Bar/Bat Mitzvah students are moving from childhood to adulthood, from learning to be responsible to being responsible. As son or daughter of the commandments, you commit yourself to be proud membership in our ancient people.
While our Rabbi, Cantor, Religious School and staff will do everything possible to prepare the student, family cooperation and involvement are essential. The B’nai Mitzvah service should be rewarding and meaningful; families help make both the preparation and the ceremony a memorable experience.
The word mitzvah means commandment – just as obligation is inherent in that concept, so too the guidelines are requirements that must be met for a B’nai Mitzvah service in our congregation.
The most effective way to teach a child is to “live the lesson.” The greater your family’s level of involvement in the B’nai Mitzvah preparation process, the more meaningful the ceremony, and Judaism, will become.
B’nai Mitzvah is a beginning, not the conclusion, of a person’s Jewish education; it is a passageway to wider learning and observance. If observance is not encouraged, if you do not participate with your child, if he or she never attends a service before or after B’nai Mitzvah, then the ritual will have no meaning.
B'nai Mitzvah Preparation Guidelines.
