This is the recording of the beginning of my Parsha - Bershit

Growing up I didn't get to read my Parsha on my Bat Mitzvah but as I grew older I learned how to and now I read from the Torah regularly in my community.

I celebrated my Bat Mitzvah together with my brother Ami, who is one year older than me. On the invitation ia a pasuk (biblical verse) that has both of our names: בשובי שבות עמי. It also expresses the idea of returning to Israel which is the meaning of my full name: Shuva Tziona

My Bat Mitzvah was a very significant event in my life, and celebrating it with my brother made it extra special and fun. It was also the first time I gave a speech before a large audience and so I always remember it as an empowering experience.

This is an invitation to my Bar Mitzvah in 1999.

My Bar Mitzvah was a very important event for me and my family and my grandparents got all of their grandchildren's invitations framed with flowers, which you can see here.

I celebrated my Bar Mitzvah on Chanuka so my invitation is designed by holiday's theme. We sent this to all of our friends and family so they could join us.

During the pandemic many events were cancelled or minimized, but I was lucky to have my entire family celebrate with me! A few days before the Bar Mitzvah my sister tested postitive for Covid in a home test, and that was a real bummer. It meant she might not be able to attend... but luckily we did a PCR and the morning before the Bar Mitzvah we got the results and turned out she was negative!!!

At my bat mitzvah party, I had a makeup artist painting Henna decorations for all of my guests.

I love fashion and makeup and art so I have always been drawn to Henna, which was a nice tradition to bring into my bat mitzvah celebration. Even though my heritage is American/Ashkenazi, I became familiar with Henna because I live in Southern Israeli which is mostly Sephardi-Mizrahi Jews who have a tradition of using Henna in their celebrations, usually before weddings. Henna designs include eyes, paisleys, flowers, birds - all that carry different meaning in various cultures - which I think is cool. I also really love tattoos which I am definitely not allowed to get yet so Henna is a good alternative.

Here's my addition!

Thank you for adding my piece to the puzzle.