3 Bnei Mitzva who chose to GIFT it Forward on their special day

12 year old Jordan Pearlman, son of Brad and Gabi, is due to celebrate his Barmitzvah in August 2020.

Due to the current lockdown, it is unclear whether it will take place in his Synagogue in Hampstead Garden Suburb or via Zoom, without many of his family and friends.

Jordan has come up with an ingenious idea. He explains ..
“Many of us have been unable to arrange a Barmitzvah, Batmitzvah, Wedding, Bris, and Birthday, Anniversary or Baby Naming ceremony. I have decided to unite us and create a virtual simcha wall on Instagram, which will feature a photograph of yourself or something that is important to you. I would like this wall to be filled with wonderful photos and a reminder that in these strange times we can still all come together.

 I have always been taught the importance of giving charity and I would also like to use the wall as a way to raise money for the three wonderful chosen charities:

GIFT – Supporting the most vulnerable and isolating members of our Community
Hatzola – providing pre-hospital emergency medical response and transportation at no cost, to the North London community
Camp Simcha – improves the quality of life for Jewish families affected by serious childhood illness.”

If you have celebrated a Simcha since lockdown or about to, or it has been affected, and wish to be included on the wall please forward your photo to:

virtualsimchawall@gmail.com and include your name, function type (e.g. Barmitzvah, wedding or other), date and Instagram name.

If you wish and are able to donate please go to www.jgift.org/virtualsimchawall. 

You are also encouraged to do an act of kindness.

Please forward to all your friends and Help Build The Simcha Wall 2020/2021

Hasmonean pupil Rina Serfaty decided to do a 5 mile charity run to mark her special day in a meaningful way.

She told us “I think these difficult times have taught us how lucky many of us are to have what we need to stay safe, showing us how important it is to extend a hand to help those who don’t have what we may often take for granted. I chose to mark my Bat Mitzvah by running for GIFT because I wanted to be able to support the incredible work they do to provide and supply to those most in need, spreading positivity, love and care throughout our community.” 

Mia Samuels, a student at Immanuel College baked challah for the elderly in her community. She explains
‘I was inspired to step up in this way because I realised that however hard I was finding lockdown, there were people who were finding it much harder. We baked 18 challahs the first week and when I could see how grateful people were when we dropped them off, I wanted to carry on doing it because it really felt good to be able to help. I expanded my challah project by asking family and friends who would have been coming to my bat mitzvah to donate to GIFT to fund hot meals for the families they support.I keep checking my page and I am so grateful to see that the total keeps going up.’

Mia’s mother, Naomi Greenaway said ‘ Thank you so much GIFT for helping to set this up. The whole thing has been such a brilliant experience for Mia.”

GIFT’s MD Rabbi Sandor Milun told us “With so many diversions today, it is inspiring to see such amazing children who, as they are becoming adults, have chosen to ‘Give It Forward Today’. They are a shining example to our youth today to step up and make a difference!”

If you would like to show your support for these initiatives or celebrate your Bar/Batmitzva in a meaningful way, contact GIFT on info@jgift.org or 0208 457 4429