Card: Bat/Bat Mitzvah - Torah

Happy Pesach (Passover) to all my Jewish family & friends!  While I don't have a nice Passover card to share (I should probably think about making one though!), I do have this Bar/Bat Mitzvah card that I think is pretty nice!




 
For those who are not Jewish or are not familiar with these terms:

• Bar Mitzvah - a boy becomes a Bar Mitzvah, son of commandment when he turns 13.  In many synogagues, he often leads or is honored in the Shabbat services on a Saturday near his birthday which includes his reading from the Torah for the first time.
• Bat Mitzvah - a girl becomes a Bat Mitzvah, daughter of commandment at either 12 or 13 (the custom varies among Reform, Reconstructionist & Conservative synogagues).  She often leads or is honored in the Shabbat services on either Friday night or the Saturday near her birthday and this sometimes includes reading from the Torah.
• Bas Mitzvah - this is the same as Bat Mitzvah.  The Hebrew letter "tahv" which makes up the last letter of "Bat" is sometimes pronounced with an "S" sound in the Ashkenazi (Eastern European) Jewish tradition.

Inspiration: The inspiration for this card came from the saying that I have on it, "The students of Torah add peace to the world!".  To me, the saying translates to something along the lines of those who continue to learn from every aspect of their life continue to make the world a better place.

How I Make Them:  The Torah shape comes from a die-cut that I ordered a long time ago from Creative Memories (I'm not sure if they still have it or not).  I just use the original paper that it was popped out of as a stencil.  I have two sizes, a large one and a small one.  If I'm doing a larger card, I use the large template and make 1 Torah, often out of blue hand-made paper and glue it to the card.  If I'm doing a smaller card, I use the small template and make 2 Torahs, one in either silver or gold and the other in pink or purple for a girl and usually blue for a boy.  I overlap the Torahs slightly near the bottom (kind of like how they often lay closer together near the bottom than the top when in the ark) when I glue them to the card.  For the large version, I write the saying "The students of Torah add peace to the world" in a wave above the Torah so it almost looks like a tallit over covering over the Torah.  On the smaller version, I break it up a little and write "Students of Torah" near the top and "add peace to the world" below the Torahs or if there isn't room I write the second part inside.  I typically keep these cards blank inside to write a personal message congratulating them on becoming a Bar or Bat Mitzvah.

Alternatives:

• Besides Bar/Bat Mitzvah, I sometimes use this card for Confirmation which is sometimes viewed as kind of like a graduation from Jewish religious school.  It could be used for other graduations as well.