Remember Us: The Holocaust Bnai Mitzvah Project
Remember Us, a new, natural, national link to Yom Hashoah for families across the country who want to remember children lost in the Holocaust
(PRWEB) March 12, 2005 -- Keeping memories alive is not only at the core of
Judaism, it is also at the heart of the Remember Us: The Holocaust Bnai Mitzvah
Project that is now finding its ways into synagogues and Jewish communities
across the country.
Remember Us offers young Jewish children preparing
for their bar or bat mitzvahs with an opportunity to remember the children who
were lost in the Holocaust before they could be called to the Torah.
“We
recognize that the Jewish past is the wellspring from which we create a
meaningful Jewish future,” said Gesher Calmenson, director of Remember Us which
is headquartered in Northern California.
In the Fall 2004 issue of Torah
at the Center produced by the Union for Reform Judaism, he wrote, “Similar to
breaking a glass under the (wedding) chuppah, this practice can become a loving
act of remembrance. When the Jewish community comes together to celebrate an
important simchah (celebration gathering) in one Jewish person’s life, that
person can take a moment to remember a Jewish person on whose shoulders he or
she stands.”
Calmenson, together with Barbara Tobin, project coordinator,
developed this child-to-child non-profit connection in 2003 and since then have
seen it successfully implemented in seven states - California, Oregon, New York,
Illinois, Florida, Maryland and Michigan. To date more than 30 schools and 700
young children and their families participate in the project.
“What sets
this project apart is that we aren’t memorializing, we are offering a redemptive
means to heal the past and the future,” said Tobin.
This program (under
fiscal sponsorship of Congregation Ner Shalom/SF Bay Area) is designed for all
levels of involvement, from financial support to remembering a lost child. It is
funded by grants and individual donations. Resource materials, including Mentor
and Parent guides, are available. For more information, visit www.remember-us.org or call
707-570-2883.
Media contact only:
Karen Pierce Gonzalez Public
Relations
707-792-4376
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/3/prweb217325.htm