Transcript Rabbi Salomon Gruenwald Congregation Hebrew Educational Alliance 303-758-9400 [email protected] Beginning the Journey: Preparing for your Bar/Bat Mitzvah Session 1: Getting Started Today’s Goals • • • • Overview of the Curriculum History and.

Rabbi Salomon Gruenwald
Congregation Hebrew Educational Alliance
303-758-9400
[email protected]
Beginning the Journey:
Preparing for your Bar/Bat Mitzvah
Session 1: Getting Started
Today’s Goals
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Overview of the Curriculum
History and Context of Bar/Bat Mitzvah
The Bar/Bat Mitzvah Team Approach
Making your Bar/Bat Mitzvah a Meaningful
Experience
• Starting to Learn your Parsha
Course Overview
Session 1 (11/14) – Introduction, Forming your Team
Session 2 (12/5)– You and Your Family
Session 3 (1/9) – Torah Part 1: Interpreting Your Parsha
February 12 – Mincha/Maariv Workshop Service (4pm)
Session 4 (2/27) – Torah Part 2: Giving a D’var Torah
Session 5 (4/10) – Understanding Prayer
Session 6 (5/15) – Mitzvah Projects
Course Objectives
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Involve the whole family
Gain skill in reading and interpreting Torah
Learn how to write and give a d’var Torah
Deepen appreciation for the Shabbat services
Strengthen ties to Jewish community and values
Create lasting and meaningful memories
What is a Bar/Bat Mitzvah?
• A Bar or Bat Mitzvah is not an event or a
ceremony
• It is not a verb
• It is not something you have
What is a Bar/Bat Mitzvah?
Bar: Aramaic for “Son” (Hebrew: Ben).
Bat: Hebrew for “Daughter”
Mitzvah: Commandment
What is a Bar/Bat Mitzvah?
• No mention of “bar mitzvah” in the Torah
• Earliest clue is in the Mishna (200 CE):
At five, one should study Scripture
At ten, one should study Mishna
At thirteen, one is ready to do mitzvot
At fifteen, one is ready to study Talmud
At eighteen, one is ready for the Huppah
At twenty, for providing for a family…
(Pirkei Avot, 5:21)
What is a Bar/Bat Mitzvah?
• Jews started making celebrations around bar mitzvah
in medieval Spain. In recognition of a young man’s
new status, he was honored with an aliyah to the
Torah shortly after his 13th birthday.
• The practice spread through communities in Europe
and beyond.
What is a Bar/Bat Mitzvah?
• Jews in America embraced bar mitzvah as a
celebration of Jewish identity and personal
achievement.
What is a Bar/Bat Mitzvah?
• In modern culture, becoming an adult means claiming
privileges and liberties.
• It is also about being legally responsible for your own
actions.
• It is a point of arrival
What is a Bar/Bat Mitzvah?
• In Jewish culture, becoming an adult is a process that
begins at 13.
• It means taking on new obligations and duties
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Being counted in a minyan
Reading from the Torah
Leading services
Fasting
Performing mitzvot
Smashing Idols
What is a Bar/Bat Mitzvah?
• The Mishna (Avot 1:2) says:
The World rests upon three pillars:
• Torah
• Worship (Avodah)
• Acts of Kindness (Gimmilut Hessed)
• On the day you celebrate becoming a bar/bat mitzvah, you
will demonstrate a commitment to adult Jewish
responsibilities in 3 ways:
• Torah = Reading from the Torah and teaching Torah
• Avodah = Leading a community in prayer
• Hessed = Your “Mitzvah Project”
Bat Mitzvah
• According to the Talmud, a girl also takes on
responsibility for the mitzvot when she turns 12.
• In the middle ages, some communities held modest
parties to celebrate a girl coming of age.
• The first bat mitzvah ceremony in the US took place
in 1922. Judith Kaplan Eisenstein – daughter of
Mordechai Kaplan (founder of Reconstructionist
Judaism).
• Today in most non-Orthodox synagogues, bat
mitzvahs are identical to bar mitzvahs.
Making Your Bar/Bat Mitzvah More
Meaningful: The Team Approach
“By defining goals and expectations at
this point, you can prevent
disappointment and chaos by
establishing the clarity and mutual
understanding needed to sustain a joyful,
thought-provoking, and satisfying
experience for all who are involved.”
Rabbi Goldie Milgram, author of Making Your
Bar/Bat Mitzvah
Forming your Team
Parents as Team Members, Not Taskmasters
Goals of Bar/Bat Mitzvah Planning
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Emotional Satisfaction
Intellectual Expansion
Spiritual Connection
Logistical Excellence
Expectations and Concerns
• What emotions do you expect and hope to
experience along the way to and on the day of
your bar/bat mitzvah service? Brainstorm…
don’t over-think this. Write down whatever
comes to mind.
Making your Bar/Bat Mitzvah Memorable
Creating your Bar/Bat Mitzvah Scrapbook
Make your own
Buy one
On the web
Online Scrapbooking Resources
Scrapblog.com
Smilebox.com
Famento.com
Scrapease.com
Scrapo.com
Shutterfly.com
Buying a Scrapbook
The Bar/Bat Mitzvah Memory Book
By Rabbi Jeffrey Salkin and Nina Salkin
Homework - For Students
• Read your Parsha
• Outline the main points
• Start your Bar/Bat
Mitzvah Scrapbook
• With your parents,
make a family tree
Homework - for Parents
• Help your child start his/her scrapbook.
• 1st Assignment: make a family tree
Next Time
December 5, 12-2 pm
You and Your Family:
Bar/Bat Mitzvah as a Rite of Passage
Rabbi Salomon Gruenwald
Congregation Hebrew Educational Alliance
303-758-9400
[email protected]
Beginning the Journey:
Preparing for your Bar/Bat Mitzvah