B'nai Mitzvah Profile -- Maya Stepanksy

My name is Maya Stepansky and I am in 7th grade at Renaisance Middle School. I love to make art and play all different kinds of sports.  I also love to play the drums, as well as other instruments including guitar, piano, and ukulele.

My Bat Mitzvah will be on the 7th of January 2012, and I will be sharing it with my twin brother Jeremy. We will be reading the Torah portion "Vayechi" which describes the death of Jacob, reveals different aspects of his relationships with sons, and brings up issues of sibling rivalry. Family is an important theme throughout Vayechi, as is the passing down of blessings.

My passion for music, which is a blessing I share with my family, has led me to join with my brother to create a Mitzvah project that is very meaningful to both of us, as it enables us to use our music-making to help others. For our project, my brother and I have been recording a set of musical pieces for a CD, which will have music ranging from cool jazz to soulful rock. We are offering it in exchange for donations toward the local Interfaith Hospitality Network chapter (IHN), which gives shelter to homeless families in Essex County while helping them find permanent homes, and to the International Rescue Committee (IRC), which is an organization that provides assistance around the world to displaced people who are facing a wide range of adverse conditions. Our goal is to raise $2,500 for each organization. Having met many families dealing with homelessness through Shomrei's "Housing the Homeless" program, we know how very lucky we are to be able to work, play and make music in the comfort of our own living room--hopefully our CD, with your support, will help make this possible for others.  Pre-orders and donations can be sent to us by email and mail as described by my brother. We hope you enjoy our CD as much as we have enjoyed making it, and we would very much like to thank Rabbi Greenstein, Merrill Silver,  Judy Jaffe and the JLC, all our wonderful music teachers, and, especially, our parents and brother, for helping us prepare for our B'nai mitzvah and make this mitzvah project come to life.