It's graduation time once again. Indeed, we will honor our B'nai Moshe graduates of Middle School, High School and college programs during the Shabbat morning service on June 13. Mazal tov to all the well deserving students, and to the parents and grandparents who are rightfully proud of their wonderful achievements.

I am not the first, and will not be the last, to question why graduation, which is the culmination of years of study, is called commencement, a word which usually means "beginning." The most obvious answer to this question is that graduation really is the beginning of the rest of one's life. Therefore, the whole purpose of the graduation is not to reflect on the school just completed, but rather to now look forward to one's future endeavors.

That "finishing" is just another way of "starting over" is certainly not a new concept to the Jewish people. Every time we complete the reading of a book of the Torah — we start to read a new book. And when we arrive at the final verse of Deuteronomy — we start reading over again from Genesis. As in commencement exercises, the greatest honor of finishing a task is the opportunity to start a new one.

The same reasoning is applied to studying books of the Talmud. Each year on the Eve of Pesach, when we celebrate the completion of a tractate, the formula recited in the ceremony indicates our desire to return to study this Talmudic wisdom at another time in the future. In today's culture, a re-run of a television show is considered "second rate." In studying Rabbinic text, the second time around is better than the first.

The most obvious application of this message is regarding Bar/Bat Mitzvah. It is a great milestone in the life of a young Jewish person, but there is no doubt that this event is meant to be a "beginning" and not a "conclusion." To call Bar/Bat Mitzvah a "culmination" would be analogous to saying that receiving one's drivers license is to mark the conclusion of one's prior sixteen years of "not driving."

Bar/Bat Mitzvah marks the moment when a young Jewish person is now responsible to live according to the Mitzvot, the Commandments of the Torah. How sad and ironic when the one who has become Bar/Bat Mitzvah no longer engages in Jewish learning or attends the synagogue. This is as strange as one who never drives again, following the "road test" to receive the license.

At this time of the year, as we celebrate the conclusion of the school year, remember that the summer is the perfect time for all of us, of all ages, to "refresh our Jewish souls." Come to shul, visit our excellent library, go online to learn something new, in short — make today the day to begin the next chapter in your continually growing Jewish life.