With a delay of 78 years, Holocaust survivors celebrated their Bar Mitzvah and Bat Mitzvah at the Western Wall.

With a delay of 78 years, Holocaust survivors celebrated their Bar Mitzvah and Bat Mitzvah at the Western Wall.

With great excitement, we had the privilege of hosting around 40 Holocaust survivors from Rishon LeZion to celebrate a belated Bar Mitzvah and Bat Mitzvah at the Western Wall, since they were unable to celebrate them in their childhood.

The event took place in collaboration with the Claims Conference and “Latet”. The survivors offered personal prayers and then participated in tours and watched VR presentations of the Temple called “A Look into the Past.”

The rabbi of the Western Wall and the holy sites, Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, blessed the survivors with good health and emphasized that the Western Wall is the most unifying and moving place at which to celebrate a belated Bar Mitzvah.

Throughout the year, we host Holocaust survivors at the Western Wall and in the Tunnels in collaboration with the Claims Conference. We listen to their stories, embrace and strengthen them, and celebrate together with them the Bar and Bat Mitzvah they were unable to celebrate when they were boys and girls.

These encounters are a great privilege for us. We will continue to stand by them and for them, passing on their stories from generation to generation.