INTERNATIONAL: Four orphans from the Ukrainian city of Zhytomyr celebrated their bar mitzvah - a Jewish coming-of-age ceremony, usually held at the age of 13 - at the Western Wall in Jerusalem on Monday 11th April.
Accompanied by members of the Jewish organization Chabad, the 13-year-old boys were welcomed into the Western Wall plaza with live music, singing, and dancing.
They later prayed alongside their Israeli peers at the ancient wall and placed prayer notes into its cracks.
Chabad organized the bar mitzvah for orphans the organization cares for.
The Ukrainian orphans, part of a larger group whose ages range between 2 to 12, arrived in Israel on March 3 from war-torn Ukraine after a journey through Romania.
The KKL-JNF (Jewish National Fund) has taken care of their hosting and wellbeing in Israel, the organization said.
The Western Wall is a remnant of the compound of the Second Temple that was destroyed in 70 AD. It stands today beneath a religious plaza known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as the Temple Mount.
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