Background
The bar-mitzvah is one of the most significant moments for boys who have reached the age of keeping the commandments. At the bar-mitzvah ceremony, the boy puts on Tefillin for the first time in his life, puts on a Tallit and is also called up to read the Torah as an adult.
The act of putting on Tefillin and putting on a Tallit connects the boy to the long line of generations of the Jewish people.
The Western Wall Heritage Foundation has taken upon itself to try, to the best of its ability, to assist in locating a donor for welfare families that make a request for help in buying Tefillin, in order to allow a boy whose family cannot pay the costs of celebrating a bar-mitzvah when he is wearing Tefillin and a Tallit that belong solely to him.
Criteria for receiving a donation:
A bar-mitzvah boy who celebrates a bar-mitzvah through the Western Wall Heritage Foundation and/or at the Western Wall and does not have a pair of Tefillin and is unable to buy them may submit a request for a donation of Tefillin through the Western Wall Heritage Foundation on a designated request form, provided that he attaches:
- Approval or a recommendation from the welfare services in his home town (giving details of the level of entitlement) and/or a confirmation that testifies to the applicant’s inability to pay the cost of the Tefillin.
- A personal letter of request in which he gives details of the reason for the request and undertakes to use the Tefillin throughout the entire year.
- A letter of recommendation.
For a request form for a private individual, click here.
