Lakeland Hills Jewish Center | |||||||||
Minyanettes |
Our Story... |
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Audrey KoppelFor those of you who don't know me, my name is Audrey. It's wonderful to see so many people here today. Thank you for coming. I have a few personal observations that perhaps some of you can relate to. It's been a long morning, so I'll be brief. As I began to prepare for this day, I found myself thinking more about my parents; who are no longer with me. I kept picturing them sitting here, enjoying the service and beaming with pride; my mother shedding a few tears of joy. Afterwards she would 'work the room' meeting and greeting as many people as humanly possible; my father more low key engaging in quiet conversation. Oh how they would have loved being here today! I was raised in a very observant home. My parents taught me to respect the Jewish traditions and to be tolerant of other people's beliefs. Our conservative synagogue had Bat Mitzvahs or as we used to call them Bas Mitzvahs, and my mother and father wanted me to have a formal Hebrew education and Bat Mitzvah. However, coming from orthodox backrounds they didn't insist upon it because I was a girl. Also this was before the women's movement. So after one year of study, I was a Hebrew school drop-out! Years later I regretted not continuing my Hebrew education. My own daughter had seven years of Hebrew school and was Bat Mitzved. It was a new era! When I learned that the Temple was starting an adult Bat Mitzvah class, I reluctantly enrolled. I thought I was too old. Things were going smoothly until I received my Torah portion, which Marilyn Oppenheimer was gracious enough to record for everyone in the class. My part seemed very long and without the vowels reminded me of hierglyphics! I thought I would never learn it but didn't want to have another missed opportunity. Thanks to Rabbi Antonio's patience and encouragement, I am no longer a Hebrew school drop-out! Obviously this has been an abbreviated course. I realize I have a long way to go before I can read profiently, but I do feel a sense of accomplishment. Thank you Rabbi for giving me the opportunity and confidence to fulfill a dream that I have had for many years, and thank you for listening. " < 
Marilyn JudovinWe all have our stories about why we were not bat mitzvahed as kids. When my family found out that I’d never been bat mitzvahed, they kept asking me to do it. Especially after a fellow congregant was bat mitzvahed with her daughter several years ago, they wanted me to become a bat mitzvah. I never wanted to come up here (to the bima) and to it myself, but when this group was formed, and was going to do a joint bat mitzvah, I agreed. Besides being Shabbat, today was especially chosen for our bat mitzvah because it is Shavuot. Shavuot commemorates the receiving of the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai. Rabbi Antonio told us last night that it is customary to read from the Book of Ruth and study the Torah on Shavuot. These are two good reasons for becoming bat mitzvah on this day. As the rabbi said, the Book of Ruth is the story about a woman named Ruth, whose husband and father-in-law had died. Ruth was very close to her mother-in-law, Naomi. Naomi wanted to return to the land of her birth, to be with her own people. Although of a different faith, Ruth insisted on staying with Naomi, rather than being with her people. Because this is a woman’s story, it is significant that we women celebrate on this day. One of the customs associated with Shavuot is staying up all night studying Torah. Well, maybe we didn’t literally stay up all night, but the nine of us and Rabbi Antonio put a lot of time and effort into learning and studying our Torah portion. So, thank you Rabbi Antonio and every one of the Minyanettes, without whom this bat mitzvah would not have been possible. 
Penny SafaneThank you all for being here today with Rabbi Antonio and The minyanettes… sounds like a rock group, we know…like Little Anthony and The imperials, Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention, Tom Petty and the heartbreakers… Rabbi Antonio and The Minynettes…and we did sing for you. Today is a quadruple celebration for us at LHJC: 1. It’s Shabbat 2. It is LHJC’s first ever adult group b’nai mitzvah (b’nai meaning bar or bat) 3. It is the Minyanettes Bat Mitzvah 4. It is Shavuot, the Hebrew word for “weeks” referring to the fact that this holiday is held 7 weeks after Passover. Shavuot celebrates 2 things: 1. The harvest season in Israel and 2. The giving of the Torah to Moses and the Israelites at Mount Sinai So, it is fitting that we Minyanettes have been called to the Torah on Shavuot. Today, we like our ancestors at Mount Sinai have taken on the responsibility of observing the commandments and carrying on our heritage. “Minyan” means “a quorum of ten Jewish adults” and it is the minimum number necessary to have a Torah service as well as to say certain other sacred prayers. And we are The Minyanettes, although if you count, there are 9 not 10 of us. But 10 is just a number, not necessarily an exact representation. There are many instances of a number meaning more or less than what it is. For example, you have “The Big 10” in College sports… It’s really 11 teams. The 100 Years War actually took 116 years. The other day, I put a quarter in a parking meter for an hour and I got 1 those 50 minute hours. But who’s going to quibble over a few minutes or minyanettes more or less? When we started this project 2 years ago, we were “The Divine Dozen”, then “The Enlightened Eleven” Then we became “The Minyanettes”. When the 10th woman dropped out, we were tired of coming up with names and so we thought “we’ll count the Rabbi, because without him, this would not have been possible. He has been, you should pardon the expression, like a saint, working with all these women, schlepping in from the city on week nights to teach us how to read Hebrew, working with us on our Torah portions and listening to us kvetch. Or we thought, if we want to keep it with women, we can count Marilyn O. as one of us. Because Marilyn has been the voice, if you will, of the Minyanettes. Without Marilyn, who recorded CDs for each and every one of us, we never would have learned our Torah portions. Then we figured, worst comes to worse, we could count Melanie as 2 because up until May 18th, Melanie was pregnant, but she conveniently had the baby early so she could be here with us today. So now you know why we are The Minyanettes… and you heard from Jerilyn and Audrey and Eileen and Marilyn as to why we did this, but you only heard 4 reasons. And it really is a good question why would anyone who was already a participant in adult congregation activities go through all this? I decided to compile a list of the reasons and I asked my fellow bat mitzvah ladies, Why? And we came up with 15 answers. 9 women, 15 answers. Well, we’re Jewish! But I’m not going to give you all 15 reasons…. Just the one main reason that made the 9 of us see this through… It’s sort of like Mt. Everest. Because the challenge and opportunity was there. And just to continue the analogy of climbing Mt. Everest, let me give you an idea of where we started 2 years ago… Most of us could barely if at all read Hebrew. And so we started with Aleph Bet. The Rabbi taught us how to read Hebrew, with an Italian accent, no less. And today we read from the Torah, which is handwritten and has no vowels and no punctuation. But we were able to accomplish this mainly I think because of all the support and encouragement we received from all of you. My husband and my children have been so supportive of this venture and so have the family members of all the minyanettes, who have been working behind the scenes. Our husbands have been running around picking things up. Audrey’s husband, Jim, made beautiful reserve signs for us. Cliff and Jason Okin and Adina Judovin were here the other night taking pictures of us. Jay Shancey has been babysitting so Melanie could be here. My sons Jake and Aaron were all set come here and move furniture the other night but Adina had already done it. Everyone helped out today with the service. Lori’s sons and Eileen’s husband were ushers this morning. I want to thank other members of our congregation for helping us get ready for today… Steve Rikon for Gabaeeing this morning and Earl Axelrod for videotaping us the other evening, and thank you to our Rabbi-to-be, Amy Mayer for sharing this day with us and to all of you. There are people here from all over….My brother and sister-in-law all the way from California, my mother from LI; I know there are other people here from LI. Aunt Sonya and Howard rented a car for the day to come here. Audrey’s son drove up from Washington, D.C. Jerilyn’s daughter and son-in-law drove up from Maryland. There are people here from Stonetown… So, thank you to all of our friends and family members for your warmth and enthusiasm and for celebrating this day with us. | |
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