Shabbat Shalom,
Thank you for joining my family and I in celebrating my Bat Mitzvah today.
I have really enjoyed this past year in the build-up to my Batmitzvah.
I have had weekly sessions with Tamar, which I have found very inspirational, and I hope that Tamar and I can stay in contact as she has been a fantastic teacher and mentor to me.
In preparation for my Bat Mitzvah, I have joined Yad Vashem and twinned up with Betka Rajenbuch
Betka was born during the second world war in Lodz Poland.
At just 12 years old my exact age she was brutally murdered by the Nazis.
As I celebrate my Bat Mitzvah today, I will honour her memory by lighting a candle in remembrance of her.
Along with my friends, I had the opportunity of attending the incredible Woodside Park Bnei Mitzvah programme.
Led by Rabbi Blachman and his team, which has been a lot of fun and also very informative. So, thank you so much.
We have done a mixture of traditional learning and practical experiences such as visiting the Mikvah, all in a way which is relevant to our modern lives. Best of all, whilst the children were busy, Mum and Dad have also picked up some parenting tips from the 4 sessions that Rebbetzin Gila ran for the parents. Rebbetzin Gila, I hope you are continuing these sessions next year. They have been very useful I can tell you!
In preparation for today I have been studying this week’s sedra of Noach or Noah in depth.
Noach was a righteous man living in a very corrupt generation and the majority of the parsha discusses this. Most of the story is familiar. Ultimately, G-d gave the people a last chance to repent. At the same time, he ordered Noah to build an ark slowly, and to complete it within one hundred and twenty years. This was to be the last chance for the people to change their evil ways. Time passed and yet the people had not repented so G-d brought the flood which destroyed the whole world other than Noach and his family and two members (male and female) of each animal species which were sheltered in the ark. Noach and his family were to rebuild the world after the flood.
Following the Great Flood, G-d gave a sign that He would never again flood the entire world. That sign, as we all know, is the rainbow.
But why was a rainbow chosen specifically as the Heavenly sign that G-d would never again destroy the world with water.
Rav Meir Shapiro gives a beautiful commentary.
It took Noach 120 years to build the Ark. Yet during that entire period, he apparently did not have an effect or influence on anyone in his entire generation, as the only people that were saved from the Flood were Noach and his immediate family.
How do we make sense of this?
Surely, considering Noachs’ greatness – it’s surprising that after 120 years of building the Ark – with the intention of raising awareness that Hashem wanted them to change their ways and be kinder to each other, not even one person became a believer in the Almighty, or a better and kinder friend to any other person.
How do we resolve this with the fact that the Torah describes Noach as a “Tza-dik, Tamim” [righteous and perfect]? The torah doesn’t use these words of confirmation about any other person in the Torah.
So I am left wondering how did such a righteous and great person not manage to convey and teach Hashems message of repentance to the people around him. Such people usually do have an impact on others, but Noach did not.
Rav Shapiro speculates as to why Noach was not successful.
He suggests that whilst Noach himself was righteous, he believed that the people of his generation were beyond salvation. He had no faith in the people and felt that they had sank to such a low level of spiritual darkness that there was no hope for them.
In any endeavour, a person must believe in what he is doing and believe in his ability for it to have an effect.
Because Noach didn’t believe the people around him had the ability to change their ways – he was not able to make the case in terms of educating and encouraging them.
A teacher, or influencer must believe in his or her hearts that they can make a difference. Because we learn from Noach what happens when that belief is absent.
For this reason, Noach was never successful in bringing anyone close to Hashem or to save them from the Flood.
Rav Shapiro says that with this assumption, we can understand why the Divine sign that the world would never again be totally destroyed by a flood was the rainbow. As we all know, a rainbow occurs when there is a beautiful day and suddenly it becomes terribly cloudy and dark.
There follows a downpour shortly after, the clouds disappear. It becomes light again, and when the sun hits the rain, a rainbow is formed, which is a beautiful multicoloured illumination in the sky. The message of the rainbow is therefore that no matter how dark the world may be, after the darkness, the light can shine and can in fact make a beautiful image that brightens the world.
This was the pointed message to Noach: Your assessment of your generation — that they are living in such darkness that light cannot help – is wrong. The rainbow is a metaphor which teaches us that this is not necessarily the way things work. The message to Noach was to never give up on people. No one is beyond redemption. Every single soul is pure at its base. There is spirituality in every single person and there is hope for seeing the light of the rainbow at the end of any period of darkness.
I feel like this is especially relevant to us in the hard period of time we are currently living through as Jews. We are living in a difficult moment of darkness especially as we have just commemorated the anniversary of October 7th.
However difficult, we must not make the same mistake as Noach. We must remember the significance of the rainbow and its meaning – never to misjudge people and never to assume all is lost if we ourselves set a good example.
I am lucky to have many people who bring light into my life and inspire me.
My Hebrew name is Leah Rachel. These are two of the matriarchs of our religion but were also the name of my mum and dad’s maternal great grandmothers.
I have three great grandparents in their 90s, here today, alive and kicking. This is very unusual, and I feel very lucky to have that connection.
I am the first grandchild of all four of my grandparents to have a bar or bat mitzvah – no pressure Zack for next year and I’m sorry Rabbi Hackenbroch but all 4 of my first cousins are members of the shul and there is my brother as well, so I suggest you keep a copy of your sermon to avoid repetition. I’m told it can be a tough crowd here.
Mum and Dad, who always try to teach me to do the right thing (with Rebbetzin Gila’s help!)
I would also like to mention David Behrman who has come all the way from Israel to take our beautiful service with the choir today. I have known David since I was born, and it felt really special for him to make the time and effort to be here for me. It’s his third trip in as many weeks. David, I think you brought a rainbow into all of our lives this morning.
I hope as I move forward into Jewish womanhood, I can take the message of Noach with me and to try to see the good in everyone.
Thank you for joining me on my special day.
Shabbat Shalom!