3887 —בר מצוה כהתחלת עול תורה ומצוות, והבר מצוה של יצחק

B"H, 16 Cheshvan, 5716

Brooklyn, N.Y.

Mr. Michal Yehoshua [Shulsinger], may he live

Greetings and blessing!

It was with pleasure that I received the news that your son Amiel, may he live, will enter the yoke of mitzvos on Thursday of Parshas Vayeira. I hereby express my wishes to you and your wife, may you both live, that your son, may he live, will always recognize that his bar mitzvah day is the beginning of his acceptance of the yoke of Torah and the yoke of mitzvos, and that he will go מחיל אל חיל, "from strength to strength" (Tehillim 84:8), in the study of the Torah and the fulfillment of its mitzvos in everyday life.

Since, as you write, you will surely be called up to the Torah on the coming Shabbos Parshas Vayeira, may it come upon us for good, and will say ברוך שפטרני, "Blessed is He who has released me [from the punishment of this one]," it is in this very parshah that we find the source of the saying of our Sages (Midrash Rabbah, Bereishis 53:10) about the bar mitzvah of Yitzchak Avinu, the first bar mitzvah celebration, which carries an instruction for all generations, as with every matter in the Torah, which is from the word hora'ah, instruction. Our Sages related that at the bar mitzvah feast of Yitzchak the great men of the nations were present, Og among them, who mocked the bar mitzvah and the future of Israel, a small minority among many nations; and the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: "By your life, you will see thousands of thousands and myriads of myriads descend from his children's children."

And so there have always been those who claimed, and still claim, that the way of life according to Torah is enough to wipe out and wear down the strength of Israel, etc.; and our Sages taught that, on the contrary, the way of the Torah is the way of life and eternity, the way of success both spiritually and materially.

With blessing.

Publisher's notes

Mr. Michal Yehoshua (מר מיכל יהושע שי'): Shulsinger.