Celebration of Annette Bat Mitzvah Club´s 43 Girls

This year forty-three young girls of Bat Mitzvah age, who had attended the Annette Bat Mitzvah Club for one year, participated in the 15th of the Collective Bat Mitzvah ceremony.

The ceremony started with the girls coming into the synagogue hand in hand with their fathers and taking their places one by one, accompanied by 'Boi Kala' sung by the famous singer Cenk Rofe. Following the girls' reciting the Bat Mitzvah prayers in Hebrew and Turkish, the Chief Rabbi of Turkey Rabbi Isak Haleva, while reminding them of their responsibilities of teaching and passing along our traditions as future mothers, gave them his blessings.

After their opening speeches, the girls thanked their madrihas [meaning 'guide' in Hebrew] Deniz Andiç, Eti Vitas, Linzi Varon, Rayka Zavaro, and Selin Levi who educated them all throughout the year, the Bat Mitzvah Club administrator Reysi Haleva and the Head Madriha Linda Güner who had been there with them all throughout the year.

During the candle lighting ceremony, where the successful women of the past and today were told, Annette Rubinstein Talu, after whom the club had been named and whom we lost during the 2003 terrorist attack on the synagogues, was also commemorated. Girls then presented the tzedakah [the charity money] that they had collected among themselves all through the year to Or Yom. After singing the songs cheerfully, the girls also thanked the Music teacher of UÖMO (Ulus Jewish Schools) Tutkum Alkan, who had helped them prepare for this beautiful ceremony.

The President of HEGKOM (Chief Rabbinate Education Commission) Ester Asa also thanked everyone who had contributed to realizing this ceremony and wished the Bat Mitzvah girls Mazal Tov. Asa, expressing that learning Torah was a lifelong education, advised them to keep on improving themselves. The ceremony ended after the girls were presented with their certificates and gift books.

After the ceremony, the girls and their families attended the cocktail prepared by Barinyurt-La Casa Catering in the Neve Shalom Cultural Center. Thus another heartwarming ceremony ended with the happiness and pride felt by the girls and their families; let there be many more...

Mazal Tov!

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