noah bm proof

8/14/2019 Noah BM Proof

1/52

Noah's Bar MitzvahJune 6, 2009


2/52

About this book

text here


3/52

Noah's Bar Mitzvah

quotation here


4/52


5/52


6/52


7/52


8/52


9/52


10/52

Introductions by Noah's Grandparents

Shirley Levin

Jan and Erwin asked me if I would introduce Noah to this group of friends and family.

What an opportunity for abubbe tokvellin public about her wonderful grandson. Noah

is a wonderful grandson, and he has some outstanding qualities. Hes handsome.Hes smart. Hes kind. Hes even kind to his sister.

Hes also a little devious. I think he spent some time before he was born trying to figure

out how he could make himself special to thisbubbe. And he hatched a plan to have usshare birthdays. And darn if it didnt happen. We both have birthdays on November20th. I got a headstart, of course. And we always try to celebrate those birthdaystogether when were in the same country.

That isnt always easy to do, because Noah and his family have traveled a lot. First theywere in Taiwan, then they were in Paraguay, then they were in Switzerland, with little

episodes here in Silver Spring in between. All of that travel has made Noah very good ingeography, and so in school when there are geography quizzes, Noah shines. Hecertainly is proud of that attribute.

Im just sorry that Noahszeide could not be here today. Zeide loved Noah very much.And if he were here, he would say amen to everything that I have said. Noah will

never forgetzeide, because it waszeide who taught him how to play poker. And now Illturn the microphone over to Joan and Arthur.


11/52

Joan Rose

This is a very special day. Mazel Tov, Noah, on havingreached your Bar Mitzvah. Today you are officially a

member of the Jewish community, and bring great pride toyour family. And today is very special for yourgrandparents, since we are asked to express our feelingsabout you, and the joys that you have given us. We are

allowed to publicly brag andkvell, so sit back and enjoy it.

From the early days when you started to talk, we noticedthat you were always the man in charge, making certainthat the needs of those around you were well taken care of,responsible for individuals and an entire group, suggestingplans to reach a certain goal.

Yours was the voice of reason, offering ways to reach aconsensus of a dispute, you were the peacemaker.Suddenly your title was enlarged, and you became Noah,

themensch. That title encompasses those traits of caring,responsibility and fairness in every situation. You havealways enjoyed learning and have adapted remarkablywell to the various countries and cultures in which you havelived.

We love you dearly, Noah, and know that whateverchallenges come your way, you will handle them like a

mensch, and the world will be a better place because ofyou.

Arthur Rose

I just want to remind Shirley that Erwin and Jan got marriedon my birthday. Noah was born on hers.

When my brother and I were kids, and our parents wantedto speak to our grandparents so that we wouldntunderstand them, they spoke in Yiddish. Now, Erwin Isay Erwin every time I think of Noah Noah and Sashaspeak to each other in French, when they dont want theirgrandparents to understand. Whats wrong with thispicture?

(Reaching into pocket) No, wait, thats my Bar Mitzvahspeech. Noah, Jan and Erwin asked me to read thefollowing quotation by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as a

preface to Noahs presentation:

Violence is impractical because the old eye for an eye

philosophy ends up leaving everybody blind.

This method is wrong.

This method is immoral.

It is immoral because it is a descending spiral ending in

destruction for everybody.

It is wrong because it seeks to annihilate the opponent

rather than to convert him.

It is wrong because it leaves society in monologue rather

than dialogue.


12/52


13/52


14/52

"Language: A Key to Resolving Conflict"

Noah's Presentation

When you meet a new person, and talk to them for the first time, the most immediate thing that

affects the conversation is the language that you speak in. If youre here in Washington, youre

most likely to be speaking English. But what if youre in another country? If youre in

Switzerland, you might be speaking German, or French, or Italian. In Israel, you might be

speaking Hebrew, Arabic, Russian, or one of the many other languages that people speak there.Language is the main way we learn about a new culture. If you want to speak Italian in

Rome, youve got to use your hands a lot to do as the Romans do. To speak French well, you

need to be able to roll your Rs quietly. And to speak Hebrew well, youd better be able to go

CH! Ive lived in many different countries, and because of that Ive had lots of exposure to

foreign languages and speak French and a little Spanish. I am moving to Tel Aviv later this

summer and will study Hebrew there. I enjoy learning languages and learning about them.

Today, I would like to talk a little about how language and culture affect our ability to live

our lives according to the Jewish value of tiqqun olam, or repairing the world. We have a great

example of how this can be done in our new President, Barack Obama.

Barack Obama is biracial and lived for a few years in Indonesia, the worlds largest

Muslim country, just like I live abroad a lot. Obama grew up speaking English and Bahasa

Indonesia. His international background helps him understand the views of others who may seethe world very differently than we do. He brought people together during his campaign in new

and important ways. His unusual background, and broad view of the world, is already making a

difference in how foreigners view us, and how we, as Americans, see the world.

I first became interested in the relationship between different languages when I saw a

chart comparing Phoenician characters to the Hebrew alphabet. Part of this chart is reproduced

on page 5 of the ceremony booklet that was distributed here today. If you look at the chart in

the booklet, the Phoenician character for A, Aleph, is a simplified drawing of an oxs head. The

Phoenician character for B, Bet, is supposed to be a drawing of a house. The word for house in

Hebrew isbait, which sounds like the letter Bet. These similarities continue throughout the

Phoenician and Hebrew alphabets.


15/52

Hebrew also descends from Aramaic, another language used throughout the Middle

East for a long time. The neo-Babylonian empire used a dialect of it as their language. Aramaic

was used before Hebrew was widely used, and Hebrews characters developed from Aramaic

text.

Hebrew, as you know, is the language of the Bible. The first traces of Hebrew come

from around the 1200 BCE. Use for everyday purposes essentially ended with the destruction ofthe second Temple in 70 CE, and Romans and other conquerors exiled people who used the

language. As a result, Hebrew speakers started to use the language of the place that they lived

in, and started to speak less Hebrew. While people continued to pray in Hebrew, the language

did not evolve for everyday use.

Most people consider a man named Eliezer Ben-Yehuda to be the father of modern

Hebrew. Ben Yehuda raised his oldest son speaking to him entirely in Hebrew, which wasnt

easy in the late 1800s, since the language lacked many words to describe modern life. He

refused to let his son be exposed to other languages during childhood. It is said he once

scolded his wife, after he caught her singing a Russian lullaby to the child. Their son was the

first native speaker of modern Hebrew.

Ben-Yehuda published a newspaper called Ha-Tsvior, the deer in Palestine. He would

make up words in the morning and publish them in his newspaper that same afternoon. Forexample, he created the word for library by building on the root wordsefer, or book. He

changed it to make the wordsiphriya. Jews in Palestine learned the words from his newspaper.

Ben Yehuda incorporated the fundamental Jewish value ofahavat limud, or love of learning, into

his life by devoting his life to learning and teaching.

Hebrew wasnt the only language to be spoken in pre-State Palestine, though. There

were hundreds of thousands of Arabic-speaking residents of Palestine before the modern state

of Israel was born. The long-standing conflict between Arabs and Jews is of course well known.

But how does their differing use of Arabic and Hebrew affect the conflict?

Arabic and Hebrew are very similar. They are both Semitic languages, descend from the

same time period, and come from Africa and the Middle East. Many of the words in the two

languages are similar or share the same three-letter root. In Arabic the B-R-K root means

blessed. Presidents Obamas name, Barack, then, means blessed in Arabic. Other words with

the same root have related meanings. Mabrukmeans congratulations, andbarakallahfeet

means may god bless you. The Arabic wordbarackis also related to the Hebrew word that

begins many Jewish prayers baruch which also means blessed, as in baruch atah adonai.

There are also other examples. Most of you know thatshalom means peace in Hebrew,

but did you know thatsalaam means the same thing in Arabic? The wordmelech means king in

Hebrew, whilemalikiis the Arabic word for king. Sometimes though, the meanings conveyed by

words in the two languages can be very different, and sometimes even the same event is

described by entirely different words in Hebrew and in Arabic. One very important example of


16/52

this is the fact that when Israelis celebrate Yomha-Atzma'ut, the anniversary of their

independence, Palestinians mourn the same event as their Nakba, meaning a "calamity" or

"catastrophe." Understanding the huge distance between these two views and acting on that

understanding is critical to achieving peace in the Middle East. Two weeks ago, the right-wing

Israeli political party Israel Beitenu introduced a bill in the Israeli parliament banning Israeli Arabs

from marking the anniversary of what they call the Nakba. Any Arab Israeli who continued tocommemorate the Nakba would face up to three years in prison. The spokesman for Israel

Beitenu said that the draft law was intended to strengthen unity in the state of Israel. If you

were an Israeli Arab, how do you think this law would makeyou feel?

In part to try to bridge these differences, the community of NeveShalom/Wahatal-

Salam, or "Oasis of Peace" in Hebrew and Arabic, has been focusing its efforts on promoting

equality and understanding between Jewish and Arab citizens for nearly 35 years. My Bnei

Mitsvah class chose to donate its portion of Machars tzedakah money this year to Neve

Shalom. In this community, 26 Jewish families and 26 Arab families all citizens of Israel live

together and raise their children together in this unique community. The village offers experience

and expertise in leading programs that promote Jewish-Arab cooperation and understanding. Its

bilingual, bicultural primary school was the first such school in Israel when it was founded nearly

25 years ago. Arab and Jewish students learn each other's languages, cultures, histories andtraditions.

Another organization working to teach tolerance is Seeds of Peace, which is dedicated to

teaching young people from regions of conflict the leadership skills required to advance

reconciliation and coexistence. Seeds of Peace began its work with Israeli, Palestinian and

Egyptian teenagers, and now includes young people from other parts of the world. Seeds of

Peace runs an international summer camp in Maine for teenagers from opposite sides of these

conflicts, allowing participants to develop respect, as well as communication and negotiation

skills all important skills that will help make coexistence easier for the next generation.

Ever since I was little, even without knowing it, I have been incorporating the Jewish value of

tiqqunolam, improving and perfecting the world, into my life. I have been doing that by working on

various political campaigns in the U.S. with my dad to support candidates who want to help those less

fortunate than we are, work for justice, and clean up the environment. My mom also tries to help

promote peace and understanding in her job as a diplomat. I am looking forward to learning more and

to continue doing whatever I can do to help throughout my life.

I would like to thank my mom, my dad, and my sister Sasha for their love, encouragement, and

support. I am very happy that my Bubbe, Shirley Levin, could be here today, as well as my Grandma

and Grandpa, Joan and Arthur Rose. My Zeide, Seymour Levin, would have loved to be here today.

Thank you to Lina Losarito and my extended family for all you have done for me over the years, as well

as the Machar band, for making Sunday mornings a great time. I would also like to thank Rabbi Ben

Biber, my Bar Mitsvah teacher Norm Hall, and the whole Machar congregation. Thanks to all of you for

coming here to be with me at this very special time.


17/52


18/52


19/52


20/52


21/52


22/52


23/52


24/52


25/52


26/52


27/52


28/52


29/52


30/52


31/52


32/52


33/52


34/52


35/52


36/52


37/52


38/52


39/52


40/52


41/52


42/52


43/52


44/52


45/52


46/52


47/52


48/52


49/52


50/52


51/52


52/52

Noah's Bar Mitzvah

noah bm proof

Documents