A total of 107 Israeli boys from needy families will gather at the Western Wall in Jerusalem on Monday for a mass bar mitzvah celebration under the auspices of the social-services organization Colel Chabad.

Taking place just days after the 15th anniversary of the passing of the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory, the ceremony’s number of participants corresponds to 107 years since the Rebbe’s birth.

At the celebration – which will include the participation of Israel’s chief rabbis and Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch, chief rabbi of the Western Wall and Jerusalem’s holy sites – the boys will receive new sets of tefillin from Colel Chabad, which was founded in 1788 by the first Chabad Rebbe, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi.

At last year’s celebration, former Israeli Chief Rabbi Israel Meir Lau handed out tefillin to the bar mitzvah boys.

This year’s group prepared for the occasion by taking a course through Chesed Menachem Mendel, Colel Chabad’s Orphan Early Intervention Program.


Coming from families unable to celebrate their bar mitzvahs for economic, health or other reasons, 107 boys will participate in a mass bar mitzvah celebration June 29 at the Western Wall in Jerusalem.


Each of the boys participated in a preparatory course under the auspices of Colel Chabad, a social services organization founded in 1788 by the first Chabad Rebbe, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi.


The number of this year’s celebrants corresponds to 107 years since the birth of the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory. The ceremony will take place just days after the 15th anniversary of his passing.


At last year’s mass bar mitzvah ceremony organized by Colel Chabad, former Israeli Chief Rabbi Israel Meir Lau, second from left, helped hand out new sets of tefillin to the boys.


This year, the celebration will continue at the Jerusalem Convention Center.


Directed by Chabad-Lubavitch Rabbi Sholom Duchman, Colel Chabad helps each family come to Jerusalem for the celebration.


Some of the boys get acquainted with their new tefillin at the 2008 celebration.