2. May the Al-mighty grant blessings and success from His full, open, holy and ample hand to each of the Bar Mitzvah celebrants, and to all of them together, amidst all Israel, with all blessings for all necessities — necessities consonant to G-d’s will. Foremost, that each of you may resolve to accept upon himself the yoke of Torah and the yoke of mitzvos, with joy and a good heart. This very resolution, undertaken with the utmost firmness, especially on the auspicious day of your Bar Mitzvah, enlarges and broadens the ability and opportunity for proper and full service to G-d. And G-d will certainly aid you to find complete success in this endeavor.

Consonant to the command, “Love your fellow as yourself;” may you also be a “lamp to illumine,” — a living example for everyone in your surroundings, children and adults, of how to serve G-d — with joy and a good heart, increasing in service from day to day and from hour to hour. This is particularly so in the light of that noted previously (in the general yechidus), that the section of the weekly parshah read today emphasizes the concepts of love and unity between Jews. It talks of the mission given to each Jew to “execute the vengeance of the L-rd on Midian” — to totally abolish strife and division between Jews and to increase in true love of a Jew, extending to unity between Jews which is connected with the “one Torah” given by the “one G-d.”

Love of a Jew is emphasized particularly in the case of a Bar Mitzvah. When a child turns Bar Mitzvah, he becomes obligated to observe all the Torah’s mitzvos. Since love of a Jew is the whole Torah, special attention must be paid to this mitzvah at the time of Bar Mitzvah.

It is when all Jews are united, that G-d’s blessings are bestowed upon us — “Bless us, our Father, all of us as one, with the light of Your countenance,” and “The L-rd make His countenance shine upon you” — upon each and every one of the Bar Mitzvah celebrants, their parents, brothers and sisters, grandparents, all the members of their family, amidst all Israel — in all their needs, extending to the principal blessing: the abolition of the exile and the meriting of the true and complete redemption through our righteous Mashiach.

It is a good custom for the Bar Mitzvah celebrant, on the day of his Bar Mitzvah, to give tzedakah from his own money. If the Bar Mitzvah is on Shabbos, he should give tzedakah on erev Shabbos and on the day after Shabbos. It is also a good thing for the parents of the Bar Mitzvah celebrant, and those close to them, to give tzedakah in the Bar Mitzvah celebrant’s merit.

Also, it is proper that on the day of his Bar Mitzvah each of the Bar Mitzvah celebrants learn the fourteenth psalm of Tehillim, the book of King David, the “Sweet Singer of Israel.” [Those that are already Bar Mitzvah should do the above (giving tzedakah and learning the 14th psalm) today or tomorrow.]

These acts, especially the mitzvah of tzedakah which is equal to all the mitzvos, act as extra blessings for everything associated with the Bar Mitzvah, to fulfill the celebrant’s resolution to be a chassid, a G-dfearing person and a scholar — as is G-d’s wish — and in an ever-increasing manner.

As my participation in the above, I shall give each of the Bar Mitzvah celebrants and their relatives present, a dollar to be given to tzedakah. All these tzedakahs will combine to hasten the redemption, as our Sages have said (B. Basra 10a), “Great is Tzedakah for it hastens the redemption.”