I think I will post things about the bar mitzvah for many posts to come. We got the photos back today and they are GREAT! So many good ones that capture the joy and love from that event.

I will start by sharing Nate’s speech, which was so great and for which he has gotten a lot of compliments.

Welcome, and Shabbat Shalom. Thank you for coming to help me celebrate my bar mitzvah this
evening. I appreciate that people have come from far and near to be here tonight and I am
grateful to all of you. Before I begin, I would like to congratulate James on this milestone. You
did a great job earlier. It’s been so nice getting to know you, and it’s a privilege to share the bima
with you.

Becoming a bar mitzvah means something a little different to everybody. For me, this day is
meaningful because it is a rite of passage in which I am following in the footsteps of generations
of Jews who came before me. After today, I am officially part of the adult Jewish community. I
have new responsibilities: to educate others, to think more deeply about Judaism and its values,
and to help keep Jewish culture alive for the many generations who will follow me.
Today, I assume one of those responsibilities – to educate others about Torah and Judaism. As a
bar mitzvah, my job is to interpret a portion of the Torah and explain what it means and why it is
relevant to our lives now.

The portion of the Torah that I chanted in Hebrew earlier – Tzav, is in the book of Leviticus,
chapter 6.1- 8.36. In Tsav, God lays out for Moses a number of rules, rituals and limitations that
the Jewish people – and in particular, Jewish priests – must follow. Specifically, God tells Moses
about sacrifices that Jewish priests must offer in the Temple. Tsav goes into a lot of detail about
limits on the consumption of meat and blood, and also what priests must do to become and
remain priests. It is full of details about rituals and instructions for Jews for building temples and
sanctuaries, including how oil and blood must be used for the altar, and how priests have to make
burnt sacrifices.

At first glance, this portion of Leviticus would seem to be an irrelevant part of the Torah, just a
recital of rules, most of which are not applicable today. It’s true that it is hard to find a direct and
simple message that you can take away from it. But the more I thought about this portion, the
more I realized that it does have meaning and relevance to our modern day life. Because rules
and laws play a very important role in a functional, successful world. They help make the world
predictable, stable and just. And rituals contribute to a sense of connection, loyalty and
community by uniting people in a common experience.

One example of ritual and community may not include blood, but instead involves one of my
favorite places to spend time: a baseball stadium. When you walk into a stadium for a game,
there are a lot of rituals that you participate in without even thinking about it. You pass through
the gates with a lot of other hopeful fans. You stand for the national anthem. You get hot dogs
between innings. You cheer for Teddy during the Presidents race, you stand up for home runs.
All of these little rituals may seem disconnected from my Torah portion, however, in my portion
and in the ballpark, these traditions bring community together and add to a sense of connection
and collective devotion. There’s nothing like cheering your team along with 40,000 other fans
(OK, maybe the Nats haven’t seen 40,000 since 2019). Leviticus emphasizes the importance of
building community and making places special through small acts, such as all the actions a priest
must take to make the temple holy.

If the baseball example didn’t resonate with you that much, then here’s another area where tsav
is relevant to today’s world – politics.

Rules and laws provide the backbone of a democratic society when those rules and laws are
enacted through a transparent, fair process. All of the political rules around elections and
political parties, for example, lead to the peaceful transfer of power and respect for political
institutions. Eliminating laws and ignoring rules – such as not obeying court orders or even
paying people to vote a certain way – leads to destabilization and chaos. Without rules, people
do not have anything to trust or believe in. For me, the government has always given me a sense
of security and peace, knowing that it will try to do the right thing. When those who are
supposed to uphold the laws become unpredictable and undermine them, there is a loss of that
sense of security. Tsav therefore has important lessons for the world we live in now. Without
rituals that give us comfort and familiarity and respect for laws that give us consistency and
certainty, our society loses its culture, its shared experiences, and its stability. What seemed like
an irrelevant piece of Torah in fact has important lessons for the unstable world we are in right
now.

My Bar Mitzvah project, which I did last fall, was also related to the political process. It involved
non-partisan get out the vote efforts around the presidential election, and included getting other
kids involved and interested in the process. I’d like to thank the people in the audience who
helped me with it. It wasn’t just about getting the result you wanted, but encouraging people to
take part in our democracy. Since I can’t vote yet, this was how I could participate. Becoming
bar mitzvah is about doing what you can and getting involved, and that’s what I did for my
project.

Before I finish, I’d like to take this time to thank a number of people who helped me get to this
day. First, my Hebrew tutor, Dina, who taught me how to chant my portion and helped explain
its significance. I would also like to thank Rabbi Goldstein for guiding me through the process to
prepare for this day. I would like to thank my sisters for sharing their wisdom with me and
always making me laugh. Finally, I would like to thank my parents. Your love and support has
shaped me through my whole life and it is amazing to celebrate with you after planning this for
so long.

Tsav is about rituals, and thank you to everyone here for playing a key role in this important
ritual for me.

Shabbat Shalom.