Last week, on Thursday, July 3, we had a pleasure of participating in Jake Wisnik’s Bar Mitzvah at the „Synagogue” Center of the Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland. It was the first Bar Mitzvah in Zamosc in 75 years.

Approximately 80 people attended the celebration led by Rabbi David Holtz. Vice Mayor of Zamosc, Tomasz Kossowski, Mayor of Bilgoraj, Janusz Roslan, participants of School of Dialogue from Zamosc, Hrubieszow and Szczebrzeszyn, as well as local activists, historians, journalists and the Forum for Dialogue team, all attended this historic ceremony.

Following the Bar Mitzvah and a celebratory lunch, students from the III C.K. Norwid High School who had participated in Forum for Dialogue’s educational program, School of Dialogue, gave a walking tour of Zamosc’ Jewish sites. They showed everyone, including the Wisnik family, the most important buildings and places connected with the local Jewish history.

The idea to hold the Bar Mitzvah in Zamosc originated a year ago when Jake’s parents, Robert and Eva, attended a study trip to Poland organized by Forum for Dialogue. Their experiences from that visit, as well as their personal, historical ties to Poland, prompted them to ask Jake if he would like to hold his Bar Mitzvah in Zamosc. Jake enthusiastically agreed, explaining in his Bar Mitzvah invitation, “I wanted to come back to Poland to have my Bar Mitzvah to prove that the Jewish presence is not gone from Poland, and I want to make a statement that many Poles are welcoming towards Jews… I feel that this Bar Mitzvah is very important because I am continuing the tratidition of my father and grandfathers, in the country where all my ancestors came from.” Jake’s maternal grandfather, Abram Szlak, was born in Zamosc in 1935. Had it not been for World War II, he would have become a Bar Mitzvah in the very synagogue where Jake became one. Jake’s mother on the other hand, had to flee Poland with her parents and brother due to the 1968 anti-Semitic crackdowns.

The ceremony was covered by a large number of local and national media including, among others, the biggest Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza.

After the Bar Mitzvah the Wisnik’s family attended Krakow Jewish Culture Festival. During its final concert, Jake Wisnik appeared on the main stage and was standing in front of 12,000 people. He was invited there by Michael Schudrich, the Chief Rabbi of Poland, to celebrate Havdallah, the symbolic end of Shabbat.