The Bar/Bat Mitzvah at Beth Sholom

Congregation Beth Sholom celebrates each B'nai Mitzvah with great joy. We view the period of b'nai mitzvah training as a time for the entire family to deepen their connection to our congregational community and to ensure that this milestone is a positive educational and ritual experience for the students and their families.

Goal: To provide a support system at Beth Sholom for students and parents during the year preceding the bar/bat mitzvah. To achieve this goal, each family works with the b'nai mitzvah coordinator who serves as a resource responding to individual questions and needs.

Goal: To provide educational programming to assist parents and students in feeling more comfortable and knowledgeable at synagogue services and in the practice of Jewish ritual at home. To achieve this goal, each student works with the B'nai Mitzvah coordinator to learn how to chant Torah and haftarah, and to lead the Torah service (and more of the Shabbat morning service if the particular student wants to do so). Each student will study with our Rabbi in preparation for writing a D'var Torah.

Our B'nai Mitzvah Family Education Program led by the Rabbi, is a series of educational programs on topics of interest to the b'nai mitzvah and their families. Topics include The Meaning of Mitzvah, Prayer, Shabbat morning service, Kriat HaTorah, Talmud Torah, Tzedakah and Mitzvah Projects, and Tallit and Tefillin.

Goal: To encourage feelings of closer connection among adults, students, and the community as they prepare as families for the bar/bat mitzvah. To achieve this goal, in the b'nai mitzvah year, we share a Sukkot lunch and Shabbat dinner together as a community. Familes host for one another's b'nai mitzvah ceremonies.

For more information visit the following pages:

What is a Bar/Bat Mitzvah - The Bar/Bat Mitzvah Training Process -

B'nai Mitzvah Family Education - Tzedakah and Mitzvah Projects -

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