These mitzvah projects, as they’ve come to be known, assist a range of beneficiaries as diverse as the teens themselves. Over the past year, local mitzvah projects have included teaching origami to refugee children, volunteering at a no-kill cat shelter, collecting and donating books to literacy programs and a school library, organizing a bone marrow registry, playing music and cleaning for senior citizens, raising funds for medical research, and feeding firefighters and homeless people.

Gavin Cohen with his cousin, Trinity Hungerford

The AJP spoke with four of last year’s local celebrants about how they are helping others.

Gavin Cohen was inspired to raise funds for the Make-a-Wish Foundation of Arizona after the organization granted his cousin’s wish for a horse. When she was 6 years old, Trinity Hungerford was diagnosed with lymphoma, a type of blood cancer. The Make-a-Wish Foundation, which grants the wishes of children who have a life-threatening medical condition, arranged for her to have access to a horse for one year.

“I knew how much it meant to my little cousin to get her wish,” says Gavin, now an eighth grader at Esperero Canyon Middle School.

Gavin, the son of Lori and Russell Cohen, celebrated his Bar Mitzvah on Jan. 7, 2012 at Temple Emanu-El.

He included a letter with his Bar Mitzvah invitations explaining his goal and encouraging guests to donate to the cause. A representative from the Make-a-Wish Foundation of Arizona was at Gavin’s party to share information about the organization and collect donations.

Together with the funds he raised, Gavin added money he received as gifts for a total contribution of more than $2,500 — the level needed to provide a shopping spree for one child. Wishes are granted anonymously — the recipient and the donor do not know each other. But Gavin has the satisfaction of knowing that a child in Southern Arizona will get his or her wish.

For Gavin, the hardest part of his project was remembering how difficult it was for Trinity when she was sick with lymphoma. She is now healthy and the cousins last saw each other over the Fourth of July.

Benjamin Deitch

Benjamin Deitch also chose to support an organization that assisted a member of his family. Tu Nidito Children and Family Services helps children and families cope with a serious illness or death. After Benjamin’s grandmother passed away last year, counselors at Tu Nidito helped his younger sister with grief and mourning. This inspired Benjamin to raise funds for toys and other items that children need during counseling.

“If you’re sick or a loved one has died, you can go [to Tu Nidito] for free. It is a non-profit and people volunteer, including the counselors,” says Benjamin, the son of Valerie and Michael Deitch. He raised more than $700 as a participant in Tu Nidito Ride for a Child, part of the El Tour de Tucson bicycle race.

Ride for a Child cyclists receive information about the child each is sponsoring and have the opportunity to meet the children at a dinner held before the race. “My child did not attend, so I met a girl whose rider did not attend. She had the worst type of leukemia and it was spreading to her heart,” he says.

Benjamin celebrated his Bar Mitzvah at Congregation Anshei Israel on Dec. 10, 2011. He attends St. Gregory College Prep­aratory School.

This was his first time riding in El Tour and he biked 42 miles. When asked what he did to prepare for the race, Benjamin says, “I just got out there and rode on a really bad bike. My mom, dad and sister all rode, too, but I went ahead. My mom and sister did not finish, and I beat my dad by an hour.”

Although the race was challenging, it was a good experience, says Benjamin, and he might ride for a child again.

For her mitzvah project, Lily Peters works alongside refugees, gleaning fruit and vegetables through the Ishkashitaa Refugee Harvesting Network. After she volunteered with Ishkashitaa as a Girl Scout, Lily and her family decided to continue working with the organization.

Lily is the daughter of Tom Peters and Annette Hillman. She celebrated her Bat Mitzvah on Oct. 15, 2011 at Congregation Or Chadash.

Lily Peters

At Ishkashitaa, volunteers work together with refugees to glean produce that would otherwise go to waste from urban gardens and rural farms. One day they may be picking lemons from a tree overflowing with fruit in the front yard of a Tucson home. Another day they may drive out to a farm near Willcox to harvest garlic, which they then hang up to dry. Once the produce is collected, volunteers distribute it to other refugees and help make tasty products, like prickly pear syrup, to sell at farmers’ markets.

Hillman says, “Their organization’s motto is ‘no fruit left behind.’ ”

Driving together to farms outside of Tucson gives the refugees a chance to practice their English. Lily says she enjoys hearing the stories of people who have fled Bhutan, Nepal, Sudan and other countries.

“I like to know where they’re from, what happened to them, how they got here,” says Lily, a freshman at Canyon Del Oro High School. “It’s a really great experience to get to know the refugees and to work physically.”

Since many of the refugees grew up in rural areas and were farmers, they enjoy the opportunity to help out on the farms that, in turn, donate their gleaned produce.

This practice of gleaning is a mitzvah in Jewish tradition. “When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be left for the stranger, the orphan, and the widow, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all your undertakings.” (Deuteronomy 24:19)

When asked what she has learned from her volunteer efforts, Lily says, “How hard work can actually benefit people besides you. And just knowing that your neighbors have food going to waste and that other people can use it — this opens my eyes to many things.”

Ezra Lyons on tour of eegee’s headquarters

Ezra Lyons, who celebrated his Bar Mitzvah at Congregation Chaverim on June 2, 2012, also chose a project that focuses on food, but from a very different perspective. Ezra, the son of Hilary and Patrick Lyons, was diagnosed with celiac disease at the age of five. Experiencing firsthand the difficulty of finding kid-friendly, gluten-free food when eating out, Ezra took it upon himself to change that situation, one restaurant at a time. He embarked on a letter-writing campaign to persuade local eateries to provide more gluten-free products that kids like him can enjoy.

“Since I was five I’ve had an allergy to gluten, which is in wheat, so during my life it’s been a struggle to eat certain things and get a good diet for my allergies. I decided to help other people who have to go through the same thing, so it’s not as hard for them,” says Ezra, who attends BASIS Tucson.

Although there is a growing awareness about the need for gluten-free menu items, Ezra says, “A lot of times you have adult choices like a salad, but kids’ menus usually have macaroni and cheese, burgers or pizza or something. So there’s usually nothing for a kid to eat at a restaurant that’s gluten free.”

Ezra’s efforts are being taken seriously. Robert Jensen, president of the local eegee’s sandwich chain, replied to Ezra’s letter, “You are a brave young man and I applaud your wonderful attitude. You make some good points. I have instructed my bakery manager to research how we can make gluten-free bread. It is letters like yours that good companies should listen to and make a decision one way or another.”

Jensen invited Ezra to tour eegee’s corporate headquarters. During the visit, Jensen said that the chain cannot currently offer gluten-free bread because of the cost, since they bake their bread daily. However, he did not rule out the possibility of providing it in the future, if there is enough demand. The private tour included lunch for Ezra and his guests, with eegee’s sandwiches on gluten-free rolls for Ezra and his brother Aodhan, who is allergic to wheat.

As a mentor for the Southern Arizona Celiac Support Group, Ezra guides other children with celiac disease. When eating out, he recommends ordering a burger without the bun, fish or anything that isn’t breaded. “Even though it’s sometimes really hard, you have to make sure that you keep away from wheat and look at ingredients for everything.”

Alexis Sokoloff holds the Torah at her Bat Mitzvah ceremony (Courtesy Gwen Sokolof)

Fourteen-year-old Alexis Sokoloff smiles as she recalls her Bat Mitzvah on June 9. “I wasn’t nervous at all,” she told the AJP. “I really love learning Hebrew.”

Sokoloff was born with Down syndrome, but with the support of her parents, Gwen and Mitchell Sokoloff, and her younger sister, Rebecka, she’s thrived — and been fully engaged with Judaism.

This year she put together a Power Point presentation with her special education teacher, explaining her disability to her eighth grade peers at Orange Grove Middle School. Having Down syndrome means “Alexis was born with an extra chromosome,” says Gwen, noting that Alexis has always been mainstreamed. “She can learn. It just takes her longer. Her disability affects a lot of her physical and developmental growth.”

The Sokoloffs moved from Portland, Ore., to Tucson four years ago. Their Portland synagogue was “trailblazing,” willing to try preparing teens with disabilities for a Bar or Bat Mitzvah, says Gwen. “Alexis and I were going to become Bat Mitzvahs together,” but their Portland rabbi told her, “‘Absolutely not. It’s her day.’ Alexis far surpassed me in learning Hebrew,” says Gwen. “I’ve decided my best effort is to plan my daughters’ Bat Mitzvahs.” Rebecka will have hers on May 11, 2013.

Three years ago, the Sokoloffs attended the annual synagogue open house at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. “We made a real connection with Rabbi [Thomas] Louchheim and Cantor [Janece] Cohen of Congregation Or Chadash,” who had started training teens with special needs for B’nai Mitzvah.

Sokoloff attended Hebrew classes with Melissa Truelove, who was an Or Chadash religious school teacher and B’nai Mitzvah tutor, for several years. She delved into preparation for her Bat Mitzvah last year. “Alexis was an extreme pleasure to work with,” says Truelove. “She was extremely motivated, enthusiastic and probably the most dedicated student I’ve worked with. It was an honor to work with her and participate in her [Bat Mitzvah] service. Looking back years from now, I’m sure I’ll say this was one of the pinnacles of my teaching career.”

And the feeling seems to be mutual. Sokoloff “loved going for her Bat Mitzvah training,” says her mother. “She always wanted to go.” The recent Bat Mitzvah says that working with Melissa and “learning my prayers was fun.”

The Sokoloff family follows Jewish practices such as lighting Shabbat candles and attending services. “I like Shabbat,” says Sokoloff, adding that she especially enjoys saying the candlelighting blessing as a family.

Sokoloff will help her sister prepare for her Bat Mitzvah, says Gwen, and will participate in the service on May 11. Meanwhile, Alexis says “I’m super-excited” about starting ninth grade at Catalina Foothills High School. Sokoloff loves music and is a huge sports fan, notes her mother, adding that Alexis will swim in the Special Olympics in September. Sokoloff also loves knitting; she made around 10 kippot for family members for her Bat Mitzvah. She intends to continue studying Hebrew at Or Chadash.

“I’ve been very impressed and very proud of Alexis,” says Gwen. At her Bat Mitzvah “she loved being the center of attention. She’s usually very shy but she wasn’t that day.” Flashing another smile, her daughter concurs.

In the past year, Tucson’s B’nai Mitzvah celebrants have collected shoes for needy children, walked to support a cure for juvenile diabetes and organized a benefit concert for earthquake victims in Haiti. They’ve volunteered in libraries and animal rescue centers, soup kitchens and senior citizen homes. They’ve raised funds for numerous organizations, from Israel’s Beit Halochem (Warrior House) Rehabilitation Centers to the Community Food Bank to Homer Davis Elementary School (supporting the Jewish Community Relations Council’s Making a Difference Every Day project).

Like their peers, the young people whose projects are detailed below display a generosity of spirit that is inspiring.

Noah Pensak (left) and Jacob Meyer donate books to the Ocotillo Learning Center library. (Courtesy Ocotillo Learning Center)

Noah Pensak shared his love of reading by collecting books for the library at Ocotillo Learning Center, a public school in the Sunnyside Unified School District

“I’m an avid reader. Being able to bring that same pleasure to others is fantastic,” Noah told the AJP.

The son of Catherine Pensak and Michael Pensak, Noah celebrated his Bar Mitzvah on March 5, 2011 at Congregation Anshei Israel. He worked on the book drive with a friend, Jacob Meyer, who celebrated his Bar Mitzvah at Anshei Israel one week later. The boys, now eighth graders at Tucson Hebrew Academy, have been friends since first grade. Their donation consisted of at least 50 books, says Noah, many of which were books of their own they’d outgrown. Others were purchased at Bookmans Entertainment Exchange.

Their gift moved the principal of Ocotillo Learning Center, Paul Ohm, to write to the AJP about the project.

“In these times of great challenges in our world, I think it is important to share when something so wonderful takes place. We at Ocotillo Learning Center are very proud of Noah and Jacob,” says Ohm, calling them “wonderful role models and outstanding citizens.”

The school, Ohm explains, serves children from birth to five years, many of them from low-income homes. Some of the students have developmental delays, but all of the classrooms are fully integrated.

On the day he and Jacob brought the books to the Ocotillo school, says Noah, all the classes assembled in the library. “It was so memorable to see all these kids sitting there, smiling,” he says. “It felt so good to hand over the books and we got to show some of the book titles to the kids.” They also visited a classroom where, he says, “it was really nice to see” differently-abled and “regular” kids sitting side by side, helping each other.

In addition to donating books to Ocotillo, Noah also helped out in the second grade classroom at Anshei Israel’s religious school. “I thought that I could help enrich the learning of Hebrew and Judaic studies,” he says. “I was fortunate enough to go to THA and have three classes a day devoted to Judaism.” Both the tutoring and the book drive, he says, are linked to his Haftorah, which was about giving back to the community. “I wanted to do something hands-on,” he says.

Rachel Levy’s project was also hands-on: she organized game times at the Pivirotto Family Library at Diamond Children’s Medical Center, where she also donated games and art supplies.

Rachel Levy (right) plays cards with Brenda Padilla and her sisters Keyra and Briana (not pictured), who were visiting a sibling at the Diamond Children’s Medical Center. (Courtesy Nanci Levy)

The daughter of Nanci and Doug Levy, Rachel celebrated her Bat Mitzvah at Temple Emanu-El on May 28, 2011.

Before the Diamond center was built, Rachel explains, she had been a patient at University Medical Center, being treated for complications from ulcerative colitis, so she knows a hospital is “not the most warm place for children.” Her goal in playing games with patients and their siblings was “to take their minds off the traumatic times they were in.”

Most of her interactions, Rachel says, were with patients’ family members. Seeing patients who were “so young and so dramatically ill” was a bit upsetting, she says, but she managed to see “the happy point of it, because I was making their stay there better.”

Tennis is Eli Soyfer’s game — he plays in the junior excellence program at Tucson Racquet Club — so his project was designed to help other kids play sports.

Eli Soyfer

Eli, the son of Dora Soyfer and Stan Soyfer, collected and donated several crates of sports equipment and clothes to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Tucson.

One inspiration for his project, says Eli, who celebrated becoming a Bar Mitzvah on Sept. 25, 2010 at Congregation Bet Shalom, was the way the community collects food and more for the needy before Rosh Hashanah.

Eli’s donation to Big Brothers Big Sisters included several of his old racquets. The racquet club and his classmates at THA also contributed items, from tennis clothes, racquets, grips, balls and shock absorbers to regular shorts and shirts. His family had previously given clothing to Big Brothers Big Sisters; putting this project together made him feel “like I was helping a lot,” says Eli.

Max Byrd

Hunter Byrd

Susan Byrd’s sons, Max and Hunter Byrd, may be identical twins, but the boys, who celebrated their B’nai Mitzvah on May 7, 2011 at Congregation Or Chadash, chose distinctly different mitzvah projects.

Max’s focus was on animals. He organized this year’s pet blessing at Or Chadash, which also served as part of his toy drive for the Humane Society of Southern Arizona, to which he donated about 75 dog and cat toys.

Max visits the Humane Society as often as possible, and can’t wait to turn 14 so he can volunteer there without his mother having to be present.

When he dropped off the toys, he says, he got to play “tug” with one of the dogs. “The dog was pretty excited to get the toy. The people there looked pretty happy that I gave them three boxes of toys.”

At home, Max has a basset-shepherd-Rottweiler-dachshund mix, Koda, who stands only about a foot high, but long like a dachshund and with a bark “like a massive, dark shepherd.” Max and his brother also have gerbils that are a “bright tannish color” named Fred and George — but not, Max insists, after the red-haired Weasley twins in the Harry Potter books.

Hunter’s project revolves around the topic of bullying. With the help of the Intermountain Center for Hu­man Development, he is arranging to speak at local elementary schools this fall about bullying from a child’s perspective.

His family moved to Tucson more than two years ago from Mississippi, Hunter explains, where he attended a “very horrible” school where bullying was rampant. Parents could even choose to have their children paddled for misbehavior, says Hunter, who was horrified to see the principal walk into the lunch room with a paddle in her hand.

Once in Mississippi, he says, he was bullied because he is Jewish —something he says the kids at his school knew nothing about. But kids were picked on for all kinds of reasons, he adds.

Hunter’s advice for kids who are being bullied is to go to an adult — the principal, a teacher or a parent — and let them know what is going on. “It always ends up well,” he says, but adds that “sometimes I just have to stand up for myself. Only verbally — I’m not a fighting person.”

Telling another kid “I don’t like this, can you please stop” does work sometimes, he says.

Now a student at Tucson Hebrew Academy, he says THA is not 100 percent free of bullying, but the one incident in which he was involved was handled diplomatically by a teacher. The smaller class size at THA also helps, he says.

Eliana Boling, whose multi-faceted mitzvah project focuses on feeding the needy, prepares a meal at home. (Courtesy Kim Boling)

Eliana Boling loves to cook and eat. Part of her mitzvah project has been creating a cookbook, “Kugels and Latkes and Briskets, Oh My: Favorite Jewish Recipes Compiled by Ellie Boling.”

The 150-recipe cookbook will be sold at the party for her Bat Mitzvah on Nov. 19, 2011, which she will celebrate with Congregation Chaverim, and will also be available at Chaverim. The proceeds will go to MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger. Ellie, the daughter of Kim and Tim Boling, has also been collecting money for MAZON (more than $1,100 so far) and volunteering once a week at the Casa Maria soup kitchen.

“I’m also learning about hunger issues in our community and around our nation,” she notes.

Ellie’s grandmother, Marcia Light, is editing the cookbook and Peter Marcus of Allegra Print and Imaging will provide the printing. Ellie painted the cover for the cookbook, which shows a pot with steam rising from it. Words written in the steam include b’tayavon, Hebrew for bon appétit, and two commandments about feeding the hungry and inviting guests into your house.

“My dad and I contributed a matzah pizza recipe and my mom and I contributed chocolate macaroons,” says Ellie. Some of her other favorites include a barbecue brisket from her grandmother and a cherry kugel from her great-grandmother, Betty Light.

While her whole family loves to cook, Ellie’s father influenced her project in another way. Tim manages the durable medical equipment program at Jewish Family & Children’s Services, which until recently was housed at the Community Food Bank. Visiting her father at work a year ago, she asked about all the people standing in line. When she was told they were waiting for food, “a light bulb went off for her,” says Tim.

In July, Ellie adds, she wrote to Sens. Jon Kyl and John McCain and Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, “talking about my mitzvah project and the importance of keeping places like Casa Maria open and having plenty of time and money being put forth to the program SNAP,” the federal Supplementary Nutritional Assistance Program, which replaced food stamps. She received a response “almost immediately” from Sen. Kyl, she says, in which he outlined proposed appropriations for child nutrition programs.

Ellie even plans to make the Kiddush after her Bat Mitzvah ceremony part of her mitzvah project. The centerpieces will be big jars of peanut butter and jelly, which will be donated to Casa Maria.

“I’ve grown up with good cooks in my family and I’ve been very well fed,” Ellie says. “My mom always jokes about a good Jewish mom always feeding her kids and her community. Obviously I’m not a mom, but feeding my community and making sure that everyone is well-fed and has food on their table every night has been a big issue of mine.”

Koby Shochat wears the tallit his father wore at his Bar Mitzvah. Koby’s mitzvah project involved donations of used tallitot.

Sometimes a recycled item can hold more meaning than a new one, especially if that item is a tallit, or Jewish prayer shawl. For his mitzvah project, Koby Shochat, son of Carol and Wayne Shochat of Congregation Chaverim, donated gently worn tallitot from his own congregation to one in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, operating with only one Torah and no tallitot.

Inspired by his sister, who had done a mitzvah project that helped high school seniors afford prom dresses for graduation, Koby wondered if there might be Jewish communities where people couldn’t afford ritual items such as tallitot. He brought his idea to Rabbi Stephanie Aaron of Congregation Chaverim. Together they identified a congregation across the ocean with a need for tallitot: the New Synagogue of Sarajevo, a Jewish community practically destroyed during the Holocaust and still in the process of rebuilding.

Coincidentally, Tucson Rabbi Bennett Blum, a friend of Aaron’s, was traveling to Eastern Europe and was able to deliver 16 tallitot from Congregation Cha­verim to the New Synagogue, along with a letter from Koby. The Sarajevo Jewish community, said Koby, was overjoyed by the gift.

Back home, the project had a ripple effect. Chaverim members were touched by the far-reaching impact of the mitzvah and its power to help revitalize Jewish life: “All of us were carried into that place of helping … We felt like we were part of restoring the memory of those lost in the Shoah,” reflected Aaron.

One congregant was an out-of-town visitor attending Congregation Chaverim for services to observe his father’s yahrzeit, the first anniversary of his death. He was so moved by the tale of the travelling tallitot that he made a donation large enough to replace all the tallitot leaving for Sarajevo, in honor of his father. Koby raised additional funds for replacement tallitot with donations from other congregants, friends and family.

Although previously involved in community service projects and active in student council at Esperero Canyon Middle School, Koby said coordinating a long-term project like this from start to finish was a new experience.

“You feel more accomplished if you can do something that takes longer because you’re staying focused and you’re still into it,” he told the AJP. “It was very rewarding to help a lot of people by doing a little thing,” he added. In the end, for his own Bar Mitzvah, he chose to recycle another gently used tallit: the one his father wore at his own Bar Mitzvah before Koby was born.

Calli Bagshaw with food she collected for Interfaith Community Services.

While some B’nai Mitzvah students looked to make a difference in far-flung Jewish communities, others saw a need for getting involved in their own backyards. Calli Bagshaw, daughter of Lisa and Mark Bagshaw of Congregation Or Chadash, decided she wanted to make an impact close to home. Realizing there are people in need of basic services in Tucson, Calli organized a food drive for Interfaith Community Services (ICS), a local support organization for disadvantaged, disabled and elderly populations.

After touring the ICS Food Pantry, which serves meals to an average 40 families a day and provides monthly food boxes for needy people, “I was amazed at how many locals need food,” said Calli. She decided to collect food at a Safeway in Oro Valley to help restock the ICS food pantry.

Organizing the food drive, she said, was a fun challenge. She got permission to advertise and hold the food drive at the supermarket, placing a poster in the store a couple of weeks before the event. The day of the drive, she and two friends collected the food from generous patrons over a period of six hours. They handed out fliers explaining the project and asking people for donations. Calli noted that many people were happy to help, donating from one or two cans of food to a whole bag full. At the end of the day, she and her team collected over 500 cans of food, which she then sorted and delivered to ICS.

Calli, a National Junior Honor Society member at Coronado K-8 School and an avid amateur dancer, found her project both empowering and motivating. “I like the satisfaction of helping people,” she said. Although she had previously participated in charity fundraisers at her school, this experience required her to be in charge of the whole project.

“It took lots of time to do the food drive, lots of time to organize,” she said. “I’m capable of doing a lot more things than I thought I was,” she concluded, and says she would like to do more food drives in the future. Her advice to B’nai Mitzvah students looking to make a difference: “Do something that is important to you, something you’re going to have fun with!”

Emiliano Miller volunteers at a Humane Borders water station.

Emiliano Miller, son of Francisca Olivares-Miller and Robert Miller of Temple Emanu-El, and the grandson of a Mexican immigrant who came to this country years ago, went to the border for his mitzvah project. He volunteered for Humane Borders, an organization that provides humanitarian assistance through the placement of emergency water stations on and near the U.S.-Mexico border. For Emiliano, this was an opportunity to help people while connecting with his bicultural Mexican and Jewish heritage.

Emiliano, who attended Safford Middle School and has interests ranging from soccer and swim team to drama and hip hop dance, worked on Saturday mornings over a period of two months repairing and maintaining the equipment needed for the water stations. He washed water delivery trucks, painted and repaired water barrels (some of which had been disabled by bullet holes, he noted), and painted signal flags for placement at the water stations.

On one occasion, he accompanied a team of volunteers, which included Humane Borders workers, college students and several out-of-state volunteers, on a water run to check the viability of some of the barrels. His team drove to several border sites to test the water for drinkability (sometimes people poison the water, he explained), check that the flags were still in place, and measure water levels to approximate the numbers of passers-through.

For Emiliano, the project was an opportunity to witness firsthand the kinds of challenges his grandfather Antonio Olivares might have faced crossing into Arizona from Mexico on foot over 30 years ago. Although his grandfather was able to make the trip from Mexico successfully — after being deported several times and eventually obtaining the paperwork to come over legally and send for his family — others have not been so lucky. Emiliano was overwhelmed by the sheer number of failed attempts at crossing the desert to enter Arizona. “I was surprised at how many people have died in the desert — roughly 200,000 throughout the years,” he says he learned at Humane Borders. The organization, he said, estimates that up to 50,000 lives may have been saved through the efforts of the group to make water available to crossers.

“If you help just a little bit it makes a big difference,” he reflected, acknowledging that his actions probably saved lives. Coincidentally, a portion of the Haftorah that Emiliano read for his Bar Mitzvah emphasized the commandment to save another person’s life. His advice to other kids picking a mitzvah project: “Do something that could make a really big impact. Pick something that catches your eye.”

Simon Esbit (left) with his brother Brandon and art supplies he donated to Arts For All.

Whether they chose to implement a project that had an impact close to home or far away, all the students picked projects that were near and dear to their hearts. For Simon Esbit, son of Judy and Scott Esbit of Congregation Anshei Israel, the choice was easy. His passion is art, so for his mitzvah project he donated art supplies to Arts for All, a local organization that provides accessible art opportunities for all children, in particular those with special needs.

Simon’s interest in art began at an early age. When he was 8 years old and living in California, he was drawn into an art studio by chance because the studio was next door to a friend’s dance class. One of the teachers recognized his budding artistic talent and encouraged him to enroll in art classes. When he moved to Tucson three years ago, he continued to study art at the local Toscana Studio and Galleries.

“My favorite medium is oil paint, and I also do a lot of little sketches,” he said. In fact, he raised the money for the art supplies for his project by selling three of his own pieces at Toscana Gallery for a total of $300, in addition to pitching in with a portion of his Bar Mitzvah money. That money funded the purchase of paint brushes, paint, drawing paper and canvases for the students at Arts for All. In addition, friends and family donated art supplies that were made into gift baskets that served as party decorations for his Bar Mitzvah and later were given to Arts for All.

Although the disabilities of some students at Arts for All, such as physical limitations or Down syndrome, might seem daunting to some aspiring artists, Simon said the adaptations the staff provides for student at Arts for All make the challenges surmountable.

“The students might use different materials, such as a laser pointer strapped to their heads, to create a piece that looks just like a Jackson Pollock,” he exclaimed, “or they can finger paint and it looks really, really cool!”

Simon, who attended Wilson K-8 School and played football for a city league, was truly impressed by the amount of talent exhibited by the students at Arts for All. “Most of them are special needs, but most of them are really gifted in art,” he said. “The only thing different about their artwork is that it takes them a lot longer to do,” he emphasized.

When choosing a mitzvah project, “go with what you like to do,” recommended Simon. “If you like sports, donate to a sports program, if you like animals work at an animal shelter. Go with what is interesting.”

In the spirit of tikkun olam, a Hebrew phrase meaning to repair the world, all of the students interviewed said they gained an ineffable sense of accomplishment and well-being through their projects, in addition to feeling like they made a palpable contribution to the community. “I feel a lot better after doing my mitzvah project. I don’t know how to describe it. It just feels good,” concluded Simon.

Maria Ma-Tay Russakoff is a freelance writer living in Tucson with her husband and two sons.