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The groundbreaking event was held at the Chabad Centre for Jewish Student Life in Cairns yesterday.

The Knezevicks celebrated this major milestone in their life celebrating with the Cairns Jewish Community, relatives and friends from North Queensland.

Jazz Knezevick was joined in this ceremony marking the rite of passage into Jewish religious manhood with his brothers Luka, 16, and Oliver 18 who had yet to celebrate their Bramitzvah.

While the function boasted all of the trappings of the conventional Bar/Bar Mitzvah, great food and drinks, dancing, speeches and gifts for the guests of honour, it was all kept to the current social distancing guidelines of the state of Queensland.

13-yr-old Jazz said: “Getting my Aliyah to the Torah allowed me to fill a void, and finally confirm my place in the Jewish community, thus being an event that will help shape the person I am as I grow as a Jewish Man.”

Rabbi Ari Rubin director of Chabad of North Queensland explained, “These are not young kids going through the motions because that’s what all their friends are doing and enjoying the party while not quite grasping the religious significance. These are young people who have decided to make a passionate statement about the centrality of their Jewish identity to their lives. By doing this publicly they affirm to their friends and the wider community that Judaism is something they feel strongly about and plan to make an important part of their future.”

He added: “Today the family drove set off on the eight hour 550 kms drive home planning to arrive before Shabbat”