Mitzvat
Alisrah
Oak Park woman sanctifies her move
to Israel with a custom-made ceremony.
SHELLI LIEBMAN DORFMAN
Staff Writer
W
hile Miriam Lewis of Oak Park has
many times stood on the bimah of her
synagogue, on Shabbat morning, July 5,
she approached it with new purpose and
enormous sentiment.
This was the 25-year-old's final visit to
Congregation Beth Shalom before making aliyah to
Israel, three days later.
The emotion-filled service was highlighted by the
mitzvat aliyah ceremony Miriam helped create.
For Lewis, saying goodbye to friends and family in
Michigan needed to go beyond the open-house cele-
bration her parents planned for her. "Having just a
party didn't quite capture the significance of it," she
said.
Then she read Lift on the Fringes, whose author,
Haviva Ner-David, also made aliyah from the States
and is now prepar-
ing for Orthodox
rabbinic ordination.
"In her book,
[she] writes about
adapting and creat-
ing Jewish rituals,"
said Lewis, who
invited the author
to speak to her
Rosh Chodesh
Women's Group in
Israel.
After the meet-
ing, the two dis-
cussed "finding a
way
to make my
Miriam Lewis in Israel with
aliyah
more signifi-
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
cant on a Jewish or ritual level." They
named the ceremony "mitzvat aliyah."
"She believes making aliyah is an
event that should be recognized religious
ly," said Bobbie Lewis, Miriam's mother.
"For her, it is on a spiritual par with her
bat mitzvah — in fact, more spiritually
significant since she's now an adult rather
than a brand-new teenager and is doing
this of her own free will, not because it's
expected."
The Ceremony
To prepare for her mitzvat aliyah, Lewis
first turned to her clergy "Rabbi [David]
Nelson found a Mi Shebeirach [prayer for
healing] for people making aliyah, in the
Rabbinical Assembly Rabbi's Manual
[1998, page F-32]," she said.
Cantor Samuel Greenbaum contacted
his son, a Conservative rabbi in
Pittsburgh, and discovered no ceremony
already composed. "So I told Miriam's
Miriam Lewis heads out her Oak Park home.
father Joe that he is so creative, he should
write one himself," Cantor Greenbaum
Israel, he spoke of those who "have too much invested
said.
in their life here to make such a significant change."
And Dr. Joe Lewis sat down with his daughter and
But then he added, "For those who can, and do,
did just that.
like
Miriam, we say, Lechi leShalom, may you make
"Miriam just wanted to express her intentions with-
your
way toward peace, for the sake of peace, and to a
in the Jewish community," he said. So she decided her
place
where you will find peace."
participation in the service would include an aliyah
'A
lot our friends — who watched our children
(call to the Torah) and a speech to the congregation
grow up — came to shul to be with us," Dr. Lewis
about her plans, goals and reasons for wanting to live
said. "It was a little like the emotion you feel at a wed-
in Israel.
ding — watching someone mark a very important life
Dr. Lewis recited the Mi Shebeirach suggested by
event in the community you're a part of."
Rabbi Nelson, which Dr. Lewis personalized to include
the aliyah of his daughter. Referring to the words in
MITZVAT ALIYAH on page 32
the week's Torah portion, about those unable to enter
7/25
2003
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