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Being part of the twinning project has been an important part of my Bar Mitzvah. I am proud I got to stand there and sing for both of us.

Oscar celebrated his Bar Mitzvah in
August 2024 in Leeds

Dear Ori,

I just wanted to write to you to tell you all about my Bar Mitzvah – or should I say our Bar Mitzvah, because you were very much of the celebrations.

My name is Oscar and I’m from Leeds, England. My Hebrew name is Ori – same as yours, and that’s why we were twinned.

I am so sorry that you never got to experience the Bar Mitzvah journey that I went on but I tried to remember you and you were part of the service I had in Synagogue last August. We had a photograph of you and your family for all the guests to see and our Rabbi talked about the Yad Vashem twinning project.

I have tried to research where you came from, and I think it was Paris. I can’t imagine the horrors that you and your family went through in your life.  I will always light a candle to honour your memory.

Being part of the Twinning project has been an important part of my Bar Mitzvah. I am proud I got to stand there and sing for both of us.

Your friend,

Ori x

 

 I will always light a candle to honour your memory.

Twin Now
See how others have reached their goal as our
Bar Mitzvah and Bat Mitzvah kids are sharing their stories.

Jordan Pearlman Twinned
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Jordan celebrated his Bar Mitzvah on 29 August 2020. He had a zoom with family and friends from London and all around the world on Thursday 27 August 2020. He was lucky enough to lein in Shul on Shabbat morning 29 August 2020.
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Joshua Newman Twinned
with Josua Boesenach

Joshua twinned with Josua Boesenach who was born in June 1931. He was deported age 12 to Auschwitz and murdered in a gas chamber. He never got to celebrate his Bar Mitzvah. “As I celebrate my Bar Mitzvah he will be on my mind."
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Leora Moher Twinned
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I had my Bat Mitzvah in July 2019. For my Bat Mitzvah, I twinned with Yad Vashem UK Foundation. They twinned me with a girl named Alice Chana Grunwald, a surname that my family also used. Sadly, Alice Chana did not survive to celebrate her Bat Mitzvah, as she perished at Auschwitz.
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Ella Kaufman Twinned
with Ruth Shafir

I was very happy to meet you at my home and that you wish to commemorate my sister Ruth. For your Bat Mitzvah, you have chosen a project to remember a young girl of about your age who perished in the Holocaust
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Barney Leboff Twinned
with Carol Smulovici

Barney Leboff, from Shenley wanted to do something more than leyn from the Torah for his Bar mitzvah, so he twinned his Bar Mitzvah with Carol Smulovici, a young Romanian boy who was murdered during the Holocaust.
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