Abigail Zipin b’not mitzvah speech 

Shabbat Shalom everyone. While it may be under different circumstances I would just like to wholeheartedly thank everyone for coming to celebrate this special day with Maddie and I. My Torah portion is from the book of Leviticus and is called Vayikra. In this section, G-d called Moses from the Tent of Meeting and told him the laws of “korbanot”, which are the animals and meal offerings brought to the Sanctuary, some of the different ways to sacrifice the animals, and why they are to be sacrificed, the “Ascending Offering” and the “Peace Offering”.

For the “Ascending Offering”, otherwise known as “olah”, the meat is wholly raised to G-d using fire atop the altar. For the “Peace Offering” otherwise known as “Shelamim”, the meat is eaten by the one bringing the offering, after different parts are burned on the altar, and parts are given to the “kohanim”, or the priests.

There are many themes in my Torah portion, but the main one I want to focus on is the theme of giving back. In this section, I learned about how and why you should give back to G-d for everything He has done for humankind in general.  This theme occurs through the majority of my portion. In my life, I am giving back to my community through my mitzvah project.

For my mitzvah project I am collecting books for Book Smiles New Jersey. Larry Abrams, the founder of Book Smiles, has a mission to give everyone the option of books. I really wanted to help support Book Smiles, because books have always been very important to me as an escape from the real world. I have collected over the course of this  journey 2,013 books. Thank you so much to everyone who donated.

But, at the end of this all, I owe all of my thanks to the people around me. I would like to thank all of my family for supporting me throughout this journey. Thank you to my friends for always helping me when I need help, and for putting up with me throughout all of this. Thank you to my parents for helping Maddie and I throughout this. Thank you to Cantor Borsky for dealing with Maddie and I throughout this journey.  Finally, I would like to say “thank you” to everyone here for first of all coming to celebrate with Maddie and I, and secondly supporting both of us through everything.

Madelyn Zipin b’not mitzvah speech

Shabbat shalom everyone.

The “guilt offering”, also known as the “asham”, is when the meat is brought by one who has misappropriated or stolen property of the Sanctuary, and who is in doubt as to whether they transgressed a divine prohibition, or who has committed a betrayal against G-d by swearing falsely to defraud a fellow person. All of these offerings are prepared with fine flour, olive oil, and frankincense.  

In this section I learned how God gave us a set of rules that we need to follow. This is relevant because after everything that He has done for us he still keeps on giving. To branch off of Abby’s idea, the theme I am focusing on is giving back. For my mitzvah project I am giving back to the homeless animals in our community. I collected pet supplies for the AWA animal shelter in Voorhees. I really wanted to help this shelter for a few reasons. I have loved animals ever since I was a little kid. I have always wanted to work with them and help make sure they have the best life ever.   The AWA has all types of animals, like cats, dogs, rabbits, and guinea pigs. We adopted my cat Ted was from the AWA. I collected hundred of pounds of donations, like food, litter and toys.

There are many people that I would like to thank. First, my Mom because she always made sure that we got to Hebrew School on time, or even a little early. She has always been there since we first started. Next, I’d like to thank my Dad for always making me practice my Torah portion. It has been a long journey for me, from not knowing any of the words, to being able to say it almost perfectly. The next person I’d like to thank is, of course, my sister Abby for being up here with me and helping me study for the big day. And last, thank you to everyone who is joining our Zoom service this morning.