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March 8, 1993

Tova Warburg's Bat Mitzvah (1993)

Parshat Zachor & Purim Bar & Bat Mitzvah
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Bar Mitzvah of Bezalel Weinberg (1997)

Today we conclude Adar I and usher in Adar II. I often wonder: is the principle of כשנכנס אדר מרבין בשמחה one that applies to Adar I, to Adar II, or to both Adars? I believe I found the answer in a passage I just recently encountered in the Sefat Emet. Why, he asks, is Adar a time for simḥah? His answer is that Elul, the month before Tishrei, which begins with Rosh Hashanah and is therefore the last month of the year, is set aside for teshuvah. But if that holds for the rabbinic calendar, it should hold as well for the biblical calendar, according to which Nisan is the first month – haḥodesh hazeh rosh ḥodashim hu lakhem – and the last month before Nisan is Adar. Hence, these two months, Elul and Adar, six months apart from each other, are both months dedicated to teshuvah. What is the difference between them? It is this: Elul is teshuvah mi-yirah, whereas Adar is teshuvah me-ahavah – and this kind of teshuvah is always an occasion of joy. So today is a double day of joy – the beginning of Adar, and the Bar Mitzvah of Bezalel Weinberg. Bezalel, we are all aware of your record as a superb student, as a young man chock full of talent. But you get no special credit for that, for such innate qualities are gifts of HaKadosh Barukh Hu – they are the cumulative consequences of the genes of a bright and competent mother and a brilliant father, of their parents – grandfathers who, each in his own way, have had major impact on all American Jewry – and their parents and grandparents before them, a line which includes some of the true gedolei Yisrael of their generation. But you add something precious of your own: you are also a gentle person, you possess a loving and warm heart; you are a young man of diverse qualities. Let me explain. “Mi zot ha-nishkafah ka-mo shahar, yafah ka-lavanah, barah ka-ḥammah, ayumah ke-nidgalot” – the Zohar comments: “Mi zot – razah de-trein alma’in mitḥabran ke-ḥada.” The Ḥiddushei ha-Rim says: “Mi” represents the hidden (nistar), “zot” the revea…
Ki Tissa Parshat Zachor & Purim Bar & Bat Mitzvah

Speech

Introduction to Tova Warburg's Bat Mitzvah Talk (1993)

As I greet all of you this wonderful day, I think of the words of King David in his תהילים: שיר המעלות לדוד, שמחתי באומרים לי בית ה' נלך. I was so happy when I was told by my parents that my Bat Mitzvah would be celebrated here in ירושלים, the city of the בית ה'. עומדות היו רגלינו בשעריך ירושלים. It is hard to believe that we are actually standing here in this holy city of ירושלים, for the first time in my life. ירושלים הבנויה כעיר שחוברה לה יחדו. We are in the rebuilt ירושלים, the city which makes all Jews friends to each other — even my sisters and I... למען אחי ורעי אדברה נא שלום בך. On behalf of my sisters I thank my Mommy and my Daddy, for giving us the privilege of coming here to Jerusalem to celebrate both my בת מצוה and פורים, and I thank my grandparents and aunts and uncles and all my cousins, for making the trip here with us — and I am happy that so many of our relatives and friends who live here in Israel came to join us.למען בית הי אלקינו אבקשה טוב לךFor the sake of ירושלים and of the בית המקדש I will always be grateful to all of you and pray that only good things befall you now and forever.
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Outline

לב"מ של ארי צבי לאם (2000)

בצו"ת שאמרת לכבודה "הד-ן" שלך – הדגשת שצריכים לפשר בין העמדית הנראת כקוטביות, היבא וייתכן שכולן יש לכן משימה ומטרה אחת. וזה מסומל בשמך – ארי' = כח וגבורה (ארי' שיג מילא יראה) וצבי – יופי כאן (דמי לב לצבי, ארץ הצבי) ואולי גם: לאם... וכן בהפלרה: העמק = ובתמך דר מזאל, ובראה (בת האפקים ממי)... וירח ביא הלב ומ-חזיך חלקי... (ואולי גם חיבור הלב והמוח – ר' בלגוט יהודה לכי תצא עמ' כג-כד)
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