How to Personalize Your Bar / Bat Mitzvah Project

Searching for a mitzvah project that helps the world and is REALLY you?

Lots of kids have done it! Read this article about three boys who turned their love of dogs into a group mitzvah project.

Or watch this video about how one boy helped a charity that had helped a sick friend. This article describes how another boy swam across a river to help a charity for his mitzvah project!

It's easy to personalize your mitzvah project. Here's how:

List 3 activities you love AND are good at doing.

List 3 problems in the world that bother you. Or think about 3 kinds of people who might need help.

Combine List 1 with List 2. Get creative! Here’s an example:

Step 1: What I like and I’m good at:

Tap dancing

Caring for my dog

Reading short mysteries

IM'ing my friends

Step 2: World problems that bother me the most:

How boring life is for my grandparents in their nursing home

How so many homeless people go hungry

That so many Ethiopian immigrants to Israel can’t afford good educations

Step 3: My Mitzvah Project Ideas!

Start a monthly program where I (and some friends?) tap dance or read some short stories out loud at the nursing home!

Start a dog walking service, then donate the money to a charity that helps the homeless or the Ethiopians in Israel

Volunteer at a nursing home to teach the residents to use the Internet – so they can IM their grandchildren!

Volunteer with my parents at a soup kitchen. Maybe I can also donate some of my used books and start a library at the kitchen, too!

NEED MORE IDEAS? Here’s another tool! Browse these groups that could really use your help.

WHAT'S EVERYONE ELSE DOING? Check out this month's nominee's for MitzMedalists to see cool, amazing project ideas other kids have come up with. You can vote for your favorite, too!