About the Program
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
“What a life–changing service you provide! Every congregant present was touched by Molly’s taking a moment to remember a child we never knew, but now have a relationship with.”
“As a psychotherapy-oriented psychiatrist, I am profoundly grateful for what you have started. It is a rare gift when we are given the opportunity to transform the shame of an intolerable and unfathomably toxic affective experience into something meaningful, interpersonally intimate, and actionable for the benefit of all.”
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.
Families report that participation adds depth and meaning to the bar/bat mitzvah experience. 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.
Remember Us: The Holocaust Bnai Mitzvah Project is supported by grants from the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund, the Charles and Mildred Schnurmacher Foundation, Tauber Foundation, Dozor Foundation, Wolman Foundation, and other generous contributors. We welcome foundations and individual supporters to join us in establishing this act of remembrance as an enduring Jewish ritual.
To donate, click here.
Remember Us is a 501(c)3 entity governed by a national Board of Directors. Offices are donated. Total staff time is 2.25 FTE (full time equivalent). Accounting services are provided by a CPA. All funds from all sources are used to support staff in providing direct services, developing outreach for the Remember Us concept, and for program development (for example, Yom Hashoah materials, community programs and high school workshops). See our listing in Guidestar. For additional information, please contact the Director. Financial statements are available upon request.
Remember Us works with both congregations and regional partners to bring this concept of memory into Jewish communities. Some of our partners are:
- Los Angeles Board of Rabbis
- New York Board of Rabbis
- Holocaust Education and Tolerance Center of Nassau County
- Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston
- Pelz Holocaust Education Center of Milwaukee