For Elana Kamm, Judaism is something meant to be lived and experienced. (Photo credit: Annette Leibovitz Mitzvah Photography)
If I had to describe my bat mitzvah in one word, it would be “magical.” I haven’t ever felt anything more amazing than when I saw all the people I love supporting me. I felt a rush of happiness, an excitement, as I accomplished what I had been working toward for years.
I love my community. I know they will get me through hard times with their love and support. Whether it’s the people at my synagogue, camp, or USY, they have grown to be more than just my friends. They are my support system, my happiness, and most importantly, my family.
To me, being Jewish is many things. Being Jewish is having an adult who you barely know reach out for your hand, to bring you into the dancing circle on Simchat Torah. Being Jewish is connecting with your social studies teacher over what kind of kugel your mom made for Yom Kippur break-the-fast.
My parents are youth directors, so I was involved with USY from a very young age. There were so many people who made being “the little kid” at conventions so fun, letting me sit on their laps during Shabbat morning services and giving me piggyback rides.
Now that I’m eight years older, we have real conversations when they come home from college to visit. They answer my questions and give me advice. They are true role models of Judaism. I hope that one day I can be a role model like them, for the kids I tutor at my synagogue, and the campers I am a counselor-in-training for.
This year, I have grown to love writing, so I submitted an essay for the Better Together Grant. It would allow my synagogue to provide more adult and lifelong Jewish learning opportunities for the community.
The prompt of the essay was: Write about people who are older than you, who have shaped who you are today. I wrote about my seventh-grade social studies teacher, someone at my synagogue who had tutored me in Hebrew, my nonno (grandfather) and his friend.
What they have in common is that they all want the best for me and they are always showing it—they all show up for me when I need them, or if it’s an important day. That support gave me greater appreciation for the people and things around me that I might take for granted.
My Judaism has always been important to me, but when October 7th happened, it opened my eyes. All I wanted to do was help, so I did everything I could to connect Jewishly. Like many other Jewish people, I felt 10 times more connected than I ever did, but I also felt new fears that I never had before.
Explaining all the amazing feelings of being Jewish to someone who isn’t Jewish can be very complicated. Being Jewish is one of my favorite things about myself, special and indescribable. Judaism is something that is meant to be lived and experienced; I plan to keep living it and experiencing it for as long as I can.
Elana Kamm is 13 years old and lives in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. She had her bat mitzvah at Am Yisrael Conservative Congregation in Northfield.
