On the afternoon of Thursday March 14, Ma’ayanot students transformed their Student Center into a festive banquet hall to host a special bat mitzvah celebration. Students created and served at every aspect of the bat mitzvah—arranging centerpieces and balloons, buying fruit and designing fruit platters, baking and serving desserts, styling hair and make-up for the bat mitzvah girl and her family, and photographing family portraits before the event. Dressed in their Shabbos finery, students sang, danced and played games, and enjoyed a dance performance by the bat mitzvah girl together with several seniors on the Ma’ayanot dance team.

Ma’ayanot Chesed Coordinator Nina Kaminetsky, along with beloved Spanish teacher Senora Delia Nagar, organized and planned the magnificent celebration with the students. Kamintetsky said, “It was amazing to see the students’ hard work and enthusiastic participation!” Juniors Aviva Gotesman and Shayna Leizerson were among the students who served as photographers for the bat mitzvah celebrant and her family. They said, “It was so wonderful to meet her one-on-one, and see how friendly, bubbly and happy she was. We felt honored to participate in this occasion.”

Head of School CB Neugroschl’s address related the celebration to Parshat Pekudei: “It is so special to bring the simcha of a bat mitzvah to the halls of Ma’ayanot. Just as all of the Jewish people cooperated to build the Mishkan, and thus bring kedusha to the nation, so too did all the students cooperate to celebrate this simcha, infusing kedusha into the lives of all who participated.” Sophomore Reut Markovitz summed up the students’ feelings: “It was wonderful to see the whole Ma’ayanot community put their all into the bat mitzvah, and it was such a beautiful celebration!”