Bassie’s Bas-Mitzvah Speech

Bassie’s Bas-Mitzvah Speech was an introduction to her “Book of Books” click for post and link of that booklet.

Thank you for coming to celebrate my Bas-Mitzvah.

We are a family of mostly girls and for our Bas-Mitzvah projects we each did something that connected with the timing of our birthdays or something that we especially enjoy.

For me, I enjoy books. Reading is my favorite hobby. So my parents thought it would be a good idea to learn more about the Jewish books on our shelves. We talked about these books at home, we discussed it on car rides, and eventually my father and I made the “Book of Books” booklet that you have now.

My older sister Chani spent the first half of this summer in Vermont, she worked at a camp there. One day Chani called and said that for one week, their camp was located on a farm, and she needed to learn how to milk goats and cows and do all kinds of farm chores. I said, “I would never do that!” But my father said, “But you would surely read whole chapters about farm life in a book…” To which I said, “Well, books are different.”

And that’s true, books are different. They allow you to get a glimpse of things that you might not want to or be able to do yourself.

The cover picture of the booklet has the same idea. We took this photo on a family visit to the third floor art gallery at the Albany Airport. The artist made all kinds of shapes out of old used books, but the arch shape is the best symbol for my Book of Books. Many Jewish books have a front page called a “Shaar Blatt” which is like the front door of the book. The Hebrew word Shaar – means a gate or a doorway or arch, like the gates of Jerusalem. I think its a good message for books in general. Because books are like a doorway to new places, interesting adventures, and other things you can’t always experience where you are at that time.

My Hebrew name Basya comes from the daughter of Pharaoh who stretched out her arm to rescue baby Moshe from the Nile River. Books and reading can also be a way to go beyond our own reach, outside of our comfort zone to explore and learn.

Nowadays we have no Beit HaMikdash and without the Temple we can’t offer the sacrifices. But the Gemorah Megillah 31b says that by reading about the Korbanos it is as if we brought the sacrifice. Books have that power to accomplish things in a kind of way even if you can’t actually do them. Books are like a doorway, they open new horizons for us.

Books can also be a way to connect with past generations. If I’d write a book one day, it can be a way to connect with the future. But I’m not writing a book anytime soon. One day, maybe. Meanwhile, books can be a way to connect with past generations. It says in Gemorah Bechoros 31b (hey, did you notice, both Gemorah quotes from different tractates are both on page 31b?) that when we learn a Torah teaching from past generations, the author of that teaching reads it along with us!

In your books on page 16, you can see the Rambam set that my great-grandfather Michel Piekarski learned in every day, and is now on our shelf in our home. Also on page 16, you can see the handwritten sticker inscription that my great-grandparents, Moshe and Miriam Rubin wrote inside a Bar-Mitzvah gift they gave my father. That was interesting to see, but what was really interesting is that they rewrote this same sticker 30 times for each of the books in that set!

I like to read but I don’t like to write that much. So it was pretty amazing to see the handwriting of my great-great-grandfather Shmuel Galperin. A traveler had a book that he really wanted to keep, but he had no way of getting that book himself or making a copy, so he borrowed it for a few days and copied down the book in his own handwriting! My sisters know that sometimes I can get really hungry for a book and desperate if we don’t have any new books to read, but I don’t think I would ever get so desperate…

My great-grandmother Risha Piekarski passed away this year. I am named for her grandmother Basha. We don’t know much about Basha, but we know that Bubbe Risha (her granddaughter and my great-grandmother) loved to read, even if she had to read holding a big magnifying glass to see the words. In her older years eagerly took advantage of opportunities to study that she didn’t have as a Jewish girl back in communist Russia.

I’m lucky to have many great reading and learning opportunities while I am young, thanks to my teachers and friends at the Maimonides School. The Library at Maimonides is named in memory of my aunt Esty, because she also loved to read. And I learned some of my vocabulary and broader knowledge from being around college students, so thanks to my UAlbany student friends for that. Some alumni are here that were students when I was a baby, and when I was growing up, and many of them read to me, too. Thanks for coming, it’s really very special.

I’d like to thank my parents who are also into reading, and also for teaching me to appreciate “Book of Life” stories that can be found anywhere and everywhere, not only in books but also in people. Speaking of Book of Life, the last page of the booklet ends with a pre-Rosh-Hashanah wish, that we all be inscribed in the Book of Life. Ksiva VaChasima Tova, happy Sweet New Year to all!

You can view or download Bassie’s Book of Books.