Sponsorship
Wisconsin Remember Us Initiative:
- Remember Us: The Holocaust Bnai Mitzvah Project
- Nathan and Esther Pelz Holocaust Education Resource Center
- Helen Bader Foundation
- Register Today
Remember Us
About the Program
The Wisconsin Remember Us Initiative is a non-denominational Jewish program inviting children preparing for their bar/bat mitzvah to remember a child who died in the Holocaust before having the opportunity to be called to the Torah. This act of remembering brings one name and one history back into living memory as it gives additional meaning to a joyous occasion.
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, etc.
- participating in community Yom Hashoah Commemoration
Outcomes
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.
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.
Congregations throughout Wisconsin are participating. For more information, contact your synagogue or contact Joan Champion at the Holocaust Education Resource Center at joanc@milwaukeejewish.org or 414.963.2714.