Not a single eye was left dry at the modest event held last Thursday when 13-year-old Yaron ascended the Torah and, in an Arabic accent and Jaffa dialect, recited the blessings of the Torah.
""This is literally the fulfillment of the verse, 'And they returned from the land of the enemy,'" the rabbi of the synagogue where the ceremony was held whispered excitedly to the people of 'Yad La'achim,' as the boy repeated to those present, during the mitzvah meal, a Torah passage connecting the weekly portion to his bar mitzvah.
Yaron's story began 20 years earlier, seven years before he was born. His mother, Dikla (not her real name), who grew up in a poor neighborhood in Jaffa, met a young Arab man at the local high school who recognized her plight and wanted to stay in touch with her. After a few years, she decided to convert to Islam and marry him in a Sharia court. The shocked parents cut off all contact with her, hoping that this would help her get back on track.,
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Three years after the wedding, Yaron was born, who was given the Muslim name Hassan. Dikla's parents did not know about the birth of their grandson and, apart from the occasional sad "greetings of peace" they received from family friends who met their daughter in a veil at the local market, they knew nothing about her.
When Yaron was three years old, the first crisis occurred. Dikla wanted to enroll him in a mixed school where Jews study alongside, and separately from, Arabs, but her husband firmly refused. "I see no reason to enroll him in a mixed school. He is Muslim and needs to grow up as a Muslim. A mixed place will confuse him.".
Dikla was deeply hurt. She reminded her Arab husband that he too had attended a mixed school, and when she tried to argue about it, she was severely beaten. From that day on, their relationship deteriorated, and Dikla realized, too late, the mistake she had made.
After several months of unbearable hardship, she showed resourcefulness and turned to Yad Laachim. After a few weeks, when she was ready for the courageous step, she was rescued in the dead of night with her son and the two were transferred to a secure and well-equipped hiding place of the organization.
After a few days of recovery, the professionals at Yad Laachim helped Dekla reunite with her family in a thoughtful and sensitive manner. However, due to fears of harm from her Arab husband, she and her son started a new life in a small town in the north of the country, far from where her family and her Arab husband lived.
As part of the new page she opened in her life, Dikla rediscovered her Judaism, began observing basic commandments and enrolled her son in a Torah school near where they lived. Little Hassan also had a "promise of allegiance" held and was named Yaron in Israel.
The boy who emerged as a Muslim from the Arab neighborhood in Jaffa eagerly acquired Jewish values. Despite the Arabic accent that he still has difficulty hiding, anyone who looks at the religious-looking boy from the sidelines would not be able to tell that he spent his early years as a Muslim.
At the Bar Mitzvah event, the emotional mother said: "This Bar Mitzvah is a special closing of a circle. 7 years ago I felt that he was about to be stolen from me, so I realized that I had to strengthen my Judaism and give him a Jewish education. When he becomes a Bar Mitzvah and commits himself to the mitzvot, I know that he belongs to the Jewish people and that no one will tear him away from us.".
The rabbi of the local synagogue also spoke at the event, saying with excitement: "When Yaron went to the Torah and blessed 'Who has chosen us from all the nations,' these words took on a deeper meaning than they would have from the mouth of any Jewish boy who goes to the Torah here. Only those who saw these moments up close and knew Yaron's story can truly understand the meaning of this special blessing.".
