127 Ukrainian Youth Celebrate Joyous Bar and Bas Mitzvah

In the midst of a unique unity seminar for 127 Jewish teenagers from across Ukraine, a Bar and Bas Mitzvah celebration was held for 60 boys and girls from 15 EnerJew youth clubs spread throughout the country.

In the midst of a unique unity seminar for 127 Jewish teenagers from across Ukraine, a Bar and Bas Mitzvah celebration was held for 60 boys and girls from 15 EnerJew youth clubs spread throughout the country.

Ukraine Jewry is celebrating. One hundred and twenty-seven Jewish teenagers participated this past weekend in the unique unity seminar of the EnerJew movement for youth club members from all across Ukraine. The highlight of the event was a Bar and Bas Mitzvah celebration for 60 boys and girls from 15 youth clubs in Ukraine, who had spent the entire year preparing for the big day, together with the local Shluchim, in the framework of the Bar and Bat Mitzvah project of the Federation of Jewish Communities (FJC).

Far from the tension and pressure prevailing throughout the country, the seminar in the Carpathian Mountains of western Ukraine provided participants—from all corners of the country—with magical moments of peace and tranquility, along with a sense of empowerment, support, and positive energy.

Already on the first evening of the four-day seminar, which took place at the end of the month of Sivan, the emotional Bar and Bas Mitzvah celebration was held for the boys and girls who had diligently completed all stages of the preparatory course and managed to attend the festive occasion. Valuable gifts—tefillin for the boys and silver candlesticks for the girls—were given to participants in recognition of their efforts and achievements.

The rest of the seminar, which brought together graduates of the Bar and Bat Mitzvah project with members of the EnerJew youth movement, included an exciting mix of activities and social games, dancing and gatherings, comedy and entertainment performances, classes and lectures, attractions, and field trips, with an uplifting and energetic Shabbaton at its center.

The unforgettable seminar—organized by the Shliach Rabbi Moshe and his wife Weber from Dnipro together with Ms. Lena Kovylova Director of EnerJew Ukraine—was led by a professional team from the Jewish youth movement, along with experienced counselors, lecturers, Shluchim, and their families who came especially for the event.

Among the participating Shluchim were Rabbi Menachem and Rebbetzin Glitzenshtein from Chernivtsi, Rabbi Mendel and Rebbetzin Gottlieb from Lviv, Rabbi Yossi and Rebbetzin Teitelbaum from Khmelnytskyi, and the Tereshkevich and Nachshon Shluchim families from Dnipro.

The Bar and Bas Mitzvah project and EnerJew Shabbaton were made possible thanks to the generosity of the Finger Family Foundation and the support of the Jewish United Fund of Chicago.