Welcome to the information page for Tara's Bat Mitzvah on December 12th, 2020 at 11:00am EST.
Zoom Link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86957299215?pwd=TFJjWU1vV0tTSG9BMGlud1RrajFhZz09
Meeting ID: 869 5729 9215
Passcode: 976300
THIS BLOG: Welcome to the original blog I kept when Tara and I became a family 10 years ago. Tara has given me permission to put her Bat Mitzvah information on this blog, so feel free to peruse our first months together.
WHAT IS A BAT MITZVAH: A Bat Mitzvah is a religious ceremony that announces the participant as an adult in the Jewish community. Part of being an adult is being able to actively participate in the religious ceremonies and traditions. In traditional communities, the Torah can only be read when there are 10 adults (a minyan) together as a community. After Tara completes her Bat Mitzvah, she will be able to be counted as one of the 10 adults.
While we had hoped to have our family, friends and community with us to celebrate Tara, instead we will be celebrating Tara's Bat Mitzvah with our immediate family in the sanctuary of Bolton Street Synagogue and inviting everyone else to join us via zoom.
You can learn more about our synagogue and the Bat Mitzvah celebration here.
HOW TARA PREPARED: Tara has been studying and preparing for her Bat Mitzvah since last spring, including learning the Shabbat service prayers and reading from Torah. She will help lead the service, read a portion of the Torah, and provide a lesson (a D'var Torah) about the portion she is reading.
The section that Tara will be reading today is called Vayeshav. Each shabbat a different portion of the torah is read and this is the portion for today's date, which is Kislev 26, 5781 on the Hebrew Calendar. You can find a summary of this portion here.
TARA'S TALLIT: You may also notice during the ceremony that Tara is wearing a prayer shawl. This shawl is called a Tallit and is usually worn for the first time at the Bat/Bar Mitzvah ceremony. You may also be able to see that the Tallit has special knotted threads at each of the four corners, called tzitzit. Tara's Tallit is made from fabric that she and I picked out for this purpose when we went to visit her birth country Nepal. And the tzitzit were tied by Tara in preparation for today's event.
MITZVAH PROJECT: In addition to studying for today, Tara has also developed a Mitzvah Project, a good deed project that exemplifies her commitment to improving her broad community and is an act of Tikkun Olam - repairing the world. Here's the announcement Tara made, If you want to donate - please email instrumentsforbaltimore@gmail.com:
