A Special Bar Mitzvah Experience

I can sit here for the next 12 hours and explain to you what kabad is doing and I'm not even giving you a tiny smidgen of it about a year ago I went to the kabad dinner I saw everything that they do um and one specific part that hit me the most is uh the bar mitzvah the mass bar mitzvah for all the orphans that they do um in Israel once a year I got a call from Rabbi arim dman and he said David we need help I said no problem Rabbi I'm in anything for you and the next thing you know I'm going on a bar mitzvah trip for 150 orphan boys and I said yeah we're going to give these boys I've been giving barit lessons uh to about I've taught about 70 kids now obviously these kids are very fortunate thank god um and they're able to have a real Bar Mitzvah they have the whole family there they have a ton of friends and ends up being a couple hundred people there um they have a whole big kids party I try getting them to connect to this bar mitzah project as well and a few days before the actual War Mitzvah I booked a flight and I didn't know what really to expect but if had the whole itinerary planned ready for me I booked a flight and and I said let's let's do it when I walked into the cotel and I see all these kids and one thing I'm noticing they all don't know how to smile smile it broke my heart I'm seeing kids at their Bar Mitzvah and they look miserable and it that right then and there that's when it hit me they don't have families here we're coming to give these boys hook and to give the families huk I stood there handing out all of theil and Talis and sitters that I helped raise money and obviously was a very emotional and satisfying moment in my life and each kid we handed the Fillin to and then we danced them around to the cotel um I ended up showing each kid how to wrap the Fillin giving them aias and laning each specific par for each individual child I see a guy in a wheelchair and I see another guy pushing them and they bump into me I turn around I see the guy in the wheelchair and he tells me I want to dance with my grandson I take the grandfather I push him right next to his grandson and the grandfather shining bright like you never saw in your life he has a tear coming down his eye and the grandfather grabs the boy like this puts him on his lap and he gives him a blessing and he starts crying week after the trip Rabbi sends me a picture he's the oldest of five [Music] brothers that's what K kabad is helping these are the families that they're helping they're helping people from broken families like we could never even imagine and this was just one [Music] kid and then there was one kid that stands up right by the beima was very familiar I knew his face from somewhere but I couldn't pinpoint where it was from and he stands up there and then I see over the Mak I see a woman which was his mother I Rec I her too and I'm trying to figure out where I know her from and it ended up being that this was Ari fold's son and his [Music] wife Ari fult his father happened to have been murdered by a terrorist uh within that that [Music] year AR son stands up next to the beima he's the youngest boy in the family I showed him the spot and we rolled to the next paraa and and he Lanes and he did a perfect job and after the bar mitzvah I told him I'm like you did that was in a perfect Ayah and then he turns to me he goes yeah my my father taught me first six ayas my grandfather taught me the [Music] seven I knew I was there for a specific reason and just being there it changed my perspective on everything my perspective on life and I knew that I wasn't there just for a bar mitzvah or for 120 Bar Mitzvah it was for a way larger picture and to understand what K does for each individual child they go above and beyond and I just couldn't be more proud to be part of such an organization such an amazing such an amazing [Music] place we always had food on the table I always had whatever I wanted I was never cold in the winter I was never hot in the summer we had air conditioning we had heat I had my family around me my whole life these people don't have family so what does kabad do to help them grow up the right [Music] way my whole life I've been going to Israel whether it's a family trip whether it's when I studied in Yeshiva whether it's on vacation every time I go to Israel it's always to get something this time when I went to the cotel and when I was there for these kids I was able to get something way more than I ever wanted it was always I intended to be giving something to be giving an experience for these kids to help out in whatever way I can but in return this is Israel trip I was able to get way more than I ever could have imagined [Music] [Applause] [Music]