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Preparing for Bar or Bat Mitzvah begins years before a child reaches that date. Our community supports a family through the process -- in our Religious School, through our corps of warm, caring, tutors, and in the preparations for the final service and any celebration to follow.
This handbook contains our current guidelines for B'nai Mitzvah. Each fall, our Rabbis lead an Orientation to B'nai Mitzvah to further explain our procedures and requirements. Please plan to attend one of these sessions as you and your child embark on this adventure of learning, spiritual growth, and deeper involvement in the Jewish community.
We schedule B'nai Mitzvah two years in advance. If your child needs a date for his/her Bar/Bat Mitzvah, please contact the temple office.
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Kabbalat Torah (Receiving the Torah) takes place at Shavuot services each year in the late Spring. Formerly called Confirmation, Kabbalat Torah offers 10th graders an opportunity to accept Judaism publicly and perform the mitzvah of conducting our congregation's holiday service.
Kabbalat Torah students study with Rabbi Friedman and others during the 10th grade year. A highpoint of the class is the opportunity to visit various non-Jewish religious congregations and discover Judaism through the eyes of other theological perspectives.
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Once a month, on Shabbat morning at 9:30 a.m., one of our Rabbis will conduct a Mitzvah class for all 7th graders. Each Bar/Bat Mitzvah student must attend as part of the preparation for their simcha. As part of the class, Rabbi Friedman or Rabbi Berkowitz will discuss the children's progress and the meaning of Bar and Bat Mitzvah. If there is a Bar or Bat Mitzvah following the class, students are expected to stay for it.
Students will also report on various mitzvot which they have completed from the list of mitzvot provided. These mitzvot may include planting a tree in Israel, bringing a homework assignment to an ill classmate, visiting a Jewish museum, donating clothing or canned goods, promoting the use of "cruelty free" products, or other mitzvot which a child may think of him or herself. Please click here for the List of Mitzvot.
While it is good to study and to learn, our tradition also calls for action. In Jewish tradition, learning must lead to doing. To become a Bar or Bat Mitzvah is to recognize that Jewish conduct is governed by action. We express our values by performing specific acts and this is a vital part of preparation for Bar or Bat Mitzvah at Judea Reform.
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