Bar and Bat Mitzvah Projects
Teach Giving Back,
Even After the Ceremony
MARISSA STERN | JE STAFF
T HE COUNTLESS HOURS
spent learning and prac-
ticing your Torah portion.

The late-night anxieties parents experience as
they double check they’ve called the caterer and
decorators for last-minute changes.

The payoff of becoming a Bar or Bat Mitz-
vah in front of your closest friends and fam-
ily — before they chuck candy at you.

Preparing for a Bar or Bat Mitzvah
isn’t easy, but once you’re off the bi-
mah and riding the sugar high of
dozens of Shirley Temples, it all
comes together.

But there is one other ele-
ment of the important event that
shouldn’t be overlooked: a Bar or
Bat Mitzvah project.

These teens found unique ways
to complete their projects by working
with organizations that were meaningful to them
and, importantly, let them play with some puppies.

Justin Oser has always loved animals, so volunteering with
Dog Town Rescue in Montgomery County was a natural fit for
his Bar Mitzvah project.

Justin became a Bar Mitzvah in June 2017 and was able to
present the organization with a $500 check after he — in addi-
tion to playing with the puppies — sold lip balm to family and
friends. He created a website for the product and volunteered his
time to the animals.

“I always loved working with animals, so I wanted to help
them,” the Pennbrook Middle School seventh-grader said. “I
walked them, fed them, played with them — kind of whatever
they needed.”
His mother, Debbie Oser, volunteered with him, as he was
under 12 years old at the time.

“I saw that he was just very loving and caring toward [the
animals]. He knows dogs at rescues or at certain pet stores, that
they’re waiting to be adopted and are always kept back behind
closed doors, or in a cage or behind the glass, etc., and he’s al-
ways had sensitive feelings toward that,” she said. “So I would
see him just be happy hugging the dogs and playing with the
dogs, just being fulfilled that he was able to give them some
playtime and love.”
14 OCTOBER 26, 2017
PHOTO BY PAVLINA2510/THINKSTOCK
He also previously convinced his family to give some love to
their own dog. After plenty of pleading, the Osers relented and
brought home Chester, a shih tzu who will be 3 next month.

“It’s because of Justin,” Debbie Oser laughed. “He would kind
of hock us and bother us — he really, really wanted a dog.”
Volunteering with the organization and completing his mitz-
vah project taught Justin “to give back and help others.”
“Just knowing I was helping the animals,” he said of the most
rewarding part, “and they could get out of the cage and I could
help them and play.”
“It was a wonderful experience for him,” Debbie Oser added.

“I was very happy that he was able to help Dog Town Rescue be-
cause they go out of their way to try to help as many animals as
they can and they’re just great people, so for Justin to be able to
help them as well as fill his heart helping the animals and getting
to give them a little bit of love, I thought it was a great experience.”
For Noah Goldstein, his Bar Mitzvah project came about
by accident — though his mother, Debra Goldstein, notes she
doesn’t believe in coincidences, especially with this project.

When going to pick out invitations for his June 2017 Bar
Mitzvah, they found one company, Checkerboard Ltd., whose
design is made especially for the Jewish Foundation for the
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