Hi everyone, I'm Maddie. Initially I chose to do the Chabad Malvern Batmi program because my friends from Scopus and Bialik were doing it but throughout the program I learned a lot more about my Jewish identity and forming strong bonds with my friends and my community. 

The topic I connected with the most was our lesson on Shabbat. 

During class when we learned about Shabbat I found out a variety of different facts about Shabbat that I didn't know for example   if a mother is lighting the candles she should light two for herself and one for each of her children. I also learned that lighting the candles is like dedication towards a bright future. I look forward to Shabbat every week because i get to sit down with my whole family. Every week we go next door to my grandparents house and have Shabbat with them. My grandma makes delicious chicken soup. Every week I light the Shabbat candles with my mum,grandma and sister. It's also the one night a week when we typically don't have any after school activities so my whole family can get together and talk about our week and eat a delicious meal.

I also learned that when I have a family of my own I want to continue the tradition of Shabbat every week so I know no matter how busy everyone is throughout the week I will always have Shabbat with my family. 

Before I finish up I wanted to say thank you to Rabbi Reuvi, Menucha and Rivkah for running such an amazing program and for teaching me alot about my Jewish culture and what it means to be a Jewish woman. 

 

Thank you