About the Project
The Bar/Bat Mitzvah Twinning Project is a living bridge between generations — connecting young Jews celebrating their coming of age with the memory of children whose voices were silenced in the Holocaust.
Each twinning offers a sacred act of remembrance, transforming loss into continuity and tragedy into renewal.
Rabbi Avraham Brussel
This initiative was founded by Avraham Brussel, a Holocaust researcher, educator, and ordained rabbi who dedicated his career to preserving Jewish memory and deepening identity.
For over 13 years, Rabbi Brussel led educational journeys to Poland, guiding thousands of students and families through the landscapes of Jewish life and loss. As a teacher and principal, he has devoted decades to helping young men and women explore Jewish religion, history, philosophy, and ethics with depth and compassion.
A Deeply Personal Experience
Through this project, Rabbi Brussel offers personalized research into the towns and communities of Poland where families once lived — uncovering stories, photographs, and documents that connect the present generation to the lost branches of their family tree.
Each Bar or Bat Mitzvah participant is invited to "twin" with a child who perished during the Holocaust, restoring their memory and integrating their story into the ongoing narrative of the Jewish people.
"The program is more than commemoration; it is an act of identity. By joining lives across time, it inspires a sense of belonging to something larger — a shared history that endures, and a future built upon remembrance, learning, and light."
Personal Learning & Historical Research
In addition to deeply researched twinning connections, Rabbi Brussel offers personal learning sessions with each Bar or Bat Mitzvah child — studying Jewish thought, history, and ethics together to make the experience truly transformative.
Through these encounters, the celebration becomes more than a ceremony: it becomes a step into the shared story of the Jewish people.
Every twinning project includes detailed historical research into the towns and communities where families once lived and where the remembered child's life unfolded. This personal exploration links each participant to their extended family story and to the collective memory that defines and inspires the Jewish people.
An Act of Restoration
The Bar/Bat Mitzvah Twinning Project is, at its heart, an act of restoration — renewing a broken chain, one story and one soul at a time.