Justin Farber

There are many themes in my Torah portion, Vayetzei. The theme in my Torah portion I would like to talk about is trickery. This occurs in my portion when Laban tricks Jacob into marrying the older sister Leah, and then making him work another 7 years to finally marry the daughter that Jacob wished to marry in the first place, Rachel. I understand that in my life because, when I was younger, I was having a catch with one of my friends. A little later some of my other friends wanted to play a game and I did not want to play a game. So my friend who I was having a catch with took the ball and they played the game without me. He had tricked me and I wasn’t even able to play in the game. I learned from that experience that I should be more open and think about what other people want to do as a group instead of just thinking of myself. That is how trickery relates to me in my life.

To become a Bar Mitzvah it is my responsibility to make the world a better place. For this I did a mitzvah project. What I did was donate hundreds of books to an organization called Book Smiles. What they do with these books is give them to children who cannot afford books so with the books that Book Smiles gives them they can have the pleasure of reading. I am glad to be able to have a part in it.

I would like to thank Cantor Borsky for preparing me for this day. I would like to thank my parents for being there for me and helping me throughout this journey. I would like to thank my friends and family for being here.