ARTIFACT ANALYSIS
For my Jewish side, I chose to analyze the Torah, or the single most important piece of literature in the Jewish religion. The Torah is composed of five different books and it tells the story of the history of the Jews beginning with the word "beresheet", meaning beginning, and covering the entire creation of the world by God, and ending with the book of Deuteronomy. The Torah is especially important to me because I was bar-mitzvahed with it. This means that I had to read a certain Torah portion in order to become a bar-mitzvah, or an official "man" in the Jewish culture. My Torah portion had to do with the story of Jacob's ladder to heaven, and I still remember it today. I had to do my entire portion in Hebrew along with the prayers that go along with the reading of the Torah, the opening of the arc, and the closing of the Torah. The Torah was also used in this photo, although it is not pictured, during my cousin, Jake's, bar-mitzvah in Israel this summer. The Torah is used during almost every event at the synagogue and is used on every single high holiday ceremony. The Torah is very delicate, detailed, and holy. Every time I see the holy scroll it reminds me of where I came from, who I am today and what I am apart of. I know that everyone on my mom's side of the family has gone through the same reading of the Torah that I had to do and a few more members are studying for their own bar/bat-mitzvahs currently.