Shalom Y’all!

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For those of you who don’t know who I am by now, my name is Rose Lubin.

Before I begin on my speech, I would like to thank my parents, my grandparents, my siblings, uncles, aunts, cousins and friends who have come to celebrate with me on my Bat Mitzvah.

 

And I guess I can begin.

 

Life is an ongoing path of mystery, adventure, love. It is like one long book. And like other books it has a beginning and end. It is hard to believe it but there was a time when I was as young as my little sister Lily, and there will be a time when I am not existent in this world. So what do I do about it? I make every chapter in my book worth reading. I work hard, do my best, and follow the laws that G-D has instructed me to follow.

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I am not going to wait for the world to do something great for me; I am going to do something great for the world. Now at this point in my life I have all the power to make a difference, become a better person, and create a mind blowing life story. And no matter how hard it becomes to withstand the current of wrongdoing, no matter how difficult it gets to turn the other cheek, I will always push to do the right thing and to find the stagnant water where I can be me and make a change.

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I know what I am capable of and I know how I can use my talents for the benefits of others. There are no boundaries, only endless amounts of opportunity.

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In this week’s Parsha, Joseph’s brothers come to Egypt for food during the famine that was going on at the time. Now just think about that, Joseph's brothers threw him in a pit like taking the trash out, they sold him like giving away an animal, and made his poor father think he was dead. His own brothers are who we're talking about, and now here they are showing up on his doorstep, begging for food.

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Most of us in this room would probably want to walk up to them and give them a knuckle sandwich, a taste of their own medicine, but that wasn’t what Joseph did. Instead he implemented the process of forgiveness. He wanted to see if they would repent for what they did to him. And after seeing that they truly regretted what they had done, he revealed himself and reunited his family once again.

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We learn from Joseph and his brothers that at times we really do want to kill each other, but like Joseph and his brothers, we always have the chance to apologize and forgive one another.

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When G-D put Adam and Eve in this world, he gave them feelings, emotions, and this point in your life called being a teenager. Getting angry or jealous isn’t a bad thing, it is just being human. We can’t control those things, we can only work hard to not let those feelings get control over us and make wrong choices.

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So like Joseph and his brothers, we are going to get frustrated with one another but we will always love each other.

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I mean, the Jewish religion has made this far as one, as one nation that hasn’t and will not ever fall apart. It is clear that forgiveness is a cornerstone of our religion. For example, think of all the times that you have really messed up, like the bad kind of mess up. And you are still very much alive and in this room. Hello, the Jewish people have gone to the point where we have worshiped idols and yet G-D forgives us. He is so merciful. Why? Because we are his children and he wants nothing but the best for us.

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The least we can do is try and let him know that we love him back and want to do what he asks us to do. And one of the main things he asks us to do is care for each other and forgive each other like he forgives us.

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In the Torah, forgiveness is one word that pretty much sums up the whole book. People eat, breathe, and sleep forgiveness, or at least should. Holding a grudge is just having to carry around a boat load of extra weight with you. In fact it says in the Torah that holding a grudge is prohibited.

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Take it from me, I live in a household that maintains a zoo. Literally, we have got our snakes, fish, rats, crabs, frogs, dogs, guinea pigs, but out of all these animals, it is the Alec, Joseph, and Lily that are hardest to tend to. They need to be fed three times a day with snacks in between. They need to get daily exercise along with daily grooming. But most of all they need love, and even though they can really get on my nerves I always forgive them, never hold on to any little quarrels we have and for all eternity I will love them and stand by them.

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The human race will never be perfect, we will never be perfect but we can always try to live up to the people like Joseph who can let go of things that other people do to him and continue loving his family.

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Most people spend their whole life trying to find the meaning of happiness, but what I have figured out on my own is that happiness isn’t something you search for, it is something you find within the people and things you love.

I already have all the happiness I need. I have my family, my friends, and the internet.

So I say let's give it a try, let’s make the world a better place, one apology at a time.