B’nai Mitzvah Education
Our two-year B’nai Mitzvah program strives not only to prepare your student for the day itself, but to teach your child what it means to be Jewish today at CBS, in San Francisco and in our modern world. That being said, we realize that there are real skills that each student needs to master before they stand before our community on their Bar/Bat Mitzvah day. Over the course of two years, students will master skills in each of the following three topics:
Prayer: Students will be provided with the skills necessary to be able to walk into any synagogue service and be able to “hold their own.” They will learn the ins and outs of a typical service, including but not limited to Shabbat morning davenning, Torah blessings and an introduction to Torah trope (how to chant the Torah).
Parashah: Students will be provided with the skills necessary to communicate with our tradition, to ask big questions of our texts and to relate these texts to their own lives and the lives of others. They will learn the distinction between p’shat (exact reading) and d’rash (interpretive reading), become familiar with distinguishing characteristics of torah commentators and begin to think about what it means to have their own voice regarding our Torah.
Participation: Students will be provided with the skills necessary to be an active participant in our Jewish community. This includes being given the skills to participate fully in our services, holiday and community events and social action.
