My favorite things about being Jewish are the holidays (but not the high holidays). I really like Passover, mostly because of the food – orange slices and potato kugel and matzah. Matzah is my favorite.

For me, becoming a bar mitzvah means opening a new chapter of my life. When I began preparing for this moment, I definitely could not have read from the Torah, and now I can. Becoming a bar mitzvah also means I “become a man,” which mostly means I get to do stuff I wasn’t allowed to do when I was younger. One of the things I learned while preparing for my bar mitzvah service is that I am actually pretty good at reading Hebrew! I also learned that it all pays off in the end – you work so hard for years in order to become a bar mitzvah, and all of that hard work actually does have a purpose.

For my mitzvah project, I tutored little kids at Winget Park Elementary School in math. I chose this project because I know I am really smart in math, and some kids aren’t – so I figured I would help other people get better at something I am already good at. More than anything, I learned patience in taking on this project, because the kids could be really annoying at some times and you just have to learn how to deal with them. I also came to understand a little bit more of what my parents have to deal with in taking care of me and my brother.

Zachary is the son of Rachel and Douglas Fuentes and the brother of Sam. Words of Mazel tov can be sent to rachelfuentes4569@yahoo.com.