July 30, 2008 / 27 Tammuz 5768

The new immigrants at the Jewish Agency's Tzahal 9 Absorption Center celebrated a Bar Mitzvah ceremony this week for 40 of their children.

For seven months, the children have been corresponding with their friends from England under the sponsorship of the British UJIA Appeal. The youths have spent the last seven months studying the laws governing bar mitzvah and last week, they set out for Jerusalem, to meet bar mitzvah boys from England who arrived in Israel to celebrate a joint bar mitzvah with them.

The crowning moment was a day in Jerusalem.  The immigrants, the parents, the bar mitzvah boys from England and many guests from abroad arrived at Jerusalem’s Great Synagogue where a festive prayer took place.  Israel’s Chief Rabbi Yonah Metzger greeted and blessed the children and the many guests. At the close of the prayer, everybody celebrated at the reception hall of the Great Synagogue and at the close of the day, 400 members of the English youth movement, FZY, hosted the bar mitzvah boys from Israel and from England in an impressive ceremony that included a movie and authentic dances.

The ceremonies and the huge festivity brought tears of joy to the new immigrant parents.

The British UJIA Appeal, the FZY youth movement and particularly Sefton Bergson, who was the guiding force in the entire project, merit many thanks.  The same applies to the devoted staff of the Tzahal 9 Absorption Center.

The warm and loving embrace from the English Jews and the many guests moved everyone and gave the immigrants the sense they are supported and embraced by warmhearted Jews throughout the entire world.