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5
SARAH RUBENSTEIN’s BAT MITZVAH
A bat/bar- mitzvah is a very special occasion in a young Jewish person's life and as part of the
preparation, a drash is prepared on the relevant portion for that Shabbat. Here in Hobart, bat-
and bar-mitzvahs are rarely celebrated .. due to the paucity of numbers of young people here!
At the end of June, Sarah Rubenstein celebrated her bat-mitzvah, the service being conducted
by Rabbi Fred Morgan from Temple Beth Israel in Melbourne. Sarah's drash shows her
maturity - she has chosen to be bat-mitzvah a little later than is the norm - and we have included
it in this "Chaverim" for everyone to read.
I know that everyone will join with me in congratulating Sarah and
welcoming her, as we do all our previous and future bar- and bat-mitzvah
youth. They are OUR future ...
Caroline Heard, President
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There are many critical things that we are told about in this portion, but there is one in particular that I think
has a lot of relevance today and to my life. It is about the role that men and women are expected to play,
both in Jewish tradition and in society in general. In the first line of my reading we are told, “Miriam died
there and was buried there”. According to tradition, a well supplying all the water needs of the nation
followed Miriam through the years when the people were in the desert. In Torah, when Miriam dies, the
people immediately complain to Moses that they are without water. So the rabbis reasoned that Miriam’s
death meant that the well dried up. After her death, there is no mention of any mourning period for
Miriam; instead the focus is on the material issue, the lack of water. The people seem to disregard the
death of someone who had been so important. Soon after Miriam’s death, we learn that Aaron also dies.
By contrast with Miriam, Aaron is bewailed by the house of Israel for 30 days. I believe this contrast
reveals a significant difference in how men and women are viewed and treated in general.
Although things are beginning to change now, throughout the ages women have typically been seen almost
solely as mother figures. It is women who are associated with the nurturing role, which is often seen as less
valuable than the public roles of men. Miriam was exactly this, a nurturing mother figure, and my portion
shows that this role wasn’t valued. But Miriam was also more than this. Miriam was the first prophetess,
who prophesised the birth of Moses and the role that he would play as the redeemer of Israel. She also led
the women of Israel in a song and dance of celebration after the Pharaoh's men were defeated in the sea.
But this was forgotten. On the other hand Aaron was mourned because he was a respected peacemaker, but
I believe this role was valued in part at least because he was a man.
My attention is drawn to Miriam and Aaron in this case simply because their deaths are close together and
create such a contrast, but it is true that more often than not in Jewish tradition, the men take on the central
and apparently more important roles. This is still true today. And this raises two problems for me. To
begin with, I don’t agree with the belief that nurturing and mothering are at all less important than other,
more public roles, such as a priest or even peacemaker. It is actually the mothering that develops, and even
protects to a degree, our peacemakers and leaders. Miriam was the one who first watched over Moses to
make sure that he came to no harm.
I also think that there is much more to women than the nurturing roles that they may play, as is
demonstrated by Miriam. In Jewish tradition, women are not usually given a chance to play public roles,
leading to the conclusion that they are incapable of filling such important roles. This is an unreasonable
generalization. One of the reasons that I feel quite strongly about this is because I would eventually like to
be involved in international law or perhaps the diplomatic service, which may include some sort of role in
peace making. It is something that has interested me for years.
If I had been told a couple years ago that I would be standing here today, there is no way that I would have
believed it. It wasn’t until about two years ago that I started to become involved in my religion. Since I
was fairly young, I have thought of myself as Jewish but just because of heritage. To be honest I didn’t
give it that much thought. I don’t actually remember now what made that change, but I think that it was
very gradual. It might have started about four years ago when my wonderful teacher, Peter Jones, started
my thinking about it. I first started coming to services because Judaism was part of me, but I really had no
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