awesome tallit and to

my XXXX for helping me with my prayers. Mom and

Dad, thank you for all of the planning that went into today,

helping me to prepare and for all of your support. Thank

you most of all for passing the Jewish religion on to me.

Lastly, I appreciate all of my family and friends for coming

out here today in honor of me becoming a Bar Mitzvah!

Shabbat Shalom!