Original Article Published On The Jewish Ledger

WOODBRIDGE — It is amazing how much a group of 15 mothers, mostly with children in the under 12-year age range, can remember about their own teen years.

Sydney Perry, director of the Jewish Federation of Greater New Haven and veteran executive director of the Department of Jewish Education, presented “The American Bar/Bat Mitzvah: Religion or Party?” the second in a series of six workshops in the Jewish Parenting series, sponsored by the Women’s Division of the Jewish Federation of Greater New Haven.

Perry began by challenging each woman to reflect on her adolescence and bat mitzvah, if she celebrated one.

After the group discussed the developmental and social issues facing teenagers, Perry provided a historical and sociological overview of bar and bat mitzvah. She then offered examples of how the Jewish religion offers a “built in progression” through the yearsfrom learning the song

“Torah Tzivah Lanu Moshe” at age three, to shaking a lulav at school age, to being allowed to read the Haftarah (in some communities) at age nine, to learning to put on tefillin just before bar mitzvah.

Some members of the group shared fond memories of their own bnot mitzvah, while others still feel sad and “incomplete” at not having the opportunity to celebrate a bat mitzvah.

Laura Campbell shared the story of her mother’s adult bat mitzvah, celebrated a few weeks earlier after two intense years of study. And the women encouraged Lauren Arch to consider celebrating her own adult bat mitzvah. Perry pointed out that bar and bat mitzvah marks a change in status, and that each woman in the room had automatically become a bat mitzvah and begun taking on the responsibilities of a Jewish woman.

Nonetheless, Perry acknowledged the feelings of those who didn’t actively celebrate their own change of status and offered suggestions for being more involved in Jewish learning and synagogue life, especially as they go through the bar/bat mitzvah preparation process with their own children.

While some in attendance were attending their first parenting workshop, many are “regulars” of the series.

Betsy Flaherty reports that she “comes to all the workshops” and that she “walks away with an incredible amount of information”from both the presenters and the other women.

“I love the feeling of camaraderie,” notes Flaherty. Joanna Cooper, mother of three, attended last year, noting, “The more information you have, the better choices you can make.”

Robyn Teplitzky, campaign consultant, shared a simcha pillow and a “mazel tov” chair designed by local artist, Jeanette Kuvin Oren on which a child is lifted at his or her bar/bat mitzvah. The chair remains as a beautiful piece of living room furniturebetween uses at family simchas.

And Teplitzky passed around a copy of “Mitzvah Chic,” by Gail Anthony Greenberg, which offers suggestions for making bnai mitzvah creative and meaningful.

While Perry is often playful and funny in her presentations, her message is clear. She is serious in stressing the importance of “thinking about the days after bar and bat mitzvah.” She acknowledges how special the bar and bat mitzvah can be, but she encourages families to

emphasize knowledge and synagogue skills which will be useful for a lifetime of involvement in Jewish communal life. And Perry is unapologetic in stressing the need for ongoing Jewish education, beyond the bar and bat mitzvah years.

“When I teach sixth and seventh graders, I ask them if they know how to read and write. They laugh and say that of course they do. When I ask them if they plan to stay in school and continue learning, they laugh again say that they do know they will need to learn more complex math and science, read harder books, and learn to write more sophisticated essays.”

Perry then turns to the group and tells them that, if they don’t continue their Jewish learning after bar and bat mitzvah, they will “be frozen in the seventh grade.”

Perry concluded her presentation by speaking about the “Build a Tzedakah Fund,” where bar and bat mitzvah age children “learn to spend Jewishly.” The theme of learning to care for others was clearly important to the women in attendance. They had earlier heard a presentation by attendee Leslie Zackin, who is also Women’s Division President and General Campaign Chair.

She took the opportunity to introduce the work of the Women’s Division, followed by the screening of “The Power of a Woman’s Gift,” a video which shares stories of women’s feelings of empowerment through their gifts to the Federation.

Original Article Published On The Jewish Ledger

NEW HAVEN — What do Duke University, the State of Israel and the Knights of Columbus Museum have in common? They have all been fortunate enough to host an extraordinary exhibit of lithographs by Scottish architectural and landscape painter, David Roberts. Roberts spent 11 months traveling extensively throughout the Near East in 1838 and 1839.

“Roberts was quite a breakthrough individual,” reports Larry Sowinski, director of the Knights of Columbus Museum. “He was one of the first Europeans (under Ottoman Rule) to undertake such an expedition.” And Roberts’ route to the holy land is rather interesting.

Roberts was born in 1796 and was recognized at an early age for his skill in making accurate renderings of building and land around Edinburgh. As his family lacked finances for formal training in the arts, Roberts was apprenticed to a house painter at age 12. He later became a scene painter with a traveling theatre company. He always enjoyed outdoor and topographical paintings, and he was attracted to foreign lands. He traveled to Spain in the early 1830s, where he sketched gypsy costumes and Moorish architecture. Sales of his sketches of Spain were so successful that he now had enough money to finance his journey to the Near East.

After spending months in Cairo, he crossed the Sinai Desert to Mount Sinai and St. Catherine’s Monastery, then on to Petra and to the Holy Land. Roberts entered holy places, accompanied by body guards, with his sketch pads in hand. By the time he returned to England, Robert had three full sketchbooks and more than 272 watercolors.

In 1996, the State of Israel and the State of North Carolina engaged in the Israel/North Carolina Cultural Exchange. The Duke University Museum of Art was one of two dozen North Carolina cultural institutions which participated in the examination of Israeli arts; “Jerusalem and the Holy Land Rediscovered,” an exhibit of 123 of Roberts’ prints, was housed at the Duke Museum.

Sowinski has been in discussions with the Duke Museum for the Roberts exhibit for many years. “The lithographs don’t travel for more than eight weeks a year, and they haven’t been on display in more than two years,” notes Sowinski, “and we are lucky enough to get an extension to have the exhibit for ten weeks.”

Sowinski reports that 90 tinted and hand-colored lithographs will be on display at the Knights of Columbus Museum from Nov. 1, through Jan. 9, 2005. The Knights of Columbus Museum is, perhaps an unusual home for such an exhibit. The Knights of Columbus, incorporated in 1882, is the world’s largest Catholic fraternal service organization. The Knights of Columbus prides itself for its volunteer service and charitable contributions; in the past decade, they have volunteered nearly 400 million hours of service and raided and donated nearly one billion dollars to charitable causes. And Knights of Columbus Insurance has been protecting member families since its founding.

Sowinski doesn’t find the museum’s interest in the Holy Land exhbit strange at all. “We need an exhibit like this at this juncture in history” says Sowinski, who recounted in detail the centrality of Jerusalem for Jews, Christians and Muslims. Sowinski has been promoting the “Holy Land” exhibit in Catholic publications by inviting them to “Celebrate Catholic Christmas in Connecticut.” In Jewish publications, readers are

invited to “Visit the Promised Land in New Haven.” The exhibit will feature the 90 lithographs, each with a caption and more recent photo of what each of Robert’s sites looks like in modern Israel.

The “Holy Land” exhibit runs from Nov.1-Jan. 9 and is open seven days a week from 10am until 5pm (closed Thanksgiving and Christmas Day). The Knights of Columbus Museum is at State Street in New Haven Call 203-865-0400.