Welcome Parents
Thank you for your interest in having your child participate in Remember Us. More than 14,000 children in over 520 congregations worldwide have accepted this invitation to remember one of the 1.5 million children who were lost in the Holocaust, most before having the chance to be called the Torah.
Remember Us invites every child preparing for Bar/Bat Mitzvah to remember a child who was lost in the Holocaust. This act personalizes the Shoah, inspires young people to accept the adult responsibility of yizkor and kaddish, and act positively in the world to honor the life of their remembered child.
The task is infused with a sense of urgency. Within a decade, the rapidly dwindling Holocaust survivor population will be gone. Testimony, memory and responsibility for transmitting the stories and history will transfer to a new generation of Jews with limited personal connection to the Shoah. We need to help young Jews put a name and face to these actions.
Your child can be empowered as a keeper of the flame of memory in the first post-survivor generation. Your family is the bridge between past and future. Remember Us: The Holocaust Bnai Mitzvah Project is a simple program to deepen your child's experience of Jewish memory, and to take on a meaningful role in perpetuating it.
With your permission, your child is invited to remember a child who died in the Holocaust before having the opportunity to be called to the Torah. Your child is asked to keep the lost child in mind during his/her own study, to remember the name and memory of the child from the bimah during the bar/bat mitzvah, and doing mitzvot b'shem (in the name of) the lost child. It is as if the life story of the child being remembered continues through your child, your family, and your community. Your child's commitment becomes part of the remembered child's biography.
"This Project has meant so much to our family. Even our youngest son, who is nine, asks us now about our family history. The extended family has really come alive for all of us, and we speak of them almost daily."
Some important things for parents to know about Remember Us:
Requesting or Registering A Name
Each name is given to only one bar/bat mitzvah. This is a sacred responsibility, and we ask that you help your child in honoring the name and the memory. A family can request a name online. Some congregations and schools distribute names directly to their students. If your child has already received a Memorial Sheet with a name, we ask that you register that name.
Each bar/bat mitzvah participant chooses to remember their child in actions that are personally meaningful.
You and your child choose what to do, independently and voluntarily. Participation does not require additional time. Simple ideas and suggestions for honoring and remembering a child can be found at. We also encourage you to also speak to the clergy and educators responsible for preparing your child for bar/bat mitzvah about how your child might participate. Our student page has additional information and links.Personalized Participation Materials Are Available
The important Jewish values of kavod (honor) and limud (education) are transmitted when you honor your child with a certificate of participation and/or educate your guests by by ordering personalized pamphlets. Families can access the order form.
There is no charge to participate in Remember Us
The program is supported by voluntary donations, as well as contributions from individual donors, synagogues and foundations. We encourage families to make a tzedakah contribution to Remember Us in honor of their own child's bar/bat mitzvah so that we can bring this practice of remembrance to another Jewish child.
Parents Guide to Participation
The Parent Guide details the Remember Us philosophy and the critical role that parents and families have in supporting and enhancing their child's participation in this meaningful activity
Through your child's good works, we make real our traditional phrase about the remembered children, “May his/her memory be for a blessing.”