Twinning With A Twist
Bar & Bat Mitzvah Twinning programmes enrich your child’s coming of age. It is a rite of passage and a journey with a meaningful purpose. It teaches your child the importance of Tzedakah and about feeling part of their community whilst helping other children less fortunate in another part of the world. Twinning programmes give children here in the UK a deeper understanding of their Jewish heritage, values, and traditions. The Tzedakah element is highly encouraged – a way to teach children the value of fundraising, charitable giving and the act of good deeds. By undertaking challenges and sponsored events they can support an element of their twin’s life maybe enabling them to have a Bar/Bat Mitzvah, something that may be a challenge without that extra funding support. The experience for both sets of children is inspiring, moving and life-changing and in some cases UK families may even visit and meet those that they have supported.
Jewish Child’s Day has been running a highly successful Bar/Bat twinning programme for over a decade now and has raised in excess of £100,000 during that time supporting projects and organisations in Israel and Eastern Europe.
The Making History Together programme, a partnership between Jewish Child’s Day (JCD) and The Together Plan (TTP) puts in place the vision of Anthea Jackson (Executive Director, JCD) - to develop a very unique partnership project between children here in the UK and in Belarus.
“After meeting with CEO, Debra Brunner from TTP I knew instantly that we had an obvious synergy to work together.”
“JCD already had a long-standing partnership with the TTP and have awarded them grants for the great and necessary work that they do. When I met Debra for the first time, she explained their new project in developing a ‘Jewish Heritage Route through Belarus’, connecting the periphery villages and towns of Belarus that once had a rich, full and vibrant Jewish community that were wiped out during the Second World War and ultimately forgotten. Through this programme, TTP aims to build a network of their youth and young people/ adults alike across the country so that they can reconnect, collaboratively explore their Jewish identity and to have the opportunity to be educated and memorialise their past so that they can have a Jewish future in a post-Soviet world.” “I have had the privilege working with various Jewish charities, developing new and building on existing twinning programmes, but this was something completely different and I instantaneously heard bells ringing in my head. I knew that as a partnership, we had something special and truly unique to offer our community.”
JCD was established in 1947 in the aftermath of the Holocaust. The charity educated and taught children to fundraise to help displaced children in Europe and the UK. “Our remit is as strong today as it was then; to improve the lives of Jewish children in need, giving them the future they deserve”
The ‘Making History Together’ programme has been developed by informal educators from all around the world, who aim to educate youth about the Holocaust in the Soviet Union and the history of the Jews of Belarus.
“Working together with a passionate team of educators, this programme opens the door to hidden history and gives a voice to the thousands of children that were not lucky enough to survive to tell their own stories. It teaches diversity, tolerance, love and respect and a whole lot more!” What makes it even more exciting, is that youth in Belarus are also exploring their own history through the programme, learning the same values, so that they too can inspire future generations.
The inaugural year of the programme has just concluded with a group of 17 curious and inquisitive twelve and thirteen year olds whose level of engagement was palpable. They have become change makers with a new outlook on how they can personally impact the world because of what they learned on the programme; not just about history but about themselves.
“Working with Debra and The Together Plan team, along with the support of our media partners at the Jewish Chronicle, has been a joy – showing what can be achieved collaboratively to bring this unique programme to life. Roll on year two!”
Applications are now open for 2022. For more information on Making History Together, please contact: leo@thetogetherplan.com