For his bar mitzvah project, Max Portnoy organized a catch-a-thon to raise money for the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration. Frontotemporal Degeneration is a form of dementia that affects Max’s grandfather, Rabbi Herschel Portnoy. With help from family, friends and classmates from Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School, the three-hour event raised about $16,000 toward Max’s goal of $18,000. Max will become a bar mitzvah May 17 at Congregation Beth El of Montgomery County.
