NL 2017-10

Ryan John Baker
We are looking forward to Ryan’s Bar
Mitzvah at the end of this month on October
28 th 2017. Ryan has been preparing for this
day for a very long time. He is so honored to
share such a special occasion with all of you.
Ryan is an 8 th Grader at Patterson Mill Middle School where he is an honor roll student.
He shares a very busy household with mom Alli, dad Barry, two brothers Garrett & Jack,
two dogs, two cats and two fish. Ryan is very involved in Boy Scouts and is a member of
troop 936. He goes away for a week to Boy Scout Camp every summer and enjoys weekly
meetings and many camping trips with the scouts. Ryan’s two favorite hobbies are
building Lego’s and gaming. He participates in the Lego Club at school. He also enjoys
playing tennis.
Ryan has been attending Temple Adas Shalom Religious School since he was in 1st grade.
We are so thankful for his wonderful teachers, principals, and Rabbi Gila. You have all
given him the gift of a positive, welcoming, religious education. Ryan’s Tri-Mitzvahlon
project is very special. He will be twinning with his dad, who has converted to Judaism.
We are all so proud of Barry for all the time, hard work and heart he has put in to his
conversion process. The formal work has taken place over this past year, however Judaism
has had a very special place in Barry’s heart for a long time. He has been an active temple
member since we joined seven years ago. He comes to services and temple events, is active
and interested in the kids Jewish education and is often the leader of some very interesting
religious discussions in our house. We are thrilled that he and Ryan can share such an
important day in both of their lives!
There are two more pieces of Ryan’s Tri-Mitzvahlon project. For the service to the
community, he has been volunteering with the Chesapeake Feline Association. This group
of volunteers works tirelessly to improve the lives of homeless cats and kittens and find
them forever families. Ryan goes to Petco every Monday evening , cleans their cages and
plays with the cats. If you are looking to adopt a kitten – talk to Ryan! He is also going to
be leading a project to clean up the outside trail on the Temple grounds. He has enlisted
his boy scout troop and his class to help out.
We are so proud of Ryan for all he has accomplished and for the smart, sweet, and
generous young adult he is turning into. We all want to thank everyone that has helped
him along in this journey – Rabbi Gila, Dr. Paul Ruskin, Linda Needel, Garrett, all of his
religious school teachers along the way and last but not least, his classmates and their
families. It has been a great year sharing in all of your B’nai Mitzvah! YAY for #9!! Almost
done!
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