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This photo while not meaning much is a small tradition my family has made to connect us to G-D. A few years ago my family decided to start a tradition where we would sing the shema each night and bring our hands to the middle to feel connected to each other. It has become a big part of our daily life and is very important to my family. This is connected to my life because after doing it for a few years it is very important to me and it makes me happy that something from my culture is so important to me.
I tried to show what my family does by simulating it with my dad and sister on our couch. I did a top down view to show how we are being looked at by G-D. (him looking down from the heavens at us) I thought the bright light would set a nice or happy atmosphere to the onlookers.

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I took a picture of part of my haftarah portion for my bat mitzvah. I decided to take it from a specific angle to show the viewer the rest of my desk (where I do Hebrew tutoring from) and the messiness of it and everything else on it. I centered my portion to really show the viewer my portion and all its glory. All though it really doesn’t seem like much to someone who isn’t gonna have a mitzvah, it is so much on one page. The page is full of hard work, religion, and tradition. I took this picture to show the viewer all my hard work for my mitzvah, and how soon enough it will pay off.

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The reason I took this picture was because it reminded me of when my brothers were bar mitzvah'd. I took the picture close up because I didn't want anyone to see the rest of the room. I wanted to focus on the parsha that I am doing. I also want to say that this is all I am talking about, and nothing else. The reason I took the picture bright is because it is clear and shows what I am doing.

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This photo addresses a historical memory. I took a picture of a necklace I got in Israel in 2019, when we took a week long trip for my older cousin’s bar mitzvah. It was the second to last night of being in Israel, and we (my immediate family, cousin’s family, and my uncle’s and my aunt’s parents) were walking along Ben Yehuda street and looking at the shops around it. My mom and dad wanted to get me and my sister a souvenir, a special one, aside from the countless little keychains or flags that we got from every other experience throughout the trip. We found a shop that made custom jewelry, so my family decided to get me and my sister necklaces with our Hebrew names on it. My Hebrew name, (ליבּי), was put onto a necklace and my parents kept the necklaces safe for the rest of the trip. Finally, when we got home, I was so excited to wear it to school. I wore the necklace, very happy and proud that I got something so special from an extra special place. This picture was taken in portrait mode, so that the necklace was the main point in the photo and the rest was slightly blurred out. That is to show that this necklace is important, and not only the necklace but the story and trip and memories behind it. The picture was also taken straight ahead, with the necklace as the focal point in the middle, to again portray that the necklace is an important memory to me.

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The Jewish pillar this relates to is Hebrew language. This photo is a picture of the begging of the Torah service. The prayer that is in focus is one that I will be leading at my bat mitzvah. This means a lot to me because I have been putting so much work into preparing for my bat mitzvah. I chose to make the beginning of the torah service  in focus because this is going to be the start of me leading the congregation.

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This is a picture of a Kippah my mom made me for my Bar Mitzvah. It was made to look like my Tallis which was given to me by my grandfather. It goes along with Jewish way of life because a kippah is something people wear every day to signify their Judaism. It also goes along with Jewish community because the stitching is all together much like the Jewish people. We are a tight knit community and rely on each other. I took it with a shadow on the left pointing out that the start of my Jewish life has past with my Bar mitzvah and now I get to move forward.

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An absolutely GODLY pair of candlesticks and a kiddish cup

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This cup and candlesticks are used on Shabbat, the day of rest. The purpose of lighting the candles on Shabbat is to bring domestic tranquility and to honor Shabbat. The purpose of the lighting is to show that the candles and cup is holy. The other purpose is to show that the candles and kiddish cup are a positive thing and not bad. These candlesticks and kiddish cup actually came from Israel, so that’s pretty cool as well.

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I got this magnetic dart board for Chanukah once. Since I was at my grandmas house we hung it up and played darts with my dad a bit. It was a fun time. I never was nor am I now good at it but I really enjoyed it.
This is a photo of a random 6 darts I fired and the board and this was the result. As you can see most of the darts are in the upper right. There is a shadow in the bottom left the opposite of where the darts are to show where I did not hit. The camera shot is twisted slightly to the left to focus in on the darts. But what I had in mind was that everyone even Jews like to focus on what we are good at. If you we’re getting hired for a job will you tell them about what you are bad at. No! But you can always see what you are bad at through the greatness as shown in the picture. This relates to Judaism because we always want to be perfect but as you take multiple attempts you won’t always succeed, but every once in a while you succeed, you hit the bullseye.

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This is a tradition that my family does that always end up to be delicious. That’s making kreplach. We make this every time before Rosh Hashanah. After we make it (they are very fun to make.) especially when making with family. We then eat it when the whole family meets up to celebrate the holidays. This picture fit the best because it basically captured everyone and everything that needed to be captured. I really enjoy this and look forward to do it every year. I see this as a Jewish value because I’m being with my family and helping out by making it.

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I took this photo because this siddur reminds me of camp and when I got it. At camp we do a sort of mini bat mitzvah ceremony thing for the campers going into 7th grade (this is during the all girls part of the summer there). For that ceremony we had to only write and read a speech and afterwards we each got a gift and this was that gift. So whenever I look at it it reminds me of camp and my friends there as well as how important it is for me to participate in the traditions of being Jewish.

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In this picture, there is there is a mizuzah from Israel. I picked it out myself, in a street stall in the middle of Jerusalem. The light in the mezuzah to me represents the flames on the candles sitting on the menorah in the old temple when the last of the oil that was only expected to last one night lasted eight. The picture is called “The Light that Holds Us Together” because the menorah held the Israelites together and gave them hope. This represents a multifaceted connection to Israel because it was bought in Israel. It also represents the Hebrew language because inside the mezuzah is the Shama-Viahafta. Another representation is of historical memory because the Shama has been passed down from generation to generation. Finally it relates to Jewish way of life because it is a requirement to have a mezuzah in all of your door frames. This means a lot to me because it is one of the only things I brought home from Israel. We can learn from this picture that our bond with other Jewish people because we have survived so long and been so strong together that we have been able to pass down things like mezuzahs from generation to generation. I made sure that the only thing in the frame was a mezuzah that way all of the attention would be on it. I also made sure that there were no reflections of light so I turned the lights of and used my phone’s flash. I felt like not editing the picture because it made me feel like it wasn’t authentic. This expresses my Jewish story by showing that I have followed the traditions created by my family and community. It also shows how strong our Jewish community is and it makes me happy to be Jewish.