Becoming a Bar Mitzvah means I have taken a journey. My journey through this is completing Jewish accomplishments and life accomplishments. In Sheva I gained Jewish friendships. Now that I am a Jewish adult I will hopefully become a tutor because I can help kids understand Hebrew in a fun and interesting way. I will continue celebrating Jewish holidays with my family because they help me feel connected to God. I will help pass on Judaism by having my family be Jewish and I can teach them what it means to be different and love the differences. Being Jewish means to me that I am responsible for having a minority religion and that I need to pass down what 6 million others couldn’t.

My mitzvah project was to help a boy with autism. I decided to create a 3-on-3 basketball tournament to raise money for the boy. I chose to do this because I love basketball and thought it was a creative way to help someone. What I got out of my project were memories that will stay with me forever. It was so awesome to see so many people playing in honor of the kid I was helping. It made me feel proud and really good because I knew I was helping a kid get their dream. I fulfilled the mitzvah of removing the stumbling block from before the blind.

Harris is the son of Pamela and Gary Gagnon, and the brother of Leo, who is also becoming Bar Mitzvah on the same day. He is the grandson of: Leslie and Barry Gordon, of Fort Mill, South Carolina, and Sharon and Bill Cavanaugh, of Charlotte, North Carolina.
Please e-mail messages of Mazal Tov to: pamelagnon@aol.com