Page 27 - Discover Israel Magazine - 2017 edition
P. 27
Daniella Goldstein marking her Bat Mitzvah with a that was and is no longer, and the next The Bar/Bat Mitzvah Twinning
meaningful twinning ceremony at Yad Vashem. Photo generations and the future of vibrant Jewish Project
courtesy of Yad Vashem. life.
Some of the most moving ceremonies held
For millennia, synagogues have been central in the Yad Vashem Synagogue mark the
to Jewish life. The Nazis were fully aware of beginning of a young child's lifelong adult
the symbolic importance of the synagogue connection to the Jewish people. A special
and made a special point of targeting them Yad Vashem initiative is the Bar/Bat Mitzvah
for destruction early on during their tyrannical twinning project, which embodies Jewish
rule. Many thousands of synagogues and continuity and connection. The project is
study-houses were demolished by the Nazis an increasingly popular way to strengthen a
during the Holocaust; on Kristallnacht alone child's identification with his or her Jewish
more than one thousand synagogues were heritage by forging bonds with individual
ruined, often after being looted of their sacred children murdered during the Holocaust.
ornaments.
The project invites visitors to enrich their
Designed by renowned architect Moshe child's coming-of-age experience in Israel
Safdie, the 210-sq. meter circular Synagogue with a unique visit to Yad Vashem that
at Yad Vashem fuses past with present, resonates with the past, present and future.
The visit begins with a tour of the Holocaust
History Museum, specifically suited to meet
the family's individual needs. With a focus on
the fate of children and teenagers during the
Holocaust, Yad Vashem's expert guides take
into account personal family background and
the interests of the Bar/Bat Mitzvah child.
The celebrant is then twinned with a child
whose young life was cut brutally short and
did not have a chance to mark his or her own
religious coming of age.
At the end of the tour, the child is presented
with a Page of Testimony submitted in
memory of the child who he or she is
commemorating, as well as a special
certificate acknowledging participation in the
twinning program.
Painted Plaque of the Ten Commandments, Yad Connecting the Past to the
Vashem Artifacts Collection. Donated by the Jewish Future
Community, Czernowitz, Ukraine.
Ahead of his thirteenth birthday, Michael
using traditional and modern concepts. Ritual Reingewirtz Samra from Montreal found an
artifacts rescued from destroyed synagogues unusual soul mate: Yitzchak Yaakov Dragun,
adorn the outer walls in commemoration a child from Zuromin, Poland. Yitzchak was
of the glorious past of European Jewry. murdered in Auschwitz in 1942 at the age of
Among the artifacts on display are three twelve. To mark his Bar Mitzvah, Michael had
Torah Arks from Romania, including one searched for a child victim of the Holocaust
that was discovered being used as a closet from the same town as his great-grandfather,
in a local Romanian’s home; a Torah scroll for whom he was named. “Although today is
wrapped in a coat brought by survivors back a day for rejoicing,” Michael told guests at his
from Transnistria to Czernowitz at the end Bar Mitzvah, “I ask you to remember Yitzchak
of the war; and a wall lamp from Przeworsk, and the millions of boys and girls like him,
Poland – where the Jewish community and who were never given a chance to grow up
its synagogues were completely annihilated. and take their place in the world of adults.”
In the words of Yad Vashem Chairman
Avner Shalev, “The Yad Vashem Synagogue Michael's family contacted the Dragun
serves as a memorial to the destroyed family, who were deeply moved by the boy's
places of worship of European Jewry. It is a commemoration of Yitzchak. They put him
testimonial to the faith, the rich spiritual world in touch with other survivors from Zuromin,
of European Jewry and the extraordinary will including a few who had personally known
of the Jewish people to survive, to remember his great-grandfather. One survivor sent him
and to rebuild.” documents and prewar photographs of the
town.
"Describing our experience about Noah's
participation in the Twinning Program “This unique program has bridged continents,
brings tears to the eyes of everyone we generations and time itself, ensuring that
speak to – it was truly a key highlight of records and memories become the very
our experience in Israel." fabric of the here and now,” wrote Michael’s
Mandelman Family mother, Sarah Michaela Reingewirtz. “The
Jewish family lives on.”
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