LOS ANGELES TEENAGER DEDICATES BAR MITZVAH TO RIGHTEOUS GENTILE THROUGH THE JEWISH FOUNDATION FOR THE RIGHTEOUS TWINNING PROGRAM

LOS ANGELES – Ari Reder dedicated his September 6th Bar Mitzvah at Temple Beth Am to Wiktoria Jaworska Sozanska as part of the Bar/Bat Mitzvah Program developed by The Jewish Foundation for the Righteous (JFR). The JFR, a non-profit organization dedicated to identifying, honoring and supporting non-Jews who rescued Jews during the Holocaust, has recognized Wiktoria, and her family, who hid Rozia Seifert, her father Mondel, Aunt, Fanya, and cousin, Lucien, in an underground bunker in their barn in Turka, Poland during the Holocaust.

Ari, an eighth grader at Pressman Academy, enjoys playing and watching sports – especially baseball. Ari chose to dedicate his Bar Mitzvah to Wiktoria because Rozia Seifert, the Holocaust survivor that Wiktoria kept alive, is his own grandmother.

Preteens who participate in the JFR’s Bar/Bat Mitzvah Program are given the opportunity to learn about and honor the selfless acts of these rescuers through “twinning,” a process in which the Bar/Bat Mitzvah is matched with an individual rescuer whose story he or she finds meaningful. This enables the children to learn more about, as well as recognize and appreciate the heroic deeds of rescuers. The youngster is presented with a twinning certificate and may relate the extraordinary story of heroism at the synagogue during their ceremony.

When the Germans invaded Turka, a group of able-bodied Jews built a bunker in the nearby woods to hide. Rozia, her father, aunt, and cousin were too young and sick to seek shelter in the bunker. Forced with the prospect of the Turka Ghetto, the Seifert family was selling their furniture when Wiktoria’s mother offered them shelter. For two years, Wiktoria and her family protected and cared for the four Jews in an underground barn bunker. Even when the young Wiktoria was detained and questioned for days by Gestapo, she did not betray her family’s Jewish charges. With the help of the Jewish Foundation of the Righteous, Wiktoria was reunited with Rozia (now Shoshana) in an emotional ceremony at John F. Kennedy Airport in November 2008. Ari Reder and his family attended the ceremony.

Along with the “twinning” program, Bar/Bat Mitzvah students can also choose to utilize the JFR – Checkerboard Invitations. When a Bar/Bat Mitzvah family selects the JFR – Checkerboard invitation, they support the work of the organization. The invitation includes information on JFR as well as a note from the family explaining that they are making a donation to the JFR on behalf of each of their guests. For more information on the JFR’s Bar/Bat Mitzvah program visit www.JFR.org.

The Jewish Foundation for the Righteous was created in 1986 to provide financial assistance to non-Jews who risked their lives and often the lives of their families to shelter and rescue Jews during the Holocaust. Today, the JFR supports more than 700 aged and needy rescuers in 22 countries. The Foundation also runs an internationally lauded Holocaust education program for middle and high school teachers and Holocaust center personnel who preserve the legacy of the rescuers by teaching the history of the Holocaust.