A moving bar mitzvah celebration was held at a southern Israeli ulpanah for Yosef, a boy born to a Jewish mother and a Muslim father. Years earlier, Yosef left the northern village where he grew up with his mother, and she and some of his siblings later returned to Judaism.
The ulpanah girls organized the event, as they had previously arranged two bat mitzvahs for Yosef’s sisters. Family members, friends, Yosef’s teachers from the Talmud Torah where he now studies, and friends of his mother, whom she met through activities run by Yad L’Achim, also attended. The evening included words of Torah, dancing with yeshiva students invited to entertain the guests, and a festive meal with gifts.
One especially emotional moment came when the guests met Uzi, a young man whose mother fled the Bedouin diaspora about a year ago with some of her children. Two of his siblings still move between homes. Uzi had been shuttling between his mother’s and father’s houses, but a few days earlier he decided to leave the village permanently and move to his mother’s home. After collecting his school certificate from a Muslim school, he went to his mother and told her he had chosen to live with her.
Yad L’Achim said that both Yosef’s mother and Uzi’s mother have been known to the organization for about 18 years. Over the years, its staff supported the families through difficult decisions, including leaving their partners, returning to Judaism, and rebuilding their lives around Jewish identity. The group said it was deeply moving to see the children grow, build their lives, and embrace their Jewish identity with pride.
