Hello,

My name is Ari Schwartz and I live in Arizona. I am 13 years old, and my Bar Mitzvah will be in November of this year.

When I was younger on Hanukah our family was deciding where we wanted to donate tzedaka and I thought it would be nice to donate to sports programs with athletes who are disabled. I have always had a passion for sports, I played baseball, basketball, and football. After the attack on October 7th, I really wanted to help Israel in any way possible. A couple of months ago the parasport basketball team came to our local JCC and my family and I went to go watch them. I found it really interesting how good and fast they are and how they could still play with the disabilities that they have.

I just returned from Camp Ramah in Ojai California, we spent a day called Yom Israel, where we learned about Israeli culture, traditions, food, history, and what happened on October 7th. While I’m studying for my Bar Mitzvah, one other part of preparation is choosing a mitzvah project. A part of becoming a Bar Mitzvah is giving back, and that is what my mitzvah project is. For my Bar Mitzvah project, I have chosen to give back to athletes with disabilities, and the Israel ParaSport Center is an organization that I really want to help. Please help me raise funds to support athletes in Israel with disabilities.

Thank you,

Ari Schwartz