1.5 million Children under the age of 16 lost their lives in the Holocaust. Within the next ten years, there will be no remaining survivors of the Shoah. Who will transmit the memories of the young victims to succeeding generations? Who will ensure that children of tomorrow and the day after carry the message #NeverAgain in their hearts and minds forever?

The Silk Butterfly Project is a non-profit organisation that provides South African children of Bar and Batmitzvah age with the threads that bind them to the heritage of their past and the destiny of their future as proud, involved Jews. This is achieved by linking each participant to a child, who perished in the Holocaust, many of whom lost their lives before being called to the Torah.

In the Jewish lifecycle, a Bar or Batmitzvah is the stepping stone that takes the participant from childhood to the responsibilities of Jewish adulthood. Sadly, in the South African economic climate of the 21st century, there are parents who cannot afford the simcha that commonly accompanies this important rite of passage. The Silk Butterfly Project also aims to provide the resources to assist every Jewish family in the community to celebrate this milestone in their child’s life.