I will do my best to keep Meir's memory alive. I feel privileged and responsible to be able to represent Meir, and I will always be the Guardian of his Memory.
I had my Bar Mitzvah 28 August 2021.
My parents recently visited Poland on a holocaust memorial excursion with our synagogue. They went to several villages and sites of concentration camps including Auschwitz. They also went to the Polish City of Lodz, where both of their families descended from. I talked with them a lot about their trip and the family we have lost, and in the run up to my Bar Mitzvah I began to think about those boys like me who were denied the opportunity to experience becoming Bar Mitzvah. It helped me to recognise how lucky I am.
I have twinned my Bar Mitzvah with a victim of the Holocaust, Meir Izbicki, a young boy from Lodz who was tragically murdered aged 7 in 1941. When I read the study guide from Yad Vashem and it pointed out that it is difficult to remember those who perished in the Holocaust not just as numbers but as real people – this really had an impact on me. At a time in my life when I felt so much love from family and friends – I thought a lot about Meir and boys and girls like him who were cruelly denied this. I will do my best to keep Meir’s memory alive. He shares the same surname as my great grandparents. I feel privileged and responsible to be able to represent Meir, and I will always be the Guardian of his Memory.
Joe Walters, 13