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David Buimovitch / AFP - Getty Images
Holocaust survivors wearing 'Talit' (prayer shawls) and 'Tefilin' (phylacteries), sit in a synagogue during a Bar Mitzvah ceremony on May 17, 2012 in Ashkelon, Israel.
Six Holocaust survivors who were unable as children to celebrate the bar mitzvah, the Jewish rite of passage that marks a boy's 13th birthday, were finally able to mark their coming of age in a ceremony in the Israeli city of Ashkelon on Thursday.
David Buimovitch / AFP - Getty Images
David Buimovitch / AFP - Getty Images
A Holocaust survivor whose number tattoo is still visible puts on the 'Tefilin' during the ceremony.
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Mazel Tov!
How wonderful that these men could participate in such an important ritual. And what a poignant and terrible reminder of what was: niemals -- NEVER AGAIN!!
This is so wonderful. I wonder what are the psychological effects of being able to have their bar mitvah's?
Mazel tov! Segen sie alle.
How beautiful!!
I think these men "came of age" quicker than most men ever will. God bless them!
The photos brought tears to my eyes.
This is very touching. What I am wondering is why they waited so long. Surely they went to Temple as young men after the war. Wouldn't their Rabbi have checked into it? These poor men went through that horrid event. and lived to live an entire life after. I wish them much joy.
Probably for the same reason I can't have a formal wedding. It is so painful to stand up there when all the loved ones who treasured you are all gone, in a terrible fashion. Despite the joy of the event, it is almost impossible to breathe, you look around, and they are gone. Every dream and hope shattered. Just empty chairs. these men had to overcome so much just to even contemplate this ceremony. As a daughter of a WWII vet, I rejoice for them.