Bar Mitzvah Magazine 2014

What you lose by playing it too safe
Comment on the lessons
you learn from the stories at
By: Layala Rudy
Hillel Yeshiva
Fear can really hold you back from succeeding
in life. So many things and opportunities
come up every now and then
and you just can’t accept them because
of your fear of being judged by everyone
else. When it comes to choosing a high
school or a college, someone might be so
scared of making new friends and starting
off in a new environment that they’ll hold
themselves back from amazing opportunities.
This is because of fear. You are
scared of doing something different from
everyone else. You don’t want to benefit
yourself so you do what everyone else
is doing. That’s what fear does to you. It
may hold you back from the most amazing
achievements and changes of your
entire life.
In honor of
m y wi fe Sara h
by Hen ry Hef e tz
TorahContest.com
Don’t miss the
sun today worrying
about the rain
coming tomorrow.
By: Vivian Elias
Magen David Yeshivah
A girl was very scared of many things.
The one fear that held her back was her
fear of making new friends. When she
moved to a new school, she lost her
old friends and was too scared to make
new ones. She was scared to be rejected.
They wanted to be her friends, but
she was scared that soon they would
reject her. She lost out on making new
friends and she graduated school without
friends and became anti social. If she
didn’t have the fear in the first place, she
could’ve had friends.
By: Joseph Sultan
Barkai Yeshivah
You’re playing a sport and your friends
are counting on you because you’re the
best on the team. Never feel pressured
because when you’re pressured it is
more likely to fail. So, just be yourself,
take a deep breath and go play.
By: Danielle Ammar
Barkai Yeshivah
Fear. What is it? It’s that voice in your
head that doesn’t want you to challenge
yourself or doesn’t want you to be yourself.
For example, anorexic people just get
skinnier and skinnier. Why? Some people
might ask how they can starve themselves
when they were beautiful already
and how can they keep getting skinnier.
They’re skinny enough. These people are
anorexic because of fear. Fear that they
won’t be accepted by other people and
the fear of being fat. After a while, that
voice of fear will become their ‘friend’
and they won’t stop. Another example is
when someone doesn’t like to tell “no” to
others. After a while, people will use that
person. She needs to learn to be able to
say “no” and still be good friends. Fear is
a lack of confidence. Everyone is insecure
in some way but you need to find a way to
grasp even a glimpse of confidence. Confidence
means overcoming fear and that’s
what you have to do.
By: Alan Dweck
Hillel Yeshiva
George really loves basketball, but there
is one thing about it. He doesn’t let anyone
watch him. He is afraid that if he
misses a shot they will make fun of him.
So, every day he hides to play after school
in a gym that’s 25 minutes away and pays
$30 to rent the gym just so nobody would
watch him. And, the worst part is that he
is amazing at it.
By: Linda Jinani
Ahi Ezer Yeshiva
One time, I needed a shot. My mother
took me to the doctor. I was very scared.
The doctor told me not to move. I was so
nervous that I moved. The shot blew up
and was burning. Had I not moved, all of
this wouldn’t have happened.
64 Bar/Bat Mitzvah Magazine 718-909-6060 View magazine online at BMmagazine.com