B'nei Mitzvah
Mazal tov on reaching this important stage in the Jewish life cycle, when your student is poised at the threshold of Jewish adulthood! As your family is looking forward to the celebration of their upcoming B’nei Mitzvah, we are excited to help you with this journey.
B’nei Mitzvah is both an enormously rewarding and soul-satisfying experience and at times one that can be filled with some anxiety. As a result, Temple Israel has developed guidelines to help our families plan and experience a beautiful and moving celebration, one that will create a lasting impression on the B’nei Mitzvah student and family. It is our hope that this simcha will inspire you and serve as a springboard for increased Jewish communal involvement and meaningful Jewish living.
What does it mean to become B’nei Mitzvah?
The words “Bat Mitzvah”, “Bar Mitzvah” or “B.Mitzvah” (“B’nei Mitzvah” plural) refer more to the person who becomes a B.Mitzvah than to the ceremony that celebrates the occasion. The ceremony simply celebrates the fact that having entered adolescence, the person involved is now becoming responsible for their actions and is obligated by Jewish law to observe the tenets of our faith.
In our modern world, we no longer send our thirteen-year-olds off to apprentice to acquire a trade or profession, nor do we marry them off. Instead, a modern B’nei Mitzvah celebration offers the family, the student and the community an opportunity to recognize this important milestone in Jewish life. The contemporary B’nei Mitzvah enables our students to demonstrate their acquired skills which are necessary for full participation as an adult member of the congregation. The B’nei Mitzvah celebration empowers the family to affirm its connection with the Jewish past, and to express its commitment to a Jewish future. Through it, we convey our desire to maintain a tradition that we have inherited, and our expectation that the student will carry on that tradition for future generations.
The heart of the B’nei Mitzvah celebration is the young person’s demonstration of a variety of skills that mark them as ready to assume adult responsibilities. We expect that by the end of the B’nei Mitzvah experience, our emerging teens will have a better understanding of the choices before them as they enter the next phase of their Jewish life. The experience can be transformative for both the student and the entire family.
What is the role of the B’nei Mitzvah and their family in the service?
At Temple Israel, we welcome the B’nei Mitzvah into the congregation at a communal service. The service is not designed around the B’nei Mitzvah; instead, the B’nei Mitzvah assume a variety of roles within an established, traditional service – roles that they will be able to repeat through participation in future services throughout their life. These roles often include reading from the Torah, chanting the Haftarah, leading the congregation in prayer and delivering a D’var Torah (literally “a word of Torah”). We also encourage all our B’nei Mitzvah to participate in a mitzvah project as part of their preparations. In this way, the B’nei Mitzvah begins a journey directed at lifelong participation in Jewish communal life amongst their congregational family.
How will my student prepare for their B’nei Mitzvah at Temple Israel?
Preparation for the B’nei Mitzvah begins in earnest in 6th grade. Over the course of the 6th grade academic year, Temple Israel will offer a multi-session program for our B’nei Mitzvah candidates and their parents. This program is designed for both public and private school students. Its objectives are to:
- Situate the B’nei Mitzvah experience within the larger context of Jewish life;
- Provide foundation and scaffolding to add meaning to the B’nei Mitzvah experience;
- Engage families in the B’nei Mitzvah process ritually, communally, socially, and logistically;
- Develop a cohort of B’nei Mitzvah families.
Most sessions will be on Sunday mornings, with at least one on a Saturday morning (to experience a Shabbat service together), and culminating with a celebratory Friday night Shabbat dinner at the end of the academic year. Families will receive information regarding these sessions near the beginning of the 6th grade year.
Cantor Jamie Gloth oversees the B’nei Mitzvah program, including the training of our students, which includes individual B’nei Mitzvah instruction over a period of approximately 12 months. Weekly lessons are typically half an hour and will not conflict with the regular sessions of Temple Israel Religious School (if your student is enrolled).
How do I learn more?
For information on preparing to become B’nei Mitzvah, please be in touch with Cantor Jamie Gloth. For information on logistics and use of the building for your simcha, please contact our Executive Director, Karen Nahary, or our Event Coordinator, Adrea Gerber.