Michael Luther
From a young age, ‖ I have always been intrigued by
Disney. ‖ But over the last couple of years, ‖ I have become obsessed! I love everything Disney, ‖ but
especially the theme parks. ‖While some 13-year olds spend their time surfing
YouTube ‖ for videos of cats or gaming, ‖ I follow the latest video updates ‖
from Disney World vloggers… ‖ yes, they really do exist… ‖ and there’s more
than three of them! ‖If you want to know ‖ about the latest in happenings at
Disney World, ‖ I’m your man! ‖ I’m sure some of you know ‖ that Star Wars Land
opened ‖ just two weeks ago, ‖ including a ride where you can pilot ‖ the
Millennium Falcon. ‖ So, ‖ it was natural for me ‖ when I began to look ‖ at my
Torah portion of Ki Tetze, to see
everything through the Disney lens. ‖ (Put on glasses). When viewed this way, ‖ it almost seems ‖
like the entire portion ‖ came from Space Mountain ‖ instead of Mount Sinai. ‖ The portion has 72 mitzvahs, ‖ or laws – ‖ that’s
about 12% percent ‖ of the 613 commandments ‖ in the Torah. ‖ Most of Ki
Tetze’s laws ‖ have to do ‖ with relationships between humans, ‖ but Disney has
done ‖ an excellent job of teaching these ‖ same rules through their iconic ‖
movie characters and parks. ‖
Sydney Marks
My clearest memory of Hurricane Sandy was that when we heard
how bad it was going to be, my brother and I moved all our stuffed animals to
the living room and built a fort around them to protect them. As
I’ve grown up, I’ve come to realize that stacking blankets and pillows with
stuffed animals won’t protect us for long. We’ve got to change our world and we
can begin in small ways, by recycling.
Liav Vadel
By the way, in case you are wondering, I do eat chicken, but
I would never eat my chickens. But when my father was a
kid and one of his chickens had a cold, they would feed her chicken soup. While
I am not a vegetarian, my caring for animals has helped me to be more sensitive
and I understand the need to go above and beyond what others might do, to teach
myself that important lesson.
Lexi Handel
My portion of Bechukotai explains that the actions of people
have consequences on the whole world. It gives a number of horrible examples of
consequences if people disobey the commandments. In one of them, it is that
wild beasts will wipe out our cattle. It is hinting that the destruction of
species is both a horrible thing and a consequence of human activity. The curses get really bad, but the worst
thing about it is not how bad things get, but that people lose hope. They don’t
realize that things can be turned around.
Zachary Lew
Those of you who know me know that I have an interesting
hobby – I love to build things. I
started building with Legos when I was about 2 or 3. What I liked about them was that anything was
possible. Out of nothing, you could
create something amazing. Some of the
things I have built include, an Apollo 11 spaceship, which is standing in my
closet right now and a James Bond Aston Martin, which gets fifty miles to the
gallon. Just kidding. It gets forty. But the thing about building
with Legos is that you can only do it one block at a time. When I am building something I just think of
it and then I start to build. I don’t
always know how it will look in the end.
But I keep on building, block by block.
Adam Kinderman
The portion, Behar, speaks about the Jubilee year, the 50th year,
when all slaves were set free. One verse tells about how the shofar
is sounded at the beginning of that year, and it says, “Proclaim liberty
throughout the land, unto all the inhabitants thereof.” That’s the same verse
that is found on the Liberty Bell. By the way, I really liked
visiting the Liberty Bell, although I don’t think it’s all it’s cracked up to
be. The interesting thing is that in the portion, the verse is talking about
freeing slaves. But on the Liberty Bell, it’s talking
about freedom from Britain and my buddy, King George III. It’s
definitely not talking about freeing slaves – because
that didn’t happen for about another 90 years.
Yael Everett
I’m a big fan of empathy. I guess it’s not
surprising that when I grow up I want to be a psychologist. I hope
I’ll be able to help people deal with crises in their lives. So this
project really excited me. It reminded me of what sports stars often
do – people like Curtis Granderson, who is always visiting hospitals and
schools, and Roberto Clemente, a real hero of mine, who died in a plane crash
trying to help people in while on route to deliver aid to earthquake victims
in Nicaragua. He was just 38 years old. I’ve had lots of practice in
showing empathy, through my love for my pets. It all started with Lucky, a cat
who was rescued from the streets of New York. Lucky was not just
lucky to be rescued, he was lucky enough to live to the fine old age of 21.
Then came our dog Carmel, who is a ten-year-old Labrador. But after Lucky died,
I wanted more, so I started begging for kitten. One day when my mom and my dad
went out to buy dog food, there was a sign in the store. That’s how
we got our two kittens, Ian and Chad, who are now one year old. And
now, since it’s been a WHOLE YEAR since we got a new pet, I’m trying to
convince my parents that it is time for labradoodles. Yes, I know pet ownership
can be complicated. At one time, we were giving the cats a total of
18 different medications PER DAY. Having so many pets has been a real
blessing for me – it’s taught me a lot about responsibility, time management
and of course – empathy.
Jesse Kalt
When you look at me, if you don’t know already, probably the
last thing you will think of is that I love to play bass guitar. I
love to play it so much that it’s starting to fall apart. I’ve been
playing for about 4 years. My dad had an amplifier and two basses in
the basement and we would go down all the time – and while he would be playing
the song “Iron Man” I’d be pretending to play along with him. It was
doubly special because not only did I love it, but I loved making music with my
dad. So, I’m a big fan of Rock and Heavy Metal – I can’t help
it! But I also know that heavy metal has its place – and that place
is not here, at services. Aaron’s sons Nadav and Avihu didn’t understand that. In
my portion of Shemini, these two kids played with fire,
literally. They brought their own unusual offerings without telling
anyone else. And a horrible accident occurred, and they were burned to a crisp.
It’s a very tragic story that has a lot of lessons for teenagers, and
especially for creative types like me.
Matthew Goodman
I have to say, I am one lucky kid. But with my teams
winning, there are a couple of lessons that I have learned. Lesson number
one: Winning takes a lot of hard work, focus and determination.
Always try your hardest. When you are trying to win a championship, you can’t
take your foot off the gas, or be satisfied before it is over, and expect to
win. Look at the Patriots. A few years ago, they were losing 28-3 in
the Super Bowl. They kept working hard when the other team took their foot off
the gas and thought it was over. The Patriots came back and won. My haftarah continues the story of Amalek
that was also the subject of the maftir Torah reading. Amalek
attacked Israel right after they left Egypt. They did not fight fair
– as they attacked them from behind. Israel defeated them in the Wilderness;
but in my haftarah, King Saul, who was ordered to destroy them completely,
let’s their king, Agag off the hook. Because of that, the nation of
Amalek survived, and their descendant, Haman, nearly destroyed the Jewish
people. The holiday of Purim, which we celebrate this week, tells
that part of the story.
Ben Kassel
From my ten commandments of soccer. Number 3: Respect my team mates, and
coaches, and NEVER talk back to an official. Nobody is perfect, mistakes
are made, but respect is and must be an important trait of my personality. Number
4: Trust my teammates. In my portion, Moses’s father in law Jethro, teaches
him how important it is to delegate. Moses set up a system of judges
who would only bring the toughest cases to him. He trusted them that they
will do their best, and in return he would do his best. Just like
Moses I have to trust that my team mates that they will step in front
of a shot, and they have to trust me that I’ll block whatever they can’t get in
front of. Nobody is perfect, mistakes are made. But I have to trust them to do
their best, and in return I’ll always be ready to do my best.
Kyle Nadel
There have been other tests in my life experience as
well. Moving to the US was a big test. When my mom became
ill, we needed to be pulled out of school in Japan, and we moved to this area
to get her the best medical care. When
we moved back to the New York area, my parents didn’t want me to forget my
Japanese, so they sent me to a Japanese school in Greenwich,
Ct. There, I was the only completely American
student, excluding my siblings. I looked and felt very different from my peers.
I was challenged when I had trouble making many friends because I was the “new
kid”. Also, being the only American student, I spoke and understood
less of the Japanese language than the other children, and, at the very
beginning, I did not do too well in Kanji tests, which are the Japanese characters. Eventually
though, I passed more of these “tests,” as I started to study
more. Slowly, I overcame the test of socialization by becoming
friendly with a few peers in the classes. I have been physically tested as
well. Some of you may already know that I have broken, at separate times, my
arm and my leg from one sport: skiing. My parents decided I was just
“unlucky” both times, so I was forced, against my will, to keep trying. Again,
here, I was tested to persevere at something at which I had already failed
twice in my mind. Although I am physically healed by now, I am still
a bit scared to go on trails with many trees. Sometimes, I am
forced to face this challenge, and my fears are
subsiding. Just for the record – I still enjoy skiing a
lot.
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