Filed Under Bnai Mitzvah Projects |
Remember Us: The Holocaust Bnai Mitzvah Project offers an invitation to children preparing for bar/bat mitzvah to connect with the memory of children lost in the Holocaust before they could be called to the Torah.
This is a very simple idea. The Project provides the student and the bar/bat mitzvah teacher with the name of a lost child, information about him/her, and suggestions for simple acts of remembrance:
- doing mitzvot b’shem (in the name of the child)
- mentioning the child in a dvar Torah or speech from the bimah
- taking on the mitzvah of saying Kaddish
- lighting a yahrzeit candle yearly, etc.
Families report that participation adds depth and meaning to the bar/bat mitzvah experience. Students who participate in the program are moving from educational experience to committed Jewish action. They recognize themselves to be significant vessels of Jewish memory, and take their place in the Jewish community by publicly acting as agents of redemption.
Parents are often moved to experience their own children offering healing for this broken place in Jewish history. Congregants and unaffiliated bar/bat mitzvah guests become witnesses to the child’s moment of spiritual leadership and redemptive action. All are given the opportunity for a deeper connection with their Jewish faith and history. For more information, go to http://www.remember-us.org/index.shtml
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Remember Us: The Holocaust Bnai Mitzvah Project offers an invitation to children preparing for bar/bat mitzvah to connect with the memory of children lost in the Holocaust before they could be called to the Torah.