Emily's Bat Mitzvah!

Here's a taste of Emily's Bat Mitzvah! It was a super day. Emily is an amazing daughter of Torah! She did all her readings (some in Hebrew and some in English) with ease and chanted from the Torah so beautifully. In her discussion of her Torah portion, she explained some of the story of Joseph and the jealousy his brothers felt for him. Her insight was like a breath of fresh air; the gist of her message was basically that everybody gets jealous feelings sometimes, but you can deal with it in one of two ways: 1. Let it get to you and seep into your life or 2. Consider what it would be like to have all that you ever wanted... would you really need all that? Would it make you happy? Instead think of all that you have to be thankful for already and try to be content with that because it is probably more than enough. (I am paraphrasing... her message was much more eloquent!)

Emily displayed such a confident style and a lovely voice, and it all came shining through in her terrific smile! I only wish I had more photos and video clips to share. There's a video clip of The Von Shore Family Singers (or are we the Shornblairbitskys?) in this smilebox that features our family's blessing in song, Modim ah Nach Nu Loch, which we were honored to sing during the service.

Photo album made with Smilebox

This next smilebox is just for fun. It has a little video clip of our little buddy Jack from the "Bat Nitz-bah" party, and it includes a bunch of random photos, some of which made the Big Bat Mitzvah Scrapbook!! Also, there's a video clip of Uncle Monkey Squared singing "The Jewtheran Blues" at the after-party!

A free digital scrapbooking design by Smilebox

I hope you enjoy these snippets of this wonderful day! Emily's mitvah (service) project was to set up the temple to be a more ecofriendly place, so she has already purchased recycling bins and made signs for the building and she is covering the cost of the pickup of recycled items for the next four years. Emily, you are awesome! I love you!

p.s. To Mary, Brian, and Rachel -- you were stupendous hosts this weekend! You showed us all so much love and generosity and you arranged for several miraculous spreads of delicious food and drink and happiness! Thank you!!!