On Wednesday evening, February 23, the RYNJ gym was transformed into a festive party space and the sixth grade talmidot, their moms, teachers and administrators joined together in the Orah Visimchah Bat Mitzvah Banquet.

It was an evening of reflection, celebration and appreciation. The theme was Eishet Chayil, as it was a culmination of the students’ year-long study of the women role models of Tanach and the lessons gleaned from these heroines through their midot and their actions. Each student also selected one role model in her family and wrote about her family member’s history and why she was so inspiring; the works were beautifully displayed in an impressive exhibit at the banquet.

The guests were privileged to hear divrei Torah and inspiration from Head of School Rabbi Price and Sarit Glass, who represented all of the moms with words of chizuk and pride. Every staff member who attended the banquet was then presented with a beautiful bouquet of flowers, as an expression of hakarat hatov on behalf of the mothers and daughters.

In their study groups, the girls learned each pasuk and highlighted the special qualities of the woman of valor that Shlomo Hamelech describes. They then identified which women in Tanach displayed the qualities in each and every pasuk and discussed where they saw these traits come to life. And finally, all of the talmidot selected the words that they thought best related to their primary role models, their mothers. They used those words to create an original floating art piece, a typography picture of a rose which the students presented to their surprised moms at the banquet.

The hakarat hatov to moms continued as the bnot mitzvah wowed the crowd with original dances which the girls choreographed to the songs

תודה לך ה,’ השיר של אמא, הרבה נחת

Mazal tov to the sixth graders as they reach this great milestone in their lives and continue on the journey to to become the role models of tomorrow and inspire the bnot Torah of the next generation.