Shabbat shalom everyone. First I would like to say “thank you” for coming to celebrate my special day with me. I am so honored to be here right now and to become a bat mitzvah.

I would like to thank my friends and family for being here with me through everything. I am so thankful to those of you who have come from out of state for this, and a special thanks to my grandparents and my cousins. Another thanks to my aunts and uncles, and all of you who are on zoom with me or in person. I also want to thank my friends. Friends have always been a big part of my life like a second set of family, I’m sure you know who you are. And I would also, of course, like to thank Cantor Borsky, Laura Ziff, and Andrea Jessum for helping me prepare for this big day of mine, and I appreciate all that you’ve done. And now, for the most important people in my life, my family. I can’t explain how much gratitude and love I have in my heart for you guys. My brothers and my parents. I want to thank Max, Zach, and Benji for being the best brothers in your own special way. I want to thank my dad. He has always been there for me holding me up. We have fun times together and I appreciate every minute of it. We have a strong bond that will never break. I love everything you do for me. I would now like to thank my beautiful mother. Without her nothing would be possible. Without her my bat mitzvah would never have happened. She has worked so hard for me. I appreciate everything. I love you so much mom. Thank you.

In my Torah portion the Jews were wandering in the desert seeking the Promised Land. After hearing the worry and the fear of the Jews, God rejected them from entering this land. God punished the Jews by making them wander the desert for 40 more years. This 40 years is significant because as the older generation dies off, a new generation is born. God wanted this because the new generation wasn’t traumatized like the last and would be brave enough to enter the Promised Land with their heads held high, their voices strong, and their hearts full. This shows that each generation is stronger and braver than the last. They get more free-willed and think smarter. They get this from the stories their parents tell them about their lives, that the lives their parents told them, and their parents’ parents told them and so on. The stories of mistakes they made. But of course they leave out tiny details, tiny details they don’t want you to know. Tiny details for you to encounter yourself, for you to make the mistakes they did. Of course they’re tiny and wouldn’t be something that could hurt anyone or anything. And they leave out something for you to learn. So once you make that mistake, the new generation comes. You have the story to tell to your children, for them to tell to their children. If this didn’t happen, there would be no stories. No nothing. And that is why God made the Jews walk for 40 years. He gave them a little push, so that they could tell their children to be strong and have freedom – and make their own decisions, and to never be afraid. To take risks, good risks. Because there is never a better feeling, than risking it all, and surviving. Shabbat shalom.