Matan’s Bar Mitzvah was held on the 13^thÌýand 14^thÌýof January and he led all the davening from the front of Dianella Shule on the Friday night. He said it was a bit difficult and he felt a bit nervous, but it was okay once he got going and realised that he did know what he was doing.

Lots of family members were able to enjoy the occasion with Matan – his cousins flew over from Melbourne and Sydney and although the relatives in South Africa and America couldn’t make it, his mum being a brilliant photographer meant that there were lots of decent photographs for them to share.

On the Saturday, Matan read from Shemot, a Parasha which describes the Israelites’ enslavement in Egypt. It also includes Moses being born, placed in a basket on the Nile and then being adopted into Pharaoh’s household. Matan’sÌýcelebrations included a Friday night dinner,ÌýKiddish at Shule, a Shabbat lunch and instead of having a BarÌýMitzvah party, his family did a road trip down South in WAÌýfor 2 weeks. Matan’s favouriteÌýparts were deep seaÌýfishing and 4WD's on the beaches.

Matan explained that now he is Bar Mitzvah, he counts as a man at Shule and can form part of a minyan. Although there aren’t really many practical differences at home or school and his brothers treat him no differently, he does feel as though spiritually he has a bigger purpose than he did before. His life now has a bigger meaning.

We chatted about Matan’s hobbies and I found out that he does parkour as a sport – at Motion Academy in Balcatta. He enjoys cars in general and follows F1. When he has the chance of his own car, his dream car would be a BMW M4. Given that his best school subjects are Maths and maybe sport and science, the BMW may be a feasible goal one day! For Matan, the best bits about AVѧԺ are the teachers and seeing his friends. We always like to hear that sort of comment.