Bar/Bat Mitzvah

Ve’ahavta’s Bar/Bat Mitzvah tikun olam (repairing the world) program is a wonderful way for you and your family to observe the Jewish traditions of Tzedakah and tikun olam. You can help your child to enter adulthood by emphasizing the role he or she can play in making the world a better place and setting a tangible example at your child’s celebration.

Your donations go directly to one of our many programs. To see how far your donation stretches, we can take you and your child on our MJRH (Mobile Jewish Response to the Homeless) van to help feed and clothe Toronto’s homeless population. After your child’s first experience on the van he or she can then choose to join the van a second time. This time your child can give the homeless something personal that he or she has collected. This is a great opportunity for your child to truly experience tikun olam. Along with your participation on the van, your donations can go to Israeli youth in distress, AIDS patients in Africa or the poor in Guyana.

Every action taken through our organization makes a huge impact on the world in which we live. Your child can designate his/her money to a specific Ve’ahavta program or to the organization at large.

There are three ways for your child to contribute.

• Donations in honour of your son/daughter. Guests can be asked to make a contribution in lieu of gifts directly to Ve’ahavta. You will be given weekly updates and your child will receive a beautifully framed and personalized tikun olam certificate. We will issue tax receipts to all those who donate including those from the U.S.
• Donating a portion of the Bar/Bat Mitzvah gifts to the many programs of Ve’ahavta. Your child will receive a beautifully framed and personalized tikun olam certificate.
• Tikun olam centerpieces for your tables. This provides an awareness of the needs of real people living on the streets and an opportunity to discuss social issues that affect our community and our world. You and your child can also join us in distributing the baskets and witness for yourselves the difference it makes. These baskets are just as festive and beautiful as flowers and extend your celebration into Toronto’s homeless community. The recipients experience the good will of the Jewish community and it fills their hearts with hope and encouragement.

Ve’ahavta volunteer Josh Arbess, with the children from the House of Hope orphanage in Haiti. Josh spent his winter vacation in Haiti with his father, Dr. Gordon Arbess, distributing Kinder Kits to Haitian orphans in honour of his Bar Mitzvah.

 To discuss how you can help your child make this world a better place,
contact Shawna Meshwork at 416-964-7698 ext 211