bar/bat mitzvah 2007 - jewish post & opinion, newspaper · 2009-03-07 · art by jackie olenick...

Art by Jackie Olenick

Bar/Bat Mitzvah 2007Highlights of our local B'nai Mitzvah

Photo by Scott Romer

www.jewishpostopinion.comVolume 73, Number 23 • August 1, 2007 • 17 Av 5767 Two Dollars

Periodicals Postage PAIDIndianapolis IN

IN 2 August 1, 2007 August 1, 2007 IN 3

Noam Rose, pictured here with his grandfather, Irwin Rose, was called to the Torah at B’nai Torah on Feb. 10, 2007. His portion was Yitro. Noam Rose is the son of Tom Rose and Rachel Rose. Rabbi Mendel Schusterman was his teacher and a wonderful role model. Noam’s mother also noted that he is a very kind man and excellent with children. At Noam’s party more than his bar mitzvah was celebrated. Noam is a big Colts fan, and the weekend before his bar mitzvah, the Colts won the Super Bowl.

Photo by Scott Romer.

David Pecar, pictured above with Rabbi Dennis Sasso, became a bar mitzvah on June 9, 2007 at Con-gregation Beth-El Zedeck.


Cover photo: Sam Patterson with his father and mother, Dr. Steven M. and Cindy Patterson.


The following was printed in a handout at the Bar Mitzvah of Eli Spiegel. Eli is the son of Rabbi Aaron and Kelly Spiegel, grandson of Leanore Spiegel and Jim and Gloria McAlister, and great-grandson of Helen Bradley. His Bar Mitzvah was Shabbat Feb-ruary 9–10, 2007, at Congregation Beth-El Zedeck.

We are honored that you have come to share Eli's Bar Mitzvah with us.

Becoming a Bar Mitzvah – often translated as "son of the commandments" – raises a Jew-ish child to the status of adult in the religious community. It marks the beginning of many obligations and privileges. While one doesn't have to do anything to become a bar mitz-vah (it's earned by attaining the age of 13), we use this occasion to publicly celebrate Eli's new status in the community.

Perhaps a more appropri-ate definition would be "one who is prepared to take on the commandments," because the Bar Mitzvah symbolizes the young person's willingness to become responsible for the performance Mitzvoth – the duties of Jewish life. In addi-tion to study, Eli also accepts the Jewish responsibilities of

acts of loving kindness and community service.

Eli's Bar Mitzvah ceremony takes place during this morn-ing's Shabbat (Sabbath) service. During the service, he will be called upon to chant from the Torah the law and teaching, the handwritten parchment scrolls of the Five Books of Moses.

Each Shabbat and holiday a prescribed portion of the Torah is read aloud in Hebrew. Eli's Torah portion is Yitro from the Book of Exodus.

Each section, as it is read, is preceded and followed by blessings of thanks for the gift of Torah. This honor of being called to the bimah (stage) to say these blessings is called an Aliyah (going up).

Following the Torah read-ing, Eli will chant his Haftarah

Blessed are you who come in the name of God portion from the Book of Isaiah. This reading is taken from other Biblical writings and comple-ments the Torah portion.

While much of the service is in Hebrew, we invite you to fol-low along in the corresponding English (on the opposite page of the Hebrew).

Ask the generation past,Study what their ancestors

have searched out. (Job 8:8)Thank you for helping us

celebrate our simchah! Kelly, Aaron, Hannah, Eli and

Gabe Spiegel

Eli Spiegel


(Continued on page IN 10)

By Rivka Sarah RoseThe turning point in the life

of any committed Jewish child is when they reach their bar or bat mitzvah. At this mile-stone, they are called upon to take the commandments upon themselves. In this day and age, it is not a given that an adolescent will choose to have a bar or bat mitzvah or that they will follow a Jewish path after they have done so. Edu-cation is the key to instilling Jewish values in our youth, both at home and in our reli-gious education programs.

The Bureau of Jewish Edu-cation (BJE) is instrumental in the education of many Indianapolis youth embark-ing on their training for this event. Cantor Judith Mey-ersberg meets with students on a regular basis who are to become bar or bat mitz-vah at a number of the city’s synagogues including Beth-El Zedeck, Indianapolis Hebrew Congregation, and Congrega-tion Shaarey Tefilla. Children whose families belong to B’nai Torah or Etz Chaim can attend the BJE as well, but it is not mandatory. To make the event more meaningful, many congregations have suggested that students choose a mitzvah project. These are projects that students do for those in need, such as visiting a nursing home, volunteering at a food pantry, to donating part of their gifts to charity.

Some of this year ’s stu-dents who have already become b’nai mitzvah spoke about their experiences for The Jewish Post & Opinion.

Avi Goot of Carmel had his bar mitzvah celebration on March 24, 2007. He prepared and studied starting the sum-mer before the event, having lessons with Rabbi Arnold Bienstock each week. When the date approached, they met twice a week. Avi, who will be entering the eighth grade at Creekside Middle School this term, expressed that he felt it was something he was obligated to do, just being Jewish. “I got nervous 3 days before, but I started studying more and more intensely and got over the nerves. I just kept preparing. You learn a lot go-ing through it,” he explained. As most b’nai mitzvah at CST and other congregations in

Indianapolis, Avi led Friday night services and part of the Saturday morning prayers. He read the maftir, the haf-tarah and gave a speech, as is customary.

Avi, an outgoing young man with a bright smile, en-joyed his bar mitzvah very much. Having studied at the Hasten Hebrew Academy of Indianapolis, the Hebrew came pretty easily to him. “I realized when I was learning my haftarah that it was im-portant to learn the trope so that “he could use the symbols again.” Thus far, he has been called up for aliyot on other occasions, but has not yet learned a new haftarah or led services.

His parshah, he explained, Parshat Vayikra, is about the sacrifices. This parsha, which starts the third book of the Five Books of Moses, focuses on the sacrifices that were made in the desert, and the laws we need to know about sacrifices. “I spoke about that and about the sacrifices people have to make in life from all points of view. I took it further to the sacrifices people make every day.

Avi feels he has learned and grown from the experience. “It makes you feel obligated to go to shul more. I try to go when my parents can take me.” Avi also had a party to celebrate the occasion at Eagle Creek Park on Saturday evening. All in all, he says, “It was a really good experience.”

Caleb Shere became bar mitzvah on March 10 at Con-gregation B’nai Torah. Cal, as friends and family call him, is a student at the Hasten Hebrew Academy of Indianapolis. Cal studied with Rabbi Mendel Schusterman for a little un-der a year and chanted four of the aliyot of the torah read-ing, Parshat Ki Titza, as well as reading his haftarah and leading the Musaf service. It was a family affair with Cal’s older brother Matt, 17, lead-ing P’zukei D’zimra, and his father leading Shacharit.

“The speech was the hard-est part. I did some research in the biblical books and com-mentaries, and worked with Rabbi Schusterman and my dad.” The message of his to-rah reading, which he brought out in his speech, was that ev-

Bar & bat mitzvah highlights from Indy

Moshe Crandall celebrates becoming a bar mitzvah at B’nai Torah on November 25, 2006, with his family, including his father, Rabbi Shlomo Crandall, mother, Yaffa, and seven sisters. Photos by Scott Romer.

eryone makes mistakes. “You can be a good person, even if you make mistakes. You can always repent and ask for forgiveness.” Not repenting is what keeps someone back.

The Shere family held a par-


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FutureB’naiMitzvah

Sam Patterson, as featured on the cover of this issue, is the son of Dr. Steven M. and Cindy Patterson and grandson of Eunice Pat-terson. His bar mitzvah took place at Con-gregation Beth-El Zedeck on the Shabbat of January 26–27, 2007. His older sister Chelsea celebrated her bat mitzvah there 3 years prior. His Torah portion was Bo. He studied with Cantors Giora Sharon and Judith Meyersberg. He has a gorgeous singing voice and Cantor Sharon joked on the bimah that he is going to be the next cantor at Beth-El. His mother said he wasn’t nervous at all. Sam is a student at Park Tudor. His party was at the Ritz Charles and the theme was sports because he is a big fan of all different kinds of sports.


Joshua Gould is the son of Kenneth and Susan Gould. He became bar mitzvah on Dec. 9, 2006 at Indianapolis Hebrew Congregation. His Torah por-tion was Vayishlach. He had many excellent teach-ers including Cantor Roger, Rabbi Jon Adland and Rabbi Bryna Milkow. In attendance were many out-of-town relatives and friends. His father said he and Josh’s mother were probably more nervous than Josh and that Josh did such a fine job. The bar mitzvah party was held at IHC and was very enjoyable.



Highlights(Continued from page IN 7)

The best way to wish family and friends a happy ad healthy New Year is with a gift of beautiful roses. You can order yours through the Indianapolis Chapter of Hadassah. Order by Aug. 28, and roses will be delivered to your loved ones on Tues., Sept. 11, 2007.

To order call: Freddie Kaseff at 870-7675, Jennifer Hodes at 255-7463, or Evelyn Harris at 237-7142. Price $20 per dozen delivered (same as 2006), or $18 per dozen if picked up at the Arthur M. Glick JCC. Order deadline August 28. Choose: Red, Pink. or Yellow.

Roses for Rosh Hashanah

ty for Cal on Saturday night at the Hasten Hebrew Academy with a theme of Jerusalem. Cal sang Mattisyahu’s song “Je-rusalem” with the band, and guests received yarmulkas with Jerusalem on them. “I felt different afterward. Not a drastic, big change, but I felt that now I was responsible to do the mitzvahs.

Another bar mitzvah at B’nai Torah this year was Ben Stoller’s. Ben’s parsha was Lech Lecha. He did the seventh aliya as well as the maftir and the haftarah. He prepared for about 10 months with Rabbi Schusterman. Most salient for Ben was all the fam-ily and friends who came in from out of town. People came from Georgia, Florida, Illinois and more. In his speech, Ben focused on the importance of not being a “Lot”. Lot was greedy. “It’s important not

to be greedy, to be kind and not to speak lashon harah (gossip).

Ben expressed that he was extremely nervous until a friend, an older gentleman from Atlanta, told him that he could use his nervousness to help him instead of bring-ing him down. “I’d never got-ten up in front of that many people before.” This advice worked, Ben stated, “It was a fun learning experience.”

The Stoller’s held a party for Ben at The Children’s Mu-seum with a space theme. His cousin acted as D.J. As many b’nai mitzvah do, Ben chose to give part of his gifts to char-ity. He donated money to B’nai Torah’s Mezuzah Fund.

Abigail Matt, a student entering the seventh grade at The Orchard School, started studying to become bat mitzvah about a month ago. Abigail will have her bat mitzvah on April 11, 2008, at

(Continued on page IN 12)


Scottish Rite Cathedral

650 North Meridian St. Indianapolis, IN 46204317.262.3110

On July 15, 2007, Debbie Orenstein, president of the Indianapolis Chapter of Ha-dassah, Evelyn Harris and Marilyn Engel attended the 93rd Hadassah National Con-vention in New York.

The convention, with the theme “Now Is the Time,” was attended by 2,500 women and associates; who participated in more than 90 workshops, ple-nary sessions, religious ser-vices and exercise programs. There was something for everyone, presented by more than 80 speakers, panelists, chairpersons and workshop leaders.

Michael Bloomberg, mayor of New York City, was pre-sented with the Henrietta Szold Award, but was unable to attend.

Among noted presenters were Zeev Bielski, chairman of the Jewish Agency and the World Zionist Organization; Professor Don Engelhard, M.D., head of the Depart-ment of Pediatrics, Hadassah University Medical Center in Ein Keren; Rabbi Daniel Gor-dis, Ph.D. and vice president of

the Mandel Foundation Israel; Nefah Harlow, director of the Center for Ethics in Medicine at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City; Dara Horn, Ph.D., novelist and teacher; Judith Miller, former investiga-tive reporter for the New York Times; and many more special leaders and speakers.

Entertainment was supplied

by Debbie Friedman, Forbid-den Broadway, Israel Defense Forces Education Corps En-semble and comedian Joel Chasnoff.

Only one attending the convention can express the feeling and good fellowship surrounding the days. They all came home inspired for the coming year.

(Left-right), Marilyn Engel, membership chair of Lafayette, Ind. Chapter; Debra Ornstein, president of the Indianapolis Chapter; Evelyn Harris, cor-responding secretary of Indianapolis Chapter, at the 93rd annual National Hadassah Convention.

Hoosiers attend Hadassah National Convention

The Congregation Shaarey Tefi lla Bulletin, which comes out every other month, was recently awarded a Gold Solo-mon Schecter Award for Excel-lence in Synagogue Program-ming from United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. The award is presented to congre-gations affi liated with United Synagogue that have distin-guished themselves during the preceding 2 years in aspects of congregational life.

The awards, named after the founder of United Syna-gogue, have been awarded

ShaareyTefillareceivesawardforbulletin

to hundreds of congregations since 1950 and were instituted both to recognize excellence in programming and to help spotlight models that other synagogues might emulate. This year ’s selections were based on a variety of criteria, including imaginative and cre-ative use of resources, as well as the program’s impact on the congregation’s membership.

The Jewish Post congratu-lates the members of Con-gregation Shaarey Tefi lla and especially Rae L. D. Kridel on this award.

Rabbi Sandy Eisenberg Sasso addressed graduating seniors and their families from Franklin College, May 18, at

the college’s baccalaureate ceremony. At that time she received an honorary doctor of divinity degree.

RabbiSandySassoreceiveshonorarydegree

Check us out online:www.jewishpostopinion.com

IN 12 August 1, 2007

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Congregation Shaarey Tefilla. It will be one of the first at the synagogue’s new loca-tion in Carmel. Abigail is both thrilled and nervous at the prospect of becoming bat mitzvah. All the Matt’s are very excited about the upcoming event . Abigail has begun meeting weekly with Rabbi Bienstock. Her parshah is Tazria-Metzorah, and she has already begun to look at the meaning and the deeper messages of her par-sha, which is about leprosy. “It’s important to help those who are less fortunate than oneself. All people are differ-ent and we have to accept all people the way they are and try to help them.”

So far Abigail is learning the trope, studying from tapes, and knows the bless-ings and the first eight or nine sentences of her haf-tarah. Abigail , who went

from preschool through fourth grade at the Hasten Hebrew Academy, has a strong grounding in Hebrew and Judaic studies. “It will be different to be a bat mitzvah. I’ll be treated differently and have different obligations,” she said excitedly.

Upcoming bar and bat mitzvahs at IHC include Emily and Stephanie Der-emiah on August 4; Mat-thew Haskell on August 11, Elizabeth Hann on August 18 and Franklyn Salzman on August 25th.

Rivka Sarah Rose is the past administrator and a lay cantor at Congregation Shaarey Tefil-la. She is a holistic healer and Jewish educator. Her classes and workshops focus on the topics o f Kabbalah, Jewish Meditation and healing. Rivka leads traditional and innovative Shabbat services and programs in Indianapolis and around the country. For more information, contact her directly at 317-490-0953.

Highlights(Continued from page IN 10)

Eli Spiegel became bar mitz-vah in January 2007. His Torah portion was Yitro, which taught him that everyone needs sup-port from their community. Eli remembers being nervous on the bimah at first, on Friday night, “but about 30 minutes into it I felt comfortable.”

One of the things that sur-prised him about his bar mitz-vah was that there were a lot of people he didn’t know and lot of non-Jews there. “These were friends and colleagues of my fa-ther who came to congratulate me and him. There weren’t too many out-of-town relatives but, of course, I was happy to see the ones who came. Cantor Meyersberg and Cantor Sharon

Eli Spiegel, became a bar mitzvah, January 2007

were also there. I worked hard with them to learn my haftorah and the prayers.”

For his mitzvah project, Eli did a fast and garage sale for an orphanage in Eldoret, Ke-nya, which made him feel like he was making a difference in the world.

His favorite part of his bar mitzvah training was Cantor Sharon’s compliments of his perfection! And his least fa-vorite – too much advice; the most difficult part was learning the Torah; and the easiest was learning the service.

Eli says he feels now like he I has more responsibility and power in the Jewish com-munity.

ObituariesBertha Freedland Perel, 88

Bertha Freedland Perel died July 25, 2007 at Hooverwood Nursing Home in Indianapolis. Bertha was born in 1918 to Leo-pold and Tatiana Freedland.

She received her Ph.D. in foreign languages and taught foreign language special edu-cation classes for many years. BHer dear husband, Mark Perel and her son, Len Perel preceded her in death. She is survived by her daughter-in-law, Raisa

Perel; her grandson, Gary Perel and wife Inga; her great great grandchildren, Len and Ella; and her brother, Vladimir Freedland of St. Petersburg. Bertha was a member of Con-gregation B’nai Torah.

Graveside services were held on Fri., July 27, 2007 at Indianapolis Hebrew North Cemetery. Memorial con-tributions may be made to Congregation B’nai Torah or Hooverwood Nursing Home. Arrangements by Aaron-Ru-ben-Nelson Mortuary.

bar/bat mitzvah 2007 - jewish post & opinion, newspaper · 2009-03-07 · art by jackie olenick...

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