Bar & Bat Mitzvah · Parent Speech Guide · Exodus

The Parent Speech for Parashat Terumah

If your child is reading Terumah, the speech you give that morning shouldn't be a book report on the portion — it should be about them, with the parsha giving your words weight. Terumah hands a parent three honest ways in: giving from the heart, building something sacred together, making space for what matters.

What happens in Parashat Terumah

God asks for offerings from every willing heart to build the Mishkan — a sanctuary so God may dwell among them.

1. Giving from the heart

The offering is taken 'from every person whose heart moves them' — the willingness matters as much as the gift.

The story to findHow does your child give — time, help, encouragement — when their heart moves them?

2. Building something sacred together

The sanctuary is built from many people's contributions — gold from one, yarn from another. Everyone's piece matters.

The story to findWhat has your child contributed to something bigger than themselves — a team, a show, a project, this community?

3. Making space for what matters

'Build Me a sanctuary and I will dwell among them' — among the people, not in the building. We make room for holiness in how we live.

The story to findWhere do you see your child making room for what really matters — family, friends, tradition?

How a real parent speech comes together

The speeches that make a room go quiet aren't essays about the parsha — they're two or three true stories about your kid, with one Torah moment placed where it lands hardest. Pick the single theme above that made you think of a specific dinner-table moment, answer its question honestly, and resist the urge to attach a moral to every story. End with a blessing in your own words — that's the part everyone remembers.

Nachas writes it with you.

A ten-minute interview about your child, and you get a speech plan that pairs their real stories with Terumah — then three complete drafts in different voices, for every speaker in the family.

Start with Terumah — see your speech plan

The interview and speech plan are free. No signup.