Viewing page 32 of 34

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

-3-

Maybe even in other countries.  Actually, I'm thinking of one family in particular.  The Ioffee family in Leningrad, USSR.  To back up a bit, when I was at camp this summer, we had the opportunity to identify a twin, to share our Bat Mitzvah with somebody.  The person I chose is Ogla Ioffee.  She was 13 years old September 2 of this year.  Her family is a good example of a close family, because they are all working together to get to Israel.  They have been refused twice by the Russian government.

I think, as I have said, that families are very important.  It is important to really get to know your family, and to understand them.  That is why communication is so vital.  Within a family, there are often words or gestures that mean something to those members but not to anyone outside the family.  I think those words help to make a family understand what the other people can do for them and just how special each person is.  Because families are special.

If you are part of a family, you have a job to perform.  You have to keep that family together and close.  You have to make your family members understand that you care for them.  You have to help and encourage them.  That is what families are for, after all.  Each family member is special, just as you are.  If my family hadn't helped me by encouraging and just loving me, I certainly wouldn't be standing here today.

I hope that you will try some of these things.  It just may help get your family the closeness it needs to make it work.  Think of other families in other countries who don't have the opportunities we have.  Think of families like the Ioffees who are forbidden to practice their religion and who are not free to move about as they want.  Think about these things and talk about them with others.