Seniors Arrange Bar Mitzvah For Boy In Children's Village

DOBBS FERRY, NY — Joshua, who will soon turn 13, is a resident at the Children's Village juvenile facility in Dobbs Ferry. Thanks to a group of retirees, he will be able to celebrate his bar mitzvah, something he didn't think would happen. Residing in a juvenile justice facility, Joshua, whose full name is being withheld because he is a juvenile, has faced numerous hardships most people have never encountered.

Living a trying life completely isolated from family and friends, he never imagined having any celebration in his honor, let alone a bar mitzvah.

While preparing for a weekly Torah discussion group for retirees held at the Highpoint Condos in Hartsdale, Rabbi Benjy Silverman of Chabad of the Rivertowns received a call from Joshua's grandmother, Sandra.

She enlisted his help in arranging a bar mitzvah for Joshua, and Silverman gladly agreed and began preparations.

Later that day at the discussion group, known as "The Shmooze," he mentioned Joshua's difficult situation and plans of his upcoming bar mitzvah in passing to some of the group's members.

Stepping up, the class of some 30 seniors, none of whom ever met Joshua or his family, offered to sponsor his bar mitzvah and help turn a dream into a reality.

Now, this week, Joshua, joined by "The Shmooze" discussion group as well as students his age from a local Jewish day-school, will be donning tefillin — a sacred pair of black leather boxes containing Hebrew parchment scrolls — and be called up to the Torah at his very own bar mitzvah celebration held in the Rivertowns area.

Photo caption: Chabad of the Rivertowns. Photo credit: Submitted.