Lucy-Rose Ben Yosef - Dvar Torah

Shabbat shalom everyone and thank you for joining me to celebrate my Bat Mitzvah. I was reading parsha Shemini, which means eighth in Hebrew. This refers to the eighth and last day of the Mishkan or Tabernacle’s opening ceremony. The service started with Aaron and his sons sacrificing six animals on the Holy altar to G-d.  Sacrifices like these happened in the Mishkan and during the time of the Temple around 2000 years ago. But 2000 years later, sacrificing animals sounds very strange. Personally the thought of taking my dog or cat to the Temple to sacrifice doesn't sit quite right with me. Doesn't the Torah tell us to be kind to animals on multiple occasions? So how are we even allowed to sacrifice and kill animals? And even if we were, why are we doing it on the altar of life to the G-d of life?

This is called a paradox which is an idea that contradicts itself or doesn’t make any sense, but when we reflect, it shows a deeper meaning. If you look at these sacrifices in a different way, the animals died in a very Holy way and for good reason. Not “just because”. This idea that we should only sacrifice or kill animals for a good purpose tells us that we should respect and honour our animals. This is actually another form of respecting G-d because He created and gave us all of these animals that sustain us and bring us joy, most of the time. We can show respect to animals in many ways like when we eat meat, we don’t play with our food or waste it. Rather we save it as leftovers if we are full or give it to our pets, which is a common occurrence in my house. Especially where we live, in this beautiful city of Cape Town with lots of amazing wildlife, we must take respecting our animals seriously.

Going back to the service in the Mishkan, we then read that a fire came forth and consumed all of the sacrifices. The Jews were in awe and started singing praises to G-d. Then two of Aharon’s sons Nadab and Abihu came up to the altar and offered another sacrifice. But the sacrifice was uncalled for and strange. Without warning the fire came forth and consumed Nadab and Abihu. The Torah never says exactly why this happened but over the years many Rabbis and wise people have a few theories as to why this tragedy happened. One of the theories is that their desire to connect with G-d was so intense that their souls left their bodies entirely. They didn’t want to return from their spiritual high to their physical work that G-d commanded them to do on Earth. They would rather die on a spiritual high than serve G-d in a physical body. In other words, they had an excess of Ratzo and not enough Shov. Ratzo and shov are the spiritual rhythm of the soul. Ratzo is the passionate want to be close to G-d and shov is the need to do your duties on Earth. In simpler words your spiritual duties and your physical duties on Earth. Because of this rhythm, sometimes we feel very connected to G-d and other days not so much. But which way should we go and live our lives? The answer is to balance the two moods and listen to your own rhythm. A great way to think of a balance between ratzo and shov is having your head high but your feet firmly on the ground. Through this stretch between high above and low down, you become a great person. So next time you feel in tune with your ratzo, say a blessing over your food and when you're in a shov mood, have a nice nap.

As I said before we don’t make sacrifices like those made in the Mishkan or Temple anymore but we sacrifice other things today. For my bat mitzvah project I decided to sacrifice thirty centimetres of my hair and give it to an organisation called Zichron Menachem. Zichron Menachem is an Israeli organisation that supports children with cancer and their families and was founded in the loving memory of Menachem Erenthal. Since we are in the Omer period which started on the second night of Pesach and ends on Shavuot, you are not allowed to cut your hair so I will make my sacrifice in June.

Before we end the service I would like to say a special thank you to a few people for helping me through this last year and a half to make my bat mitzvah possible.

Thank you to all the cheder teachers and my amazing bat mitzvah coach Dani.

Thank you to Jill and her team for doing the catering for my brocha.

 Thank you to granny Sharon and grandpa for making the flower arrangements and having my dress tailored.

Thank you to granny Ute for always supporting and encouraging me during my bat mitzvah journey

Thank you to Aunty Ingrid for coming here from Durban and helping us cook on Friday night, uncle Eckart from Namibia and uncle Noel and aunty Sheraine from Hermanus. I am so grateful that all of you came all the way here to see me.

Thank you to Rabbi Malcom for helping me to write my Dvar Torah and lead the service.

Thank you to the choir for making my bat mitzvah extra special

Thank you to everyone who had an aliyah today and those who were called up during the service.

And a huge thank you to my parents who got me my beautiful dress, took me to all of my classes and rehearsals and supported me throughout this journey. And finally thank you to everyone who came to celebrate me and make my simcha special. Good Shabbos.