Hi. My name is Jake Rubel. I am a 7th grade student at Beverly Vista Middle School. My hobbies are playing video games and walking around with my friends.

I chose animal adoption as my Mitzvah Project because I can relate to it. My family has adopted three shelter dogs, and I take pride in knowing, by adopting them, we saved their lives. With help from my classmates, I assembled dog adoption kits containing toys, treats, and other essentials. The proceeds went to NKLA, a no-kill animal shelter. I feel that this issue is urgent and needs to be addressed seriously. About 1.5 million shelter animals in the US are euthanized every year. One major step forward in this struggle was a bill, signed by Governor Jerry Brown, that prohibits the retail sale of bred dogs, cats, and rabbits. This makes more people adopt pets from shelters thus saving those animals’ lives.

Thank you to my parents for purchasing the supplies for the kits and to Rabbi Bassin for giving me the insight to support this important issue. I would also like to thank my parents, Rabbi Bassin, Cantor Weiss and Shelly Kamara for preparing me for my Bar Mitzvah.