Rafaella's Speech --7th Day of Pesach 5766

Chag sameach to all of you, and thanks for coming to my Bat Mitzvah.

They say that the only prophecy left in the world is that of parents who name their children. My name is Rafaella Tzipora Churgin Gradstein. Rafael is the angel of healing, and my parents liked the name Rafaella (they actually thought I might be a boy, because I moved around so much in the womb, and it's a fairly common name.) Coincidentally, I was a preemie and my parents weren't sure I would survive. And, in addition to all of this, the last verse in my Torah portion is "Ani HaShem Rof'echa," "I am the Lord your Healer."

When I read my Torah portion, a question that occurred to me was: Why did the women, when they left Egypt, bring with them musical instruments? Didn't they have more important things to take? Then, I thought about an expression I learned at school, "Tears open gates; song brings down walls." A good example of this are the walls of Jericho. Another idea is the commentary I read I read in Pirkei D'Rabbi Eliezer: "From whence did they have drums and dances in the desert? It's just that righteous people always know with confidence that God will perform miracles and great deeds. When they left Egypt, they prepared the drums and the dances."

And I thought that perhaps Miriam—by the way, to deviate just a bit from the topic, Miriam is the first person in the Bible who has the title "prophet" or "prophetess" next to her name—prophesied that a miracle would happen to the children of Israel. Another important point: the children of Amram (Miriam, Aaron and Moses) tended to be optimistic prophets!

And after she prophesied, Miriam told the women of Israel to bring musical instruments. What attracted me to this interpretation is the fact that the text calls her "the prophetess" for the first time after the Song of the Sea; that is, after her prophecy has been fulfilled! And now let's turn to my second name, which just happens to be the name of Miriam's good friend and sister-in-law.

Tzipora—torn away from her people, her culture and homeland? It is difficult to adjust to a new situation. I have experienced something similar, although not as extreme, twice in my life. Once when we went to America for a year, as a surprise; and once when we came back, and this time I was told more "moderately."

The first-born son of Moses and Tzipora was named Gershom, as in "Ger" (stranger)which refers to both his parents, not only to Moses, "For I have been a stranger in a strange land."

From the strange story of the "bridegroom of blood" (Exodus 4: 24-26) we learn of Tzipora's wisdom and great resourcefulness.

From Miriam's "gossip" in the Portion of B'haalot'cha (Numbers 12), we learn that Tzipora was beautiful, as Rashi comments on the verse, "And Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman…": " Cushite in gematriya—Hebrew numerology—equals beautiful. Some women are beautiful in looks but not in deeds; some in deeds, but not in looks; but this one was beautiful in everything." (Just like my mom.) According to the Midrash, Moses sent her away. I quote:" And how did Miriam know that Moses had stopped having a marital relationship with Tzipora? Rabbi Natan said that Miriam was at Tzipora's side when Moses was told that Eldad and Meidad had been prophesying within the camp. When Tzipora heard this, she said,' Woe is unto the wives of these prophets, if they leave their wives the way my husband left me.'"

Did Moses reject her for the Lord? "That's not fair!" I thought to myself, "Was he cruel in his behavior towards Tzipora?" Is love so limited? Loving God doesn't mean that you can't love another person! On the contrary, this is how we view Judaism: a person can concentrate on both worlds, not just one of them.

And now that I am a Bat Mitzvah, I hope I will be able to fulfill love of God, as well as love for His creatures.