The Leeds family - top row from left is bar mitzvah boy Robert, Alisa, Charlie, Andrew, and bottom row Jonathan, and parents Dina and Fred.
Dina and Fred Leeds of Los Angeles, could not have had a prouder moment than when their son, Robert, decided he wanted his bar mitzvah gifts to go toward the purchase of an ambulance for Magen David Adom (MDA), the Israeli-based emergency response agency. They never dreamed these gifts would add up to enough money for two ambulances. The family felt that a bar mitzvah is much more than a fun party. It is a time when a child takes on responsibility and decides what’s truly important in his life.
When the invitations to this grand event were mailed, the return card stated, “In lieu of gifts, let’s come together and do a very special act of kindness in our holy land. Join hands and put a lifesaving ambulance on the ground in Israel. Please send your tax-deductible contribution in Robert’s honor to MDA.”
More than 800 people attended his Beatles-themed bar mitzvah and generously responded to that request. As guests followed the red carpet to enter the Barker Hangar at Santa Monica Airport, where the reception was held, they were flanked by two different types of MDA ambulances, reminding the guests of the cause to which they had contributed.
As the festivities continued, the guests enjoyed fabulous decorations and entertainment by multiple musical groups, a break-dance ensemble, jugglers, acrobats, the USC Band, and more. ”But the centerpiece of the event was to see how a 13-year-old brought the community together. Everyone stood in support of this lifesaving cause,” said Dina Leeds.
During the course of the evening, American Friends of Magen David Adom CEO Arnold Gerson presented Robert with the Maimonides Award, making him the youngest recipient ever. AFMDA Western Regional Director Yossi Mentz said with excitement, “Robert’s bar mitzvah had both the bar and a mitzvah. There’s no greater mitzvah than saving a life.”
Robert receives the Maimonides award from Arnold Gerson, chief executive officer of AFMDA.
“We know full well that MDA is far more than just an ambulance service,” Dina explained. ”This was our way of helping to cushion some of the difficult times that the Jewish people have endured in our homeland. We know that MDA provides blood for the entire country, including the Israel Defense Forces.”
“Our hearts beat with it,” she went on to say. ”It’s wonderful that we can provide a couple of ambulances to show the people of Israel that a young boy cares about them. It’s our expression of gratitude for the people of Israel.”
A bar mitzvah that’s able to raise funds for two ambulances is not an everyday occurrence, Arnold said, which is why American Friends of Magen David Adom also offers other mitzvah opportunities, including its Red Bag of Courage Program, which enables teenagers to raise a minimum of $1,000, the cost of fully stocking a paramedic’s medical bag. Teens who complete the program, typically prospective bar mitzvah celebrants or members of youth groups, receive a monogrammed replica of a paramedic’s bag for their own use.
Robert said, “I realize that in life I have been very blessed. This is my bar mitzvah statement and the responsibility that I am taking on. It’s my hope to show Israel and the Jewish people that I stand with them and that’s what becoming a man means to me. My family was in Israel a few years ago and we toured the MDA National Blood Services Center Blood Center with AFMDA Israel Representative Jonathan Feldstein, which made an impact on all of us.”
REPRINTED WITH PERMISION OF AMERICAN FRIEND OF MAGEN DAVID ADOM
