Amichai Jackson, from the Elazar settlement in Gush Etzion, was supposed to celebrate his bar mitzvah a month after the outbreak of the war. He attended the Torah class at the synagogue, but decided to postpone the party until quieter times.
When they hesitated to come, he and his parents debated what to do.
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""After some deliberation, we asked the son how he felt," says Ilana, his mother. "He decided not to have the party but to do something for the soldiers. So the caterers made a dinner for the soldiers, with a burger bar and everything. 200 soldiers came instead of 200 family and friends, and they were very happy.".
Amichai: "I felt it wasn't appropriate to have a party now. When I saw the soldiers eating and having fun, it felt like it was a thousand times more worthwhile.".
The Bar Mitzvah groom added: "Although I wasn't with them when they ate, I felt like they were celebrating with me.".
The soldiers thanked Amichai and the Jackson family for the luxurious meal they received thanks to Elazar and sent a congratulatory video from afar.
The head of the Gush Etzion Council, Shlomo Ne'eman, congratulated Amichai: "Dear Amichai, you touched us greatly with your decision to give the soldiers a luxurious and festive meal in place of your Bar Mitzvah. The moving education you received from your parents is the Israeli story, the education of the young and patriotic generation that grew up here in Gush Etzion. When you made the soldiers happy, you made us all happy.".
