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 persons 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 arent 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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