Recently into my hands I received my earthly dad's Bar Mitzvah speech - written in 1945 at the age of 13. (NOTE: The Holocause time span went from 1933 until 1945 - so being raise as a Jew in this time was significant).
I have been waiting for it for years, and in that God is perfect, now is the perfect time. He has asked me to share it - and i am wholly honored and blessed that this man - Ronold Jerome Baim - was chosen by God to be my earthly dad - a man of substance, character and most importantly God.
SPEECH:
Today, I am celebrating my Bar Mitzvah, an event, which i shall always remember. I shall remember it not for the fact that according to the old Jewish tradition I become a full member of the Jewish community today, but more so for the fact that I realize today the task that lies before me which must be fulfilled by me if i want to be a Bar Mitzvah, a Son of Duty. During the periods of my instruction, we have spoken about the duties that a Bar Mitzvah has to fulfill.
We have tried to find an answer to the question: What does it mean to be a Jew?
I think I have found one answer to this question in my own personal life. To be a good Jew means for me to help with all my power to create a better understanding between all men of all creeds. For me this means really something - it is not only words that I am speaking here - because I have learned probably more than most people can imagine how this better understanding can be promoted. And I am very proud of the fact that I have been raised in a home where the parents are of a different creed - and yet,I have seen that there was and is absolute respect for each other and so also for all peoples. So my sisters, my brother and I have learned through the example of my beloved parents, not only to tolerate, but to respect others and to create this better understanding, which is necessary for the building of a new and better world, in which Jew and non-Jew alike live peacefully and full of understanding together.
We have been raised as Jewish children, and I am immensely proud and happy about the fact that I become a Bar Mitzvah on this day. And with the task that I am accepting today, I realize that we Jews have a greater and more pressing responsibility towards creating this understanding, or which I spoke, than perhaps any other religious community, because we are a minority, and we have learned in our history studies, that progress and advancement have always come from the few who therefore had a harder struggle to survive. And we realize: If we want to keep our religion, and thus ourselves, alive, we must strive after the cooperation of all men. We all must work together and live together in peace and harmony, as it has been expressed by William T. Card in his poem, "Teamwork", where he says:
"A flake of snow is very small,
'Tis lost to sight quite quickly:
But many flakes combined will fill,
The roads and pathways thickly,
United we can face the fight,
Without distress or fuss:
A little less of you or me,
A little more of us."
I want to take this opportunity to thank once again the rabbi, my teachers - and above all my beloved parents for all they have done for me, so that this happy day has been made possible for me. I hope and pray that God will give me strength to live up to my duties and may do justice to all men.
