Levi celebrated his Bar mitzvah two weeks ago, at Perth Hebrew Congregation (PHC). His Parsha was Bereishit 鈥� the first one of the year - and he read a section of his Parasha in shule. Levi explained to me that it鈥檚 all about creation and what happens from that point until the story of Noah鈥檚 ark. The story is also about the legacy of Adam and Eve. The message that Levi understood as told in this Parsha is that you should make your own choices rather than doing things that people tell you to do. He inferred this idea from the story of when a snake convinced Eve to eat from the Tree of Knowledge, despite it being forbidden. He stated that he was quite nervous before starting his reading, but once he had read the first section, it was 鈥渁ll good鈥� and most people told him that it went very well.

The celebrations for Levi鈥檚 Bar mitzvah started with a large Shabbat family dinner on the Friday, with some catered food as well as some home-cooked. It sounded quite delicious, with chicken, brisket, lamb cooked in pastry, rice with lentils and multiple salads

Since Primary School, Levi has celebrated joint birthday parties with his friend Alec, because their birthdays are only one day apart.

A week after Levi鈥檚 Bar Mitzvah, they hosted their party. It took place in the Maccabi gym, and they played basketball, as well as Ping-Pong and dodgeball in the outside area. Four arcade machines also sounded like great fun and there were lots of kids present, mostly from AV学院. The best bit was apparently the dodgeball 鈥� it was 鈥渞eally fun.鈥�

Levi feels that post Bar-Mitzvah, he is now obliged to daven more, as well as putting on tefillin 鈥� he can also be called up for a Torah reading in the shule and he should be a role model to other kids at shule. I am confident he will carry out this role effectively. Levi was delighted to have the honour of being called to the Torah at Alec鈥檚 Bar mitzvah (a week after his).

Levi鈥檚 hobbies outside school include reading (he is currently reading 鈥楾he Martian鈥� by Andy Weir, kindly recommended by Mr O鈥橞rien), playing video games, football and Lego. He says that the best bit about Carmel is that because it is a small community, you know everyone, and are a lot closer to the other students than you might be in some other schools. He found it tough to choose the best bit about Carmel as there are so many good things about the School!