Addison's Bar Mitzvah Speech
When I was just a kid, no not last week, I mean when I was a toddler, I used to love playing with building blocks. Oh who am I kidding, Riley, Jolie, and I still play with them when I visit Boo and Grandpa’s house in Rhode Island. There is just something special about starting with a bunch of blocks and being able to create something new. One day it would be a tall tower, the next day a small fort for having army men battles.Over the past few months I have started to think a lot about building blocks, but not the toys. Rather the skills and experiences that make up the building blocks of life.
These past couple of months has been hard. I have been learning my Hebrew, writing summaries of my Torah and Haftorah portions, all while keeping up with my school work and football practices. While doing all of these at the same time has been rough, I see each of them as important building block in my life. Each of these skills, projects, and experiences are being added to the top of all the other experiences and skills I have learned to make me who I am today and who I will become tomorrow.
It’s just like how God created the world. Do you think he just said, “Here’s my plan”, and poof it happened? No, he built on top of the fundamentals of his plan to make the world we now live in. God had to create the sun, the plants, the animals; he created Adam and Eve, and so on. Just like God, everyone, to succeed, has to work hard and build on top of what they know.
My football coach once said, “Look at the pro Football players, do you think that they got to where they are now by repeating the basics? No! They built on top of those basic skills to get better and better.” (Well… That’s not exactly what he said but you get the point). Every day at the end of practice, the coach has us chant “I will, get better tomorrow”. When you try to do something and it fails, try again, don’t give up.
One night, I was watching the Seattle Seahawks preseason game, because, if you haven’t figured it out by now, the Seahawks are my favorite team. I heard one of the players say that they had to work almost every day of the week, then it was game time, and they only occasionally got a day off. They have to work hard to get better because, as my coach says, “The better prepared team almost always wins. You can’t rely on pure talent; you have to strive to get better each day.” Talent starts small. Again, it’s like building blocks, the improvements you make in your life today build on those skills and lessons you have learned in the past. If you forget the basic skills it is hard to improve. It would be like taking your building block tower and kicking out the bottom blocks. Fun to do sometimes, I know, but then you have to start all over again.
Just like my Jewish education. It started out when I was young, when I had no Idea how to speak any Hebrew. But each year I learned more and more, it started with the Hebrew letters and then progressed to the words and ultimately lead to today.
This past year it has been all about learning my Hebrew, understanding my religion, and valuing the experiences that come with it. All of these “Jewish education building blocks” have helped shape me into the person I am today.
At the beginning of my studies, when I looked at all the Hebrew I had to learn, I was overwhelmed and doubted if I would ever be able to learn it all. But, as my tutor kept telling me, by taking each section, one building block at a time, I would be able to learn it all. The entire Bar Mitzvah experience, from start to finish has been an important building block in my life, and it will serve as a strong foundation for what my future holds.
When playing with building blocks it can be fun to start without a plan and when you tower starts to teeter, you can just knock it down and start over. It’s not that easy in life though, is it? The best structures start with a goal and a plan. I can’t imagine Paul Allen, the owner of the Seahawks, sitting around and dreaming up his idea of an awesome football stadium and then building Qwest field one block at a time without a plan, can you? Everyone’s goals and dreams are important, but it’s the people who are able to create a good plan and implement it using solid building blocks who succeed.
Consider this building block concept in your lives. What building blocks have you created in your life so far? What building blocks make up your foundation? What are your goals? What building blocks do you need to create today to enable you to meet your goals tomorrow?
For me and my friends, the education we are receiving today is the primary building block in our lives, the foundation that we are being given so that we can add future building blocks that will enable us to achieve our goals.
I’d like to thank a few of people for helping me get through these past couple of months.
First, I’d like to start off by thanking my Hebrew tutor, Beth Renne for helping me learn all of the Hebrew I just said and chanted today.
Second, I would like to thank my Parents, for pestering me to do my Hebrew, even though sometimes I didn’t feel like it. For everything they have done to make this day special for me, and I would also like to thank them just for always being there for me. Even though my mom didn’t grow up Jewish, she has supported my Jewish education and , she makes an awesome Matzo Ball Soup!
I would also like to thank Riley and Jolie for just being good siblings and respecting the fact that I needed to study every once in a while.
Thank you to Rabbi Sax for helping me understand my Torah and Haftorah portions, Rabbi Schwartzman for helping me with my speech, and Cantor Shochet for taking the time to put all of the prayers and torah portions on to a CD, you have been like my own personal pocket Cantor that has been living in my iPod this past year.
Finally, I’d like to thank all my grandparents for all of their love and support.
There are so many more people than I have time to recognize in this speech, so to all the people that I didn’t mention and to everyone who has come here to support me today, I’d like to say thank you. Thank you for being an important building block in my life and thank you for being here on this special day. Thank You!