The Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust’s “B’nai Mitzvah: Acts of Memory” project matches a student preparing for bar/bat mitzvah with a child who perished in the Holocaust before reaching bar/bat mitzvah age.

The project provides the student with the name of a child, information about him or her, and suggestions for simple ways to remember the child, such as mentioning the child in a dvar Torah, or speech, from the bimah, or doing mitzvot in the name of the child.

Derek Cayton remembered survivor Edith Frankie’s brother. (photo courtesy of the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust)

For students who find the project particularly meaningful and wish to devote more time to it, there are additional opportunities, such as doing additional research on the child being remembered, or raising money for Holocaust education as a Mitzvah Project.

Participating in B’nai Mitzvah: Acts of Memory is a positive, age-appropriate way for local children and family to relate to the Holocaust on a personal level.

For students living in the Los Angeles area (or students who would like to travel here), the museum offers several additional opportunities, including a customized tour of Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust. A museum tour will provide an introduction to Holocaust history, including Jewish life before the Holocaust, customized to focus on the experiences of Jewish children like the one B’nai Mitzvah  participants are remembering.

The Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust is located at 100 The Grove Drive. For information, visit lamoth.org.