Speech given by Rabbi Brian

"We know that Joseph was a very likeable young man, and handsome enough to attract the attention of the ladies in Pharaoh’s court. But what was it that made the master of the known universe listen to him and do what he said. After all, he was just an ordinary Canaanite boy from a herder’s family who annoyed his brothers so much they sold him into slavery in Egypt.
But from slavery at the very bottom of the Egyptian ladder he worked his way up to be adviser to Pharaoh. In the end he looked and sounded like an Egyptian, so much so that his brothers didn’t recognise him. Some argue that he must have spoken Canaanite when he arrived or maybe Akkadian which was the lingua franca of his day, the language of diplomacy. But after years in Egypt, he must also have spoken fluent Egyptian. He spoke Pharaoh’s language, and this is what made him so persuasive. Was this his superpower? I like to think so.

Raphael, like Joseph, has many amazing qualities. He was able to add funny sunglasses to his face while learning Hebrew on our Zoom calls and he could even doodle on our working document as it evolved into his d’var Torah and then erase it quickly when we needed to get serious. He also has at least three adoring ladies in his life, his mom and his two sisters, and probably a few others at school as well, and I’m sure he annoys them on a daily basis, but not enough for them to sell him into slavery. And he is an amazing learner, always eager to make progress whenever he can.
But what amazes me most about Raphael, something I noticed early on in Hebrew School, is his ability to switch from English to French to Flemish without even noticing and using this skill to help others understand what was going on. Raphael’s superpower, like Joseph’s, is language, and this superpower will take him a long way. People will listen to him and maybe even do what he says. Perhaps one day he will interpret the dreams of important people and help make them real.
There’s been quite a lot of another language in today’s service… Hebrew. Raphael learned to read Hebrew very quickly, and under Anneke’s expert tuition he learned to leyn from the Torah.
So I hope you will use all these language skills as you grow into Jewish adulthood. I hope that you keep up your Hebrew by continuing to participate in the prayers of the community and at home. I hope that you use your multilingual skills to share your gifts with others and to work for justice in a world full of conflict. I hope that you use all your talents to promote Tikkun Olam, to help repair our broken world and its broken communities. In short, I hope – no I don’t just hope I’m sure – after the first steps you have taken today, you will continue to grow into Jewish adulthood and impress us all even more by continuing to be a caring person, someone who thinks about other people and the world around you. Your Mitzvah Project brought you the Jewish retirement home Heureux Sejour in Saint Giles in a beautiful expression of care for the elderly. And you shared stories with them, once again demonstrating your language skills.

All this convinces me that you are maturing into a young man with all the best qualities, with values we admire and want to emulate, with a love for study, for life, for your family, for others, and for the planet that sustains us all.
And today you mark a transition in your life, from being a Jewish child to being a Jewish adult, a Bar Mitzvah, a son of the covenant. And you are ready for that transition. To be a Jewish adult, among other things, means to love study, to love life, to love your family, to love others, and to love the world we live in. All of these are progressive Jewish values and it’s clear they are already in place in great abundance.
So, on this day I want to set a challenge for you. I challenge you to maintain these progressive Jewish values in the years to come in the midst of all the other things that might seem to get in the way. I challenge you to continue to embrace your progressive Jewish life and be proud to participate as an adult Jew in our shared community. I challenge you to help your Jewish community grow in whatever way you can.
Above all I challenge you to be Kalonymus ben Shira vZeev Itzhak, not only today, but tomorrow and the day after, and for the rest of your life. And your family and IJC community are here to help you meet that challenge."
Shabbat Shalom!
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