When I go to a Bar Mitzvah, I don’t expect to get an education. I only go to join in a family’s celebration of a happy occasion. Today, I got two for the price of one.

I post the comments made by Elie Zimring at his Bar Mitzvah today. If you aren’t as steeped in the Jewish tradition as Elie is, you might want to keep WikiPedia opened in another window.

Elie Zimring is my cousin, a few generations removed.

The excerpt below is from the D’var Torah by Elie Zimring.

Anyway… when I was reading the parsha at my first bar mitzvah lesson, something struck me as strange. Bilhah and Zilpah are responsible for one third of the Jewish people. Bilhah gave birth to Dan and Naphtali, and Zilpah gave birth to Gad and Asher. A lot of the Torah would not happen it wasn’t for them. The Jewish People are what I am a part of & they include every tribe. Maybe I’m descended from Bilhah or Zilpah. But Bilhah and Zilpah are barely mentioned in the Torah, and they’re not remembered by us when we say the Amidah every day. This doesn’t seem fair to me. I think they deserve more attention — and they even deserve to be in the imahot. I decided to learn more about them.

Here are some references that give some context for Elie’s remarks. Parashat Vayetze 5776 and Haftarah for Va-yetzei.