Good evening everyone, and thank you for coming.
אני מתנצל שאמשיך באנגלית. לצערי זה לא רק לטובת אורחנו מחו"ל אלא גם יותר נוח בשבילי.
I apologize to those of you who are less comfortable with the language, but I will take the liberty of speaking in English this evening.
I’d like to thank all of our guests, who’ve come from this neighborhood and all around the world. Welcome to friends and cousins who are here from New York, Boston, Texas, and even Japan later this weekend. And, a really special thank-you to everyone who had the worst trip – those of you who’ve come through Tel Aviv traffic!
There’s one person who’s not here this evening, but she’s very much in all of our hearts. My mom was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer two years ago and fought for nineteen months to stay with us and join in every simcha. She lost that battle, but I’m sure that her neshama is with us tonight. And, I hope that hashem gives out frequent flyer miles, because we hope to welcome her to so many simchas in the future.
My mom’s fight against cancer illustrates a lifelong struggle we all face. We live in the world of science and rationality and also in the world of faith and religion.
Science, medicine, doctors, chemo-therapy, health care, and insurance all certainly helped to extend my mother’s life. But faith, hashem, and the love of her friends and family gave her the strength to deal with the horrors that were thrown at her, both by the cancer, and by her doctors’ aggressive attempts to help.
We all face this duality every day in so many ways. Without science, not only would Aviva and Shoshana not be here today, neither would I. Even a century earlier, I would not have survived my first five years of illness.
As we go through life, we are grateful to medicine and science, and society and democracy for easing our lives in so many ways. At the same time, we owe everything to hashem, who makes possible our lives and our day-to-day existence.
Our two worlds—the modern world and the world of mesorah, our Jewish tradition—struggle to live together in uncomfortable harmony. It is very easy to choose one and abandon the other; much harder to find the shvil hazahav, the middle way that joins the two.
Aviva, as you continue your education, you will continue to learn math and science, physics and evolution, dinosaurs and Darwin. You will also continue in your study of limudei kodesh. You will move beyond tanach and mishna. You will discover the depth of gemara and the wisdom of our rabbis through the ages, the rishonim and achronim. You will learn hashkafa and chassidut and of the challenges of being religious in the modern world.
It will be very easy to accept just one of these worlds and dismiss the other; to go with the cold certainty of science or the warm embrace of yahadut.
The real challenge is to live in both worlds. You are, and will remain, a proud Jew and citizen of Israel, certain of our special place in this world. At the same time, I hope you will contribute to the greater world around us. Whether you choose music or art or science or creative writing, or your love of young children or animals, or some other direction, I know that you will use your own special skills to pave your path in both worlds.
As I watch you grow, I see that you are able to make the right decisions, even when they are difficult. Just this year, you made two very tough decisions and you made them with such grace and determination that I don’t know if you even realized how proud you made us.
The first of these decisions was about your bat mitzvah. You decided that this was your event, and not just a party that your parents were throwing for you. You’ve helped steer every decision we made to make this weekend special. More importantly, you decided that you wanted to layn the megilla. You spent so many hours this year studying and practicing. We look forward to your doing a wonderful job at the women’s reading on Purim, in a few days.
Your second big decision this year was about school. In a few months, you will be graduating from Uziel. You faced a variety of options for high school and you insisted on a tough choice. You’ve chosen to go to Pelech, a school that I hope will challenge you with exposure to girls and ideas from all over the country, and will force you to work and think very hard. You could have pushed for an easier school and we probably would have agreed. But, you chose to challenge yourself with six more years of excellent education. Mommy and I are very proud of you!
Aviva, as you grow to be a teen-ager and an adult, you will face hard choices every day. At times, it will seem easy to watch the world around you and follow the evidence of your own eyes.
At other times, it will be comforting to just follow your friends, parents and teachers, strategies that worked so well when you were a child.
Each of these approaches will work sometimes. Each can also get you into trouble. The hardest part about growing up is learning to make the right decisions.
My wish for you, my ברכה for you, is that you have the strength to say no to temptation, the courage to say yes to opportunity, the wisdom to decide between the two, and the perseverance to keep making these right choices for the rest of your life עד מאה ועשרים; מזל טוב!