It was March 2020, and Covid-19 had just brought the world as we knew it to a grinding halt.
Keegan and Marc, two friends from Friendship Circle West Hartford, had both been looking forward to celebrating their upcoming Bar Mitzvahs. Keegan was busy learning for his Bar Mitzvah ceremony, and Marc was looking forward to visiting Israel with his family.
Abruptly, Covid-19 put both of their plans on hold.
Just like that, Keegan and Marc went from having so much to look forward to and celebrate to empty calendars and canceled plans.
All that changed when Rabbi Shaya Gopin, director of Friendship Circle Hartford, reached out with an interesting offer: Friendship Circle International had just launched a new initiative, with the generous support of The Mitzvah Bank, to gift Bar Mitzvah Boxes to boys who could not celebrate their Bar Mitzvah the way they had dreamed of due to Covid-19.
The box, he explained, contained a brand new pair of tefillin, kippah, Tzitzis, siddur and Tehillim and came along with the condition that the boys put on the tefillin. Keegan already had tefillin. Marc, he said, was an ideal candidate for the program. “You meet the criteria, and you deserve to celebrate this important milestone in a special way,” Gopin explained, “so I’ve nominated you. Let’s get learning!”
As their respective Bar Mitzvah dates neared, Marc and Keegan studied together on a weekly Zoom call with Rabbi Shaya. It was something to look forward to during the period of social distancing, which had put most of their regular activities on indefinite pause.
When the big day arrived, Rabbi Shaya presented Marc with a Bar Mitzvah Box of his own.
“When I found I wasn’t going to Israel, I was really bummed out,” recalls Marc. “However, I feel like the way that I ended up celebrating my Bar Mitzvah was even bigger than going to Israel, as it was celebrated with an actual Mitzvah.”
The boys’ joint bar mitzvah celebration culminated with them wrapping Tefillin in front of hundreds of people at the West Hartford Town Hall at the Friendship Circle of Hartford end-of-year event.
“What began as a project during the pandemic has shown us the importance of celebrating the bar and bat mitzvahs of children with special needs after the pandemic, too,” shares Rabbi Mendel Groner, Director of Friendship Circle International. “Giving Tefillin is one way to do just that and show them just how much we care about every milestone.”
Due to the Bar Mitzvah Box program from Friendship Circle International, both boys’ Bar Mitzvah celebrations will impact them for many years to come.
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This is so touching to see! Really beautiful