More than 70 years after World War II ended, 45 Holocaust survivors in Israel finally got a chance to celebrate their bar and bat mitzvah ceremonies for the first time yesterday, Monday morning, at the Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest site.
The survivors reached bar or bat mitzvah age during the war or immediately afterwards, but because of their circumstances never got to participate in the ceremony marking a Jewish boy’s or girl’s entrance to adulthood. Alexander Buchnik, one of the participants in today’s event, said: “All my life, I felt that I missed it so much. I am so excited and happy.”
The Western Wall Heritage Foundation, Israel’s Office for Social Equality, and the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ) sponsored the moving ceremony. Eighteen of the survivors also receive financial assistance throughout the year from IFCJ.
The survivors and their families joined Monday’s event, which included a tour of the tunnels under the Western Wall. The men put on Tefillin and read from the Torah, while the women participated in another ceremony at the Western Wall Tunnels Hall. The group ended the celebration dinning together.
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Tuesday, November 14, 2017
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