Noah's Bar Mitzvah

June 6, 2009
About this book

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Noah's Bar Mitzvah
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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 a bubbe to kvell in public about her wonderful grandson. Noah
is a wonderful grandson, and he has some outstanding qualities. He’s handsome.
He’s smart. He’s kind. He’s even kind to his sister.

He’s 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 this bubbe. And he hatched a plan to have us
share birthdays. And darn if it didn’t happen. We both have birthdays on November
20th. I got a headstart, of course. And we always try to celebrate those birthdays
together when we’re in the same country.

That isn’t always easy to do, because Noah and his family have traveled a lot. First they
were 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 in
geography, and so in school when there are geography quizzes, Noah shines. He
certainly is proud of that attribute.

I’m just sorry that Noah’s zeide 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 forget zeide, because it was zeide who taught him how to play poker. And now I’ll
turn the microphone over to Joan and Arthur.
Joan Rose
This is a very special day. Mazel Tov, Noah, on having
reached your Bar Mitzvah. Today you are officially a
member of the Jewish community, and bring great pride to
your family. And today is very special for your
grandparents, since we are asked to express our feelings
about you, and the joys that you have given us. We are
allowed to publicly brag and kvell, so sit back and enjoy it.
From the early days when you started to talk, we noticed
that you were always “the man in charge,” making certain
that the needs of those around you were well taken care of,
responsible for individuals and an entire group, suggesting
plans to reach a certain goal.
Yours was the voice of reason, offering ways to reach a
consensus of a dispute, you were the peacemaker.
Suddenly your title was enlarged, and you became Noah,
the mensch. That title encompasses those traits of caring,
responsibility and fairness in every situation. You have
always enjoyed learning and have adapted remarkably
well to the various countries and cultures in which you have
lived.
We love you dearly, Noah, and know that whatever
challenges come your way, you will handle them like a
mensch, and the world will be a better place because of
you.
Arthur Rose
I just want to remind Shirley that Erwin and Jan got married
on my birthday. Noah was born on hers.
When my brother and I were kids, and our parents wanted
to speak to our grandparents so that we wouldn’t
understand them, they spoke in Yiddish. Now, Erwin – I
say Erwin every time I think of Noah – Noah and Sasha
speak to each other in French, when they don’t want their
grandparents to understand. What’s wrong with this
picture?
(Reaching into pocket) No, wait, that’s my Bar Mitzvah
speech. Noah, Jan and Erwin asked me to read the
following quotation by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as a
preface to Noah’s 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.
"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 you’re here in Washington, you’re
most likely to be speaking English. But what if you’re in another country? If you’re 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, you’ve 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 “R”s quietly. And to speak Hebrew well, you’d better be able to go
“CH!” I’ve lived in many different countries, and because of that I’ve 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 world’s 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 see
the 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 ox’s head. The
Phoenician character for B, Bet, is supposed to be a drawing of a house. The word for house in
Hebrew is ba’it, which sounds like the letter Bet. These similarities continue throughout the
Phoenician and Hebrew alphabets.
 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 Hebrew’s 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 of
the 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 wasn’t
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-Tsvi or, “the deer” in Palestine. He would
make up words in the morning and publish them in his newspaper that same afternoon. For
example, he created the word for library by building on the root word sefer, or book. He
changed it to make the word siphriya. Jews in Palestine learned the words from his newspaper.
Ben Yehuda incorporated the fundamental Jewish value of ahavat limud, or love of learning, into
his life by devoting his life to learning and teaching.
Hebrew wasn’t 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. President’s Obama’s name, Barack, then, means blessed in Arabic. Other words with
the same root have related meanings. Mabruk means “congratulations,” and barakallah feet
means “may god bless you.” The Arabic word barack is 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 that shalom means peace in Hebrew,
but did you know that salaam means the same thing in Arabic? The word melech means king in
Hebrew, while maliki is 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
this is the fact that when Israelis celebrate Yom ha-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 to
commemorate 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 make you feel?
In part to try to bridge these differences, the community of Neve Shalom/Wahat al-
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 B’nei
Mitsvah class chose to donate its portion of Machar’s 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 and
traditions.
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
tiqqun olam, 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.
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