Meet the Bar Mitzvah Boy Who Spent His $76K on Tech Lab for Israeli Kids
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
By Josefin Dolsten April 21, 2016
Thirteen-year-old Noah Helfstein decided to spend his Bar Mitzvah gift money, a whooping $76,000, not on video games or sports gear, but on an educational technology lab for underprivileged Israeli kids.
The young New Yorker unveiled Thursday in Jerusalem the mobile educational center, which consists of a bus equipped with interactive technology-themed educational tools, including a 3D printer.
The “Maker Bus,” will run regular courses and workshops for disadvantage youths, including ultra-religious Jews and Arabs from less affluent communities in Israel’s north and south.
“Given my passion for new technology, I chose this project because I would like to give disadvantaged children in Israel the opportunity to interact with new technology. I’m grateful to my family and friends for supporting my project and I’m excited to see the Maker Bus,” Helfstein said.
The project was done in conjunction with the UJA-Federation of New York’s “Give a Mitzvah-Do a Mitzvah” program and Israeli nonprofit organizations Reut Grop and Ofanim.
“We are all so inspired by Noah and his incredible project, which will bring technology education to young Israelis and strengthen the relationship between New York’s Jewish community and Israel,” said Lori Strouch Kolinsky, director of the Manhattan division of UJA-Federation.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
