B’nai Mitzvah

The time has come for a singular switch – to view our Bat/bar mitzvah celebrations as beginnings!  Judaism has the ability to be transformative – we simply need to open ourselves to the learning, to developing meaningful and compassionate inner and outer lives.  Judaism is still relevant and can make these positive differences in our lives, and in the lives of our children.

Rabbi Yitzhak has been working with youthful congregations for twenty years, since he began at RRC (the Reconstructionist seminary) in the fall of 1995.  He works week in week out with Gili (our Education Director), to develop curricula that are well rounded, engaging, fun; that provide our students the foundation to begin their b’nai mitvah studies with the rabbi. He is present in every class.  By the end of 6th there is a strong relationship between the student and Yitz, which develops beautifully as one on one learning with the rabbi begins (which generally starts about 8-12 months prior to the B’nai Mitzvah celebration).

In our intimate community setting, there is a freedom that larger shuls are challenged to maintain. From the beginning Rabbi Yitzhak  will encourage each family, and each youth, to consider what it is we want to focus our B’nai Mitzvah studies/celebration on and how we intend to prepare ourselves.  In other words, we strive to be conscious of our choices, actions and efforts.

We will guide your child to shape their B’nai Mitzvah experience. Does your child want to jump whole-heartedly into a new kind of mitzvah/research project? What might your child choose as a Tikkun Olam project that we will assist them to shape?  Is their passion for chanting Torah?  Our goal is for this life cycle experience to be meaningful for the young adult as well as the whole family.