San Diego Jewish World
November 1, 2020
SAN DIEGO (Press Release) — Sarah Golembsky and her family hoped to celebrate her Bat Mitzvah with a trip to Israel, but like many other B’nai Mitzvah, the pandemic made it impossible for her celebration to go as planned. She had to get creative. Sara and her family didn’t want to miss out on the Israel experience, so they did the next best thing: a live tour to Jerusalem and the Kotel through StandWithUs Discover. Virtual tours of Israel are one of the many educational opportunities offered to B’nai Mitzvah as part of a new StandWithUs B’nai Mitzvah Project initiative.
Virtual tours of Jerusalem, like the one taken by Sarah and her family, are a great way for B’nai Mitzvah to experience Israel first-hand. Tours are led by experienced tour guide and StandWithUs Discover Director, Yoni Zierler. This trip through Jerusalem’s Old City is like no other, made especially meaningful because participants have the opportunity to place notes in the Kotel, sent to Yoni in advance.
At 8:30 pm on October 25th, Sarah’s Hebrew birthday, Sarah, her parents Leah and Michael, and siblings Rachel and David, watched the sunrise over Jerusalem from their home in San Diego. Thirty friends and family members, both local and from as far away as Panama, were able to see their personal notes being placed in the crevices of the Western Wall. In addition on November 1st, Sarah hosted a Challah Bake in honor of her Bat Mitzvah. She created “challah bake kits” to share with her classmates, including challah baking supplies and StandWithUs items, including sunglasses, pocket mirrors, and educational booklets.
Sarah’s Jerusalem tour and challah bake are just the start of her Bat Mitzvah project. She plans to continue bringing awareness of the importance of Israel and fighting antisemitism and to raise funds to support the work of StandWithUs.
StandWithUs hopes to inspire the newest generation of young adults to build strong Jewish and Zionist identities as part of their bar and bat mitzvah process. StandWithUs offers opportunities for B’nai Mitzvah to learn so they can teach their friends, family and community about Israel and antisemitism. B’nai Mitzvah and their parents can choose from a wide variety of StandWithUs selections that appeal to them, such as sharing educational materials, bringing StandWithUs speakers to their community, creating and sharing social media campaigns, and learning about a range of topics on StandWithUs.tv.
B’nai Mitzvah can explore their connection to Israel and their Jewish Identity with StandWithUs iLINK, three 30-minute lessons of engaging Israel content designed for independent learners. It was created for those seeking engaging Israel content that will deliver new insights, providing even the most Israel-savvy with new ways to understand the values that guide the State of Israel.
To donate to Sarah’s fundraiser in honor of her bat mitzvah visit: https://fundraise.standwithus. com/fundraiser/2995482
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Preceding provided by StandWithUs.
Read the article here.
