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The ESP of the Jewish Way of Life 
Roll your mouse over each circle to find the questions. Click on circles for more about Jewish ESP!
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Tell Us and Others Your Bar and Bat Mitzvah Stories How often have you been awed by the insights and loving thoughts of parents, grandparents, rabbis, and young adults at Bar and Bat Mitzvah ceremonies? In recent months we have been too — from those we’ve had the privilege of attending to those whose stories and speeches have blanketed the Internet.We thought we’d use the two pieces below to spark your interest in sending us speeches or telling us about moving experiences from B’nai Mitzvahs you’ve attended. If you have a piece you’d like to share with our audience, please send it to us via snail mail or email (see instruction on page 15).You might end up being an inspiration to others.
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A Lesson in Compassion by Mollie Krupp The pain of the mother bird is an important part of my parsha Ki Tetse. In these lines, God tells us in that we are not to take away eggs from a mother bird who is still there. "If, along the road,you chance upon a bird’s nest, in any tree or on the ground,with fledglings or eggs and the mother sitting over the fledglings or on the eggs, do not take the mother together with her young. Let the mother go, and take only the young, in order that you may fare well and have a long life." (Deuteronomy 22:6-7) In essence, this says that we are not to take away eggs from a mother bird who is still there. Instead, we are supposed to first let the mother go or chase her away, and then take the eggs. Why is this law in the Torah? Rambam gives several reasons. One is that it is forbidden to take away eggs with the mother around because it is cruel to do so; the mother will suffer if she sees her eggs or chicks taken away. Another reason has to do with extinction — if all female eggs are taken, birds could not reproduce and would become extinct. My favorite interpretation is that God is teaching us a lesson, not only about how to treat birds and other animals, but how to treat people. The lesson is to be compassionate. This makes me think about my adoption. It must have been really hard for my birth mother to decide to let me go when she knew that she could not take care of me. Seeing me leave must have been very hard for her, just like it is for a mother bird when her young leave. The orphanage that took care of me showed compassion. Though I got very sick there, the compassion of my Mom, Dad, Shana, and Ben helped me to get healthy after I was adopted (sorry, Sophie, but you weren’t around yet). So, this parsha teaches me always try to be kind and compassionate to animals and to people. Mollie is a 13 year old,who goes to Saint Louis Park Junior High School in Minnesota. She is on the swim team and loves animals. She was born in Bogota, Columbia. |
Tallis
by Roxanne Scher
I murmur the blessing
Like a whispering breath
The knotted fringes twine
Lilac and purple, blue and
Waves of fabric roll on to my arms,
I touch the knot to My silky, rippling tallis. Roxanne lives in Felton, California, and is a freshman attending Scotts Valley High School. She is an aspiring actress and singer, and is performing as Maria in The Sound of Music in January. She was recently given the honor of chanting the maftir at her synagogue’s Rosh Hashanah services. Roxanne wrote this piece shortly after her Bat Mitzvah last year. | |||
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Belonging
to the Jewish PEOPLE.
