Sylvie Rosen’s Bat Mitzvah speech

This is a highly personal post and a matter of family pride: my daughter Sylvie Rosen’s Bat Mitzvah speech at the Brotherhood Synagogue, New York City, Jan. 30, 2010.  Her parsha, or Torah portion, was the story of Moses, the Israelities and the parting of the Red Sea. It was this story that she commented upon. The text can be found here.

“Then the Lord said to Moses, why do you cry out to me?  Tell the Israelites to go forward.”

Shabbat shalom….

My Torah portion, B’shalach, begins with the story of  G-d hardening Pharaoh’s heart.   Pharoah follows the Jewish people to the Red Sea to re-enslave them just after he had granted them freedom.  The Jewish People are trapped between Pharaoh’s approaching military chariots and the vast Red Sea, unable to move in either direction.  Some consider returning to slavery, others consider drowning themselves.

Imagine gaining freedom and then being pursued by those who granted it to you. The people panic and recall the horrors of slavery and their past.  Suddenly, G-d commands Moses to raise his staff over the Red Sea and all at once the waters part, revealing dry land.  The Jews cross the seabed unhurt and the Egyptians follow them and are drowned as the seawater closes over them.

Inspired by this experience, the Jews spontaneously sing  praises to God, together, as a people, for the very first time.  This song is called Shirat Hayam, the song of the sea and this entire Shabbat of my bat mitzvah is called Shabbat Shira.

Although my parsha explains the phenomenon of manna, many miraculous appearances of drinking water, and the cloud of fire that led through the desert, I want to focus on the song of the sea and the ways in which it is a unique part of the Torah.

Though this is the second mention of the word “song” in the Torah, it is the first actual song.  Also, this is also one of the two longest songs in the Bible; the other is the song of Deborah, which I read for the Haftorah today.

Appreciation for the miracle of the sea is so important that we repeat it everyday in our prayers just before we say the Amidah.  To give it greater distinction, the song is chanted in the Torah reading with a special melody that does not appear anywhere else in the Torah.   In addition to today,  we also read Shirat Hayam on the 7th day of Passover, the date tradition teaches us it was actually sung.

The Shira, the song, is a full expression of faith and a celebration that God exists and cares.  It unified the people who sang it together. Before the exodus,  a single person, like Abraham or Isaac or even Moses,  experienced God’s power alone—there had not been a time when thousands of people felt it simultaneously.

There were many times in the Torah when G-d performed miracles and  no one sang to him.  However, it is here in this parsha that the Torah specifically states “Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to G-d.”  The children of Israel were inspired by the miracle they experienced and at the same time created this song with Moses to spark further generations.

The first word of the song is Az—which means “then” and is used the tell a story that occurred in the past.  The second word of the song is Yashir, which is the future tense of the verb… to sing.  “Then we will sing”.  Past and present are tied together in this song.  And Jews around the world continue to sing it every day.  What a miracle that is!  How much inspiration does that take!

I have faith that God cares, not only thousands of years ago, but today, here and now, as well.   Just because you have faith does not mean that you are fully connected with God.  With faith comes a responsibility to choose to act.  We encounter many metaphorical Red Seas, many opportunities to go forward with faith and take action.

In becoming a Bat Mitzvah, I realize I am now responsible for my actions. And what I choose can make a difference.

My parents were the ones who made me realize how much I wanted a Bat Mitzvah. They told me they wouldn’t force me to have one; that it would be up to me to decide and do the work.  I thought about it—my whole family is Jewish and always has been.   I wanted to take action and connect with my roots.

It is appropriate that my Bat Mitzvah is today because today is also Tu B’Shevat, the day we honor trees, their roots and fruit.   The fruit of a newly planted tree may not be eaten for four years. This is because a new fruit tree is a child, not ready to be grown up yet; for the first three years, it needs protection. The fourth year, its fruit is for God.  Every year after that, anyone can eat from it.   The fourth year is a transition from child to adult, every year after that the tree is an adult. Today marks my own transition; from now on, I am an adult in the Jewish community.

My English name, Sylvie, is derived from Latin and French and means “of the forest.” I studied photosynthesis in science this year and it just so happens that what we—and most animals—inhale is what trees release. In this way, trees reduce global warming.

Four billion trees are cut down every year, and only 3.4 million are planted.  If we each planted five trees a year, we would make up for the amount of excess carbon dioxide we produce.

Roots are the invisible part of the tree. They hold it in place.  People have roots, but so do places.  The roots of this place, Brotherhood Synagogue, connect to slavery because this building was a stop on the Underground Railroad during the Civil War. The building we’re in today helped slaves escape to freedom, just like Moses led the Israelites across the Red Sea.

We need to take action, just as God states in my Parsha, “Then the Lord said to Moses, why do you cry out to me?  Tell the Israelites to go forward.”   That statement is true today: we need to take action.  My parents have made a donation to plant trees in Israel in honor of you all here today.  I want to thank them for that.

I want to thank family and friends who traveled from out of town to share this event with me, from Buffalo, San Francisco, Eugene, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, and Washington, DC.

I also want to thank everybody who helped me along the way:  my tutor Rebecca Tenenbein, Hebrew School principal Barbara Simon, Hebrew teacher Bella Cohen, and Rabbi Alder…Phil Rothman, helped with everything big and small, from teaching me my Haftorah to advising on the color of the tablecloths.

Thank you to my brother Raphie, my mom and dad, and my grandma Rita. Thank you to everyone for sharing this special day with me.

Shabbat Shalom.

Photo credit: Ceclia Schmidt. Used by permission.