As time passes, the memory of those who were murdered in the Holocaust fades, and becomes increasingly difficult, and this provides a challenge as to how we can continue to tell their stories?
Stories about ordinary people and families, their communities, friends, likes and dislikes, goals and aspirations, and in particular children who were denied a life.
We offer a Bar Mitzvah and Bat Mitzvah Twinning programme to enrich your child’s celebration by helping to continue to tell the story of a victim of the Holocaust whose life was tragically cut short.
Once the Twinning Form is completed, researchers at Yad Vashem will endeavour to find a victim with a similar name or family connection as the young person celebrating their Bar or Bat Mitzvah, and will receive a Twinning Pack, containing a Page of Testimony a Study Guide, Certificate, a specially designed pin and you will also receive a personal letter from a survivor, something to cherish and share with your family.
Family members are encouraged to use the Study Guide and Page of Testimony to learn as much as they can about the history of the Shoah and an insight into the life of the child with whom they are twinning, their family and the community they came from as well as learning about the victim’s experience during the Holocaust.
Bar and Bat Mitzvah Twins New Ancestry Service
In addition to finding you a twin who was a victim of the Shoah with whom to celebrate your special day, we are now offering you our new ancestry service.
Using our remarkable resources we will, where possible, track down your family history using local records and archives at Yad Vashem. Sometimes we draw a blank but more often than not we will give you an insight into your family’s past and even introduce you to long lost relatives.
If we feel that there is material which will be of interest there will be a £50 charge payable to YVUK to enable us to discover as much information as possible.
Bar Mitzvah and Bat Mitzvah Tours at Yad Vashem
Yad Vashem also offers a Twinning programme, that includes a private guided tour which is designed around your family, taking into account the ages of the children, family history and most importantly the interests of the Bar/Bat Mitzvah child; the tour concludes with a visit to the Hall of Names where the child is introduced to the Central Database of Shoah Victims’ Names and is given a certificate acknowledging participation in the program with the details of the Holocaust victim who they have chosen to commemorate. To reserve a tour at Yad Vashem, CLICK HERE