What I learned from my Bar Mitzvah Haftarah
Shabbat Shalom. The Haftarah for Parashat Ki Tavo is about three main themes. One, the people of Israel will be successful, two, God’s light will shine through the dark, and three, keeping an open mind. We will start with the first one, The people of Israel will be successful. Success shows up in different areas of life. In soccer it could be winning the game, in school it might be getting a good grade or trying your hardest and as a country it is everyone being equal and treated equally. There is not a single definition for success. Even in a less debated topic such as soccer, one could say that success is improving over winning. A common similarity between all of them is that people can think about success in different ways. It is important to realize that people disagree about what success is. God wants Israel to be a great nation, under the way that God perceives success. And in the Haftarah it says God will do everything in God’s power to make Israel a great and successful country.
The second theme, is God’s light will shine through the dark. It is saying that even through tough times, I can get through it. This is perseverance. In soccer, perseverance is one of the most important skills of the game. When Iceland was playing Austria in Euro 2016, and Austria was very close to winning, Iceland persevered to win. Austria dominated with 63% possession and had 14 more shots than Iceland. When Iceland scored with less than a minute left all their hard work and energy throughout the match came through. Though Iceland wasn’t the most talented team in the world, they had a tendency to work hard, even when they were losing, that was not comparable to any other team. They made it all the way to the quarterfinals because of their work effort. Putting 105% into everything you do makes you much more likely to be successful. Iceland had hope when they were down, just like the Haftarah says.
The last main theme, having an open mind is really important. In the Haftarah verse 11 it says “your gates shall always be open”. This tells us that we should keep an open mind no matter what. In school, I was reading an opinion article. The article had bits from authors on both sides and since I feel strongly one way, I immediately began to find errors in the side that I didn’t agree with. If I could look at that article with an open mind, I could talk to people to understand what they believe instead of blowing them off. In my environment, everyone has similar opinions so I don’t get much exposure to other ideas. It is significant to try to hear as many different ways of thinking as possible so you can understand other people better, and give yourself as much knowledge as possible about the topic.
Every Sunday I went to volunteer with special Olympics. The children that I worked with were younger, and I’m guessing they were about 4-7 years old. It was a wonderful experience in which I got to express something that I truly believe in: bringing people together through sport. The children for the most part seemed to enjoy the sports that we did in the class. I worked with one kid in particular. He at first was very shy near me, almost scared of me at first. As I played more and more sports with him, he started to become less timid when he was around me. He became more part of the group then he was before, and took part in all of the events. I realized how hard it must be for him to focus, it seemed as if everyone was trying to talk to him at once, which made him upset.When he was interested or excited in a sport that we were playing, he did much better. He taught me how important enthusiasm is as an athlete.
I would like to thank my Mom and my Dad for always supporting me during this whole experience. I would like to thank my sister Rachel for using her B’nai Mitzvah expertise to help me chant all of the prayers. Thank you to my grandparents, who encouraged me. Thank you to Rabbi Goldman, Rabbi Friedman and Lilli Flink for preparing me for today.Thank you to Chauncy (the dog), for begging for attention while I’m trying to practice. Thank you to all my friends, for your constant support. Thank you for coming, have a great Saturday. Shabbat Shalom.
