The Hebrew word, 'mitzvah', means commandment, and the most important commandment, according to Jacob Poleyeff, is "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as myself." Those words set the tone for what was certainly a love-filled event, the Bat Mitzvah on Sunday, May 18, of Matheny School student Jenna Poleyeff. Jenna has been a resident at the Matheny Medical and Educational Center, a special hospital and educational facility in Peapack for children and adults with medically complex developmental disabilities, since May 2012 and a student there since September 2009. "When we were introduced to Matheny," Jacob Poleyeff once said, "we never met so many caring people in one day."
That's one of the reasons Jacob and Lauren Poleyeff of West Orange decided to hold their daughter's Bat Mitzvah in the Robert Schonhorn Arts Center at Matheny. The building was filled with caring people -- from Matheny staff members to family and friends of the Poleyeffs, some of whom traveled quite a distance to get there. Jenna's hometown rabbi, Mark Spivak of Congregation Ohr Torah in West Orange, looked around the auditorium and remarked, "At a place like this, all you think about is caring and love. I see the love that exists between Jenna and her caregivers." Steve Proctor, Matheny president, said he was, "very proud of the work we've been able to do for this young woman. We're grateful for the trust you've placed in us." And Matheny's Jewish chaplain, Rabbi Evan Jaffe of the Flemington Jewish Community Center, thanked Matheny for the "opportunity to come up here for all the holidays." He particularly singled out Matheny's music therapists, who he said are "incredible".
In lieu of a traditional candle lighting ceremony, the Poleyeffs displayed a large photo of Jenna, as a young girl, on stage. Her sister, Callie, read a poem and invited various people -- including friends and relatives, Matheny staff members and Jenna's classmates -- to come to the stage and place a piece of a puzzle over the photograph. When the puzzle was finished, it revealed a present-day photo of Jenna. After the puzzle was complete, Jacob Poleyeff revealed that there was a keynote speaker, Jenna's classmate, Katherine Gaudio, who had prerecorded a video to say, "I am so happy to be here. Have a wonderful day."
