B’nei Mitzvah at Sons of Abraham are a highly personalized experience.
We work with each family to make sure this simcha is celebrated in a way that allows each student to reach their potential.
We look forward to celebrating with you!
All B’nei Mitzvah students should be enrolled in our religious school as early as possible.
Goals
- To create a sense of community between and among the Bar/Bat Mitzvah families and to facilitate relationship building between students and parents from our shul.
- To study the nature and structure of prayer and ritual, and to provide a comfort level through practical instruction and experience.
- To emphasize our Jewish commitment to improving the world (Tikkun Olam) through social action/social justice work, through the bar/bat mitzvah project.
- To develop a sense of pride and connection to Judaism that will last for many years to come.
- To encourage serious Torah study by helping students to grapple with commentaries that enrich our sacred texts and the Bar/Bat Mitzvah experience.
Our B’nei Mitzvah program is anchored by the three pillars of Judaism that rest upon full participation in adult Jewish Life: God, Torah and Israel. 6th grade students and parents will consider the role of God and Torah in Jewish life. The program will explore personal responsibility and individual connection to God, ritual responsibility, Jewish learning and involvement in synagogue life.
Why am I a Jew? What does it mean to me to be Jewish? How am I a Jew? How do Jews act? How do Jews pray? How do we relate to God?
Adult B’nei Mitzvah
If parents or caretakers have not celebrated their own Bar or Bat Mitzvah, please consider our Adult Bar/Bat Mitzvah program. The program is designed to help those people, whether Jews by Choice or Jews by Birth, have the experience of becoming a Bar/Bat Mitzvah at any age.
For Guests
Are you attending a Bar Mitzvah or Bat Mitzvah at Sons of Abraham?
Becoming a Bar/Bat Mitzvah is not a “graduation” or end of study, but a rite of passage to greater privilege and responsibility. When a young person becomes a Bar/Bat Mitzvah (Son/Daughter of the Commandments), s/he reaches an important milestone in his/her spiritual growth. It signifies that the child has reached maturity in the eyes of the Jewish community and has accepted the religious obligations of Judaism.
A Jewish girl becomes an adult at age twelve, and a Jewish boy at age thirteen. S/he does not need a ceremony to be considered a Bar/Bat Mitzvah, however, in celebration of the occasion, the Bar/Bat Mitzvah exercises his/her religious adulthood for the first time with a significant honor receiving an aliyah (literally being called up to the Torah), and chanting Haftarah (a selection from the prophets). The Bar/Bat Mitzvah may also participate in other ways such as introducing the Torah and Haftarah readings and conducting parts of the service. The young person will generally speak about the significance of fulfilling the commandments, now as an adult, in a short speech delivered during the service.