My favorite thing about being Jewish is celebrating the holidays. I enjoy being with my family and all the delicious food we get to have – especially matzah brie and matzah ball soup. I like matzah, apparently. Becoming a Bat Mitzvah means that I’m becoming a woman. I’m learning about more traditions and customs that I can pass on the next generation.

As I was preparing for my Bat Mitzvah, I was really nervous that I wasn’t going to be able to learn all the prayers, but with all the help I got I felt more confident and ready. It showed me that with a lot of hard work I could reach whatever goal I set for myself.

For my Mitzvah project I volunteered at Samaritans Feet and was going to help at Loaves and Fishes but due to COVID I was not able to volunteer there. Both of these organizations provide help to those who are less fortunate which is an essential theme to my Torah portion.

As a Jewish adult, I will continue to celebrate the holidays and would like to become a madricha in our religious school program so that I can also help teach children about our traditions.

Rebecca is the daughter of Richard and Terri James. She is the sister of Steven James. She is the grand daughter of Howard and Susan Burger of Fort Mill, South Carolina and David and Bea James of West Palm, Beach Florida. Send notes of mazel tov.