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A moving ceremony took place at the Kotel (Western Wall) in Jerusalem Monday morning, as more than a dozen Holocaust survivors belatedly celebrated their Bar Mitzvahs – a coming of age ceremony denied to them in their youth due to Nazi persecution and genocide.

Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi David Lau lead the ceremony, which was organized by the Yad Ezer L’Haver organization which runs a support center for Holocaust survivors in Israel.

Amid emotional scenes, with many of their families present, Rabbi Lau lay tefillin on the elderly survivors, recited with them the Shema Yisrael prayer and blessed them.

The oldest survivor at the ceremony was 94 years old, according to Yad Ezer L’Haver.

Watch: Chief Rabbi David Lau blesses holocaust survivors at emotional Bar Mitzvah ceremony:

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