Anette Bat Mitzvah Club Girls Have Graduated

By Suzet MAZUN

Translation by Janet MITRANI

The young girls of Bat Mitzvah age who had attended the Anette Bat Mitzvah Club for one year, participated in the 16th Collective Bat Mitzvah Ceremony.

The ceremony started with the girls coming into the synagogue hand in hand with their fathers and taking their places in an emotional atmosphere, accompanied by 'Boi Kala' sung by Cenk Rofe. Following the girls' reciting the Bat Mitzvah prayers, it was time for the candle-lighting ceremony where also Anette, whom we had lost during the 2003 terror attack, and after whom the club had been named, was commemorated.

The Bat Mitzvah girls after singing songs including Shalom Aleichem, Osse Shalom, Yerushalayim Shel Zahav, and Adon Olam joyfully, thanked the Music teacher of the UÖMO (Ulus Jewish Schools) Tutkum Alkan who had helped them get ready for this ceremony and their teachers who had educated them for one year.

The President of HEGKOM (Chief Rabbinate Education Commission) Ester Asa, also thanked everyone who had contributed in realizing this ceremony and wished the Bat Mitzvah girls 'Mazal Tov'. Avi Alkaş, one of the founders of HEGKOM, after also expressing his feelings about the ceremony, together with Ishak Ibrahimzadeh, the Turkish Jewish Community's co-President, thanked Ester Asa for all her contributions and presented her gift.

As the ceremony ended with the girls being presented with their diplomas and gift books, it was time for the banquet in the Neve Shalom Cultural Center prepared by La Casa Catering. Thus another heartwarming ceremony came to an end with the happiness felt by the families, the Bat Mitzvah girls, and their instructors.

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