This program has now been running for four years in succession at Afula's WIZO Community Center.

In the 2008-2009 school year, the program ran from November 2008 through August 2009.  Activities included regular weekly meetings for two groups - 11 boys and 16 girls, with their respective youth leaders.

The children enjoyed activities such as investigating their personal, Jewish and national identities.  The content and meaning of the Jewish festivals were examined, such as Chanuka, Purim and specifically Israeli festivals such as Tu B'Shvat, Lag B'Omer, and special events were held in the north of Israel, Tel Aviv, and Jerusalem.

The children's parents were involved throughout the program, accompanying their children during this important year of their lives.  Parents attended activities with their children, undertook family assignments, as well as a group community-based project in which they decorated a wall in the community center.

This year, students from Afula's yeshiva high school were involved in the program and served as big brothers for the bar mitzvah boys.  They assisted the boys from the religious perspective helping them become familiar with synagogue services and prayers, teaching them to lay tefillin, read from the Torah and be called up to the Torah.

The big brothers were also responsible for hosting the bar mitzvah boys and their families on their special day, helping them to lay tefillin for the first time and being called to the Torah at the synagogue in the yeshiva high school.  At a party for the bar mitzvah boys, held in groups of three, in one of the yeshiva classrooms, the boys and their guests were able to celebrate with a festive breakfast and heard divrei Torah prepared by the bar mitzvah and his big brother.   Being called to the Torah was the most personal and emotional part of the event for each boy and his family, reflecting the passing into adulthood, acceptance of religious responsibility and the strong relationships that were forged between the bar mitzvah boy and his family with the big brother.

The girls participated in workshops emphasizing those mitzvot (precepts) which are normally in the women's realm (challah, candle-lighting, and laws of family purity), and the girls were also able to learn the various skills.

One of the highlights of the program was the bar/bat mitzvah celebration which took place at one of Afula's best banqueting halls.  The event included a rich, moving artistic program during which the boys and girls performed songs which had been arranged and recorded at a recording studio, the girls prepared a dance for the guests, and the children and guests danced and sang together with great emotion throughout the afternoon.

During the summer, the program ran as a day camp at the Community Center, in which the bar and bat mitzvah children were able to share their experiences from their parties and ceremonies, they acquired computer skills, wrote a special diary about their bar/bat mitzvah year, prepared computerized photo albums, and also participated in the ordinary summer activities that children of their age enjoy.

A video summarizing the activities can be seen at:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2ZkJWHkT5Q

Sincerely,Doudou Moatty   m4010@wizo.org