C ommu nity

Mazel Toy!

DEBBIE WALLIS LANDAU
Special to the Jewish News

The

Triple
SlITICha

Mother and
grandmother live
up to a three-year-old pledge.

acqui Gordon is known to be a
very enterprising, compassionate
and determined young lady.
So it should come as no sur-
prise that the multi-generational b'not
mitzvah of Jacqui, her mother and grand-
mother Nov. 25 at Temple Beth El is a
very sweet dividend of the 13-year-old's
perseverance.
It's also the first time three generations
celebrate a mitzvah ceremony together at
the Bloomfield Township congregation.
"How can anyone refuse their precious
grandchild's heartfelt request that you join
her on the bimah?" ponders Marion
Gordon Moskovitz, Jacqui's paternal
grandmother
Adrienne Gordon, Jacqui's mother, has
her own recollection. "I was laid up with a
badly broken ankle three years ago," she
recalls. "Jacqui said, "'Mom, I want you to
be bat mitzvah with me.' I told her that if
I could walk, I would join her. She
wouldn't give up. And here we are."
Jacqui began her religious school train-
ing in Temple Beth El's pre-school. For
her elders, however, bat mitzvah training
was a more formidable challenge.
"I went to religious school growing
up," says Adrienne, who's a Bloomfield
Township resident. "But I needed to learn
Hebrew from the
beginning."
Marion

j

Gordon Moskovitz of Farmington Hills
had experienced a multifaceted back-
ground that had embraced Orthodox,
then Conservative and finally Reform reli-
gious traditions.
"I had always studied Torah and had
been involved in adult study groups," she
said. "But learning Hebrew was a different
matter."
In addition, during Mrs. Moskovitz'
lifetime, the liturgy evolved from
Ashkenazi to the current Sephardi pro-
nunciation, further complicating practice.
But Mom and Granny were inspired to
emulate Jacqui's example. First they stud-
ied Aleph Bet. They progressed to more
difficult language combinations until they
were comfortable reading Hebrew.
Temple Beth El religious school direc-
tor Elizabeth Block and educator Allen
Lowen provided the backbone of their
training. "I owe them big thanks for
putting up with me and all my mispro-
nounciations," says Adrienne.
Jacqui, who is a student at Bloomfield
Hills Middle School, said the joint experi-
ence "was fun. Both my mom and
Granny worked very hard."
Particularly meaningful for Marion
Moskovitz is that the threesome will read
Chaye Sarah — the life of Sarah. "My
own granny's name was Sarah," she
remembers fondly. "She was a very impor-
tant part of my life, so it seems beshert
[meant to be] that this portion should be
the one we've been assigned.
"Little did the three of us realize at the
outset that after years of study and togeth-
erness how this would change us all for
the better and bring us so much closer
together."
For Jacqui, bat mitzvah is the culmina-
tion cf a year filled with multiple, person-
ally rewarding mitzvah projects. In addi-
tion to singlehandedly raising $500 for
the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation's Walk
for the Cure, she planted flowers at Jewish
Association for Residential Care homes
and worked at the Michigan Animal
Rescue League.
She particularly enjoyed volun-
teering at Temple Beth El's summer
nursery school camp. "The kids
were really cute," she says, "especial-
ly the ones I already knew"
Jacqui is also the daughter of
Randal Gordon and sister of
Joshua. She is the granddaughter of
Richard and Jo Coskey of
Bloomfield Hills, Martin Moskovitz
of Farmington Hills and the late
Pauline Coskey and the late Henry
Gordon. ❑

Marion Gordon Moskovitz, Jacqui
Gordon and Adrienne Gordon..

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