Michael (Mickey) Kaplan has been a member of Beth Tzedec (Goel Tzedec) for 83 years. He is retired now from his accounting practice and spends his time travelling, oil painting and enjoying his family. He and his wife wife Phyllis (nee Miller) were married at Beth Tzedec 60 years ago.

My name is Michael Kaplan, and I would like to tell you about my family and its long-standing relationship with Beth Tzedec.

In 1941, while bombs were falling on London and the Mufti was strutting in Jerusalem, my father, Solomon Charles (Charlie) Kaplan, joined a shul with his young family. His father had been a founding member of the Minsker shul, but Charlie wanted something different for his family. He and my mother, Pearl (nee Grafstein), chose to join the University Avenue Shul, Goel Tzedec. Goel Tzedec merged with Beth Hamidrash Hagadol in December, 1950 to form Beth Tzedec Congregation. I still have my mother's old High Holiday tickets in my tallis bag, and I enjoy flipping through them during the slower parts of the service. My parents sat in the balcony and when our family grew and we moved downstairs (taking over two entire rows).

In 1949, while still on University Avenue, Charlie and Pearl's older son, Robert (Bobby), became a Bar Mitzvah. Later, after graduating from the University of Toronto, he became a lawyer, a Member of Parliament and, ultimately, the Solicitor General of Canada.

In 1952, Chazzans Bernstein z"I and Soberman z"I prepared me for my Bar Mitzvah. I was married at Beth Tzedec, my children were Bar and Bat Mitzvahed there, my daughter was married there, and my grandchildren became Bar Mitzvahs there. I am the proud father and grandfather of two generations of Beth Tzedec members and I was honoured with an aliyah this summer on my 85th birthday.

While I wanted to describe my family's close connections with the shul, it is the Bar Mitzvah celebrations that are the key. It was my first participation in Jewish ritual. I can still picture family members, relatives and friends attending my childrens' Bar and Bat Mitzvahs.

Family events and gatherings were always central to my mother's social and spiritual life, especially if it included a cup of tea, a party sandwich a cookie and, of course, all the "news". After retirement, my mother continued to attend High Holiday, Shabbat services and countless other events at Beth Tzedec. She and my mother-in-law were founding members of the shul's Chaverim Group, a social group for seniors.

When our mother, Pearl, passed in 2010, my brother Bob and I memorialized her by creating a fund to support an event that brought her and her family so much joy and nachas. We created The Kaplan Family Fund for the Bar/Bat Mitzvah Program to provide financial assistance scholarships where needed. We wanted inclusion for those members who might not otherwise have the means to participate in the synagogue's Bar/Bat Mitzvah Program. It would give children the opportunity to experience, grow and become members of not only Beth Tzedec but the Toronto Jewish Community.

The Bar/Bat Mitzvah Program at Beth Tzedec brings our 12 year old members together in a special way by encouraging learning and open dialogue. It offers experiential activities and trips so that participants can explore what it means to be a responsible, young Jewish adult. My grandsons are fourth generation members of the synagogue, and I loved attending the Bar/Bat Mitzvah Program group sessions with them.

With Beth Tzedec's burgeoning, young congregational demographic there is an even greater need for the Bar/Bat Mitzvah Program. I want everyone who can participate to be able to do so.

In the tradition of Yahrtzeit memorializing gifts, I have made a pledge of an annual funding payment to encourage the Jewish development of our youth. The Kaplan Family Fund for the Bar/Bat Mitzvah Program is my chosen vehicle to achieve those goals. I invite you to join me by directing your donations to the Fund.