My favorite thing about being Jewish is the community surrounding myself and other people. I really like learning about my own religion and culture because it helps me get a different perspective on things.
To me, becoming a bat mitzvah means that I am maturing in the Jewish world and that I can show up more in Jewish spaces on behalf of myself rather than as someone else’s kid. I have learned about myself that I really enjoy connecting to being Jewish – through going to services more often and preparing for my bat mitzvah, and also in explaining Judaism to other people and teaching them about our customs and traditions.
For my mitzvah project, I collected supplies for The Relatives. My neighbors were really enthusiastic about it and gave me all sorts of stuff! I chose to contribute to The Relatives because I thought of teenagers who are in less fortunate situations than me and I wanted to do something to help them. One of my sister’s friends got kicked out of his house and didn’t have anywhere to go. After seeing him struggle and not have stable ground for himself, I wanted to help people like him.
I plan to keep living with Judaism by staying connected to my roots, by continuing to go to services and celebrating holidays.
August Collman is the daughter of Jennifer and Jonathan Collman. She sister of Hollis and Everett Collman. She is the granddaughter of Connie and Jerry Carney of Cordele, GA and Gloria Collman of Raleigh, NC.
