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| Bar mitzvah of a special needs child at the Western Wall |
Hundreds of sick children got the chance to celebrate their bar and bat mitzvahs at the Western Wall the same way ordinary children experience the festive day, according to press reports in Israel.
Two hundred children with mental disabilities gathered at the Western Wall in Jerusalem on Sunday to celebrate their bar and bat mitzvahs.
This is the 11th time the mass bar and bat mitzvah ceremony has taken place.
The children, who came to the Western Wall, along with their families, were well received by dozens of volunteers from yeshivot and religious girls' schools, led by singing and dancing. Volunteers helped the children put on their tefillin and prayer shawls throughout the ceremony.
“It is wonderful to see all these sick children, extremely happy. They suffered all their lives because of their mental disabilities, and it warms the heart to see how they are able to have some joy by putting on their tefillin for the first time at the Western Wall, which is the holiest place in Judaism,” Joe Baker, 47, of Jerusalem, Israel told YourJewishNews.com after watching the happy children at the Western Wall.
Religious Services Minister Deputy Rabbi Eli Ben Dahan attended the event, and said: "This is a wonderful thing. All organizations involved to make this event will surely be blessed by God for their holy work."