Adin Bogner | Congregation B’nai Amoona

Finding a mitzvah project can be stressful. Knowing he wanted his project to be meaningful and interesting, Adin, son of Michaela and Myles Bogner of Ellisville, chose Remember Us: The Holocaust B’nai Mitzvah Project.

Remember Us is an organization that helps students preparing for their bar or bat mitzvah to connect with the memory of children lost in the Holocaust before they could be called to the Torah. The name of a lost child, information about him or her and suggestions for simple acts of remembrance are provided.

Adin chose Remember Us for two reasons. One, his bar mitzvah fell on the same weekend as Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. The other was because his father’s family was deeply affected by the Holocaust. Several of Adin’s relatives were survivors, including his great-grandmother, but many didn’t survive. This included Leon Jachimowitz, a cousin who died in Chelmno at age 10. Adin chose to remember Leon.

One of the ways Adin honored his cousin was participating in a B’nai Amoona Men’s Club project prior to Yom HaShoah.  Yahrzeit candles and a personal letter written by Adin were placed in bags and delivered to the religious school classrooms. The letter was about his cousin and a request to keep Leon in his or her thoughts at this time of year.

In his bar mitzvah speech, Adin spoke about Leon and the importance of the Remember Us project. He also mentioned that a brochure describing the organization and a short bio about Leon was included with the regular Shabbat sheet. Below is an excerpt. 

“Leon Jachimowitz z”l – a name recorded in the Yad Vashem Pages of Testimony – is now known and lovingly remembered in the Congregation B’nai Amoona community through Adin’s act of remembrance. By accepting the legacy of memory, Adin becomes the guardian of the Jewish past and the realization of the Jewish future. You complete this transfer to a new generation by being a witness.”

The brochure also allowed for others to donate to the Remember Us project in Adin’s name. A student at Selvidge Middle School, Adin made his own donation and received a certificate of participation.