Rachel's Bat Mitzvah

	The Toast:
	I would like to welcome all our guests who were able to join us on this happy occasion. I spent a lot of time thinking about what I should say in this toast. Its been a long time since I've been to a bar or bat mitzvah and I just couldn't remember what is usually said. So I asked one friend for some advice, and he said "give her some words of wisdom to guide her in the future". A colleague said, "whatever you do, don't be philosophical because you will bore your guests". Someone else advised that I should start off with a humorous story and keep it light. Another friend told me "whatever you do, don't try to be funny, you'll just offend your guests". Someone else said "pick a couple of themes that are important to Rachel and pontificate on them for a while." One friend advised "keep it short, no one likes a wind-bag". So I decided the best thing to do was to call for a minute of silence. But then I thought "No this is for Rachel. She expects me to be boring, offensive and longwinded. And above all else on this special occasion, I don't want to disappoint. So here goes: Today is the first day of the festival of Sukkot. One of the traditions of the holiday is to share food and drink with family and friends. And so Rachel, on this day you are participating in the fulfillment of two Jewish traditions. First, you have become a bat mitzvah. On this day, Jewish law recognizes that you now have the training and maturity to assume your adult obligations in the Jewish religion. Second, you have also shared this happy occasion with family and friends, new and old, in the tradition of sukkot. You did an excellent job on the bimah this morning. None of us here are surprised by that. Over the years we have witnessed your drive to learn and to do your best. It has manifested itself in your schoolwork, it has been demonstrated by your torah studies and it is evidenced by your performance at services today. Your mother and I, and I'm sure all our guests, are proud of you. Your bat mitzvah is one milestone in what will be a lifetime of milestones and achievements. All of us here today are so happy to be able to share this happy occasion with you, and we look forward to sharing many other happy occasions with you in the years to come. And so I ask that all of our guests raise your glasses in a toast to Rachel and to wish her a hearty mozel-tov.