Bar and Bat Mitzvah old
B’nei Mitzvah Secrets
Your child’s Jewish literacy
- Your children will feel more Jewish if they regularly attend religious school
- Your children will learn to sermonize by helping with the religious school class sermon
- Your children will know the blessings better if they regularly attend Family Shabbat
- Your children will know the prayers better if they regularly attend Hebrew school
- Your children will know the rituals better if they regularly attend Torah services
Your child’s bar/bat mitzvah
- This is your event and you can do it any way you want
- Your child will value this as much as you value it
- Your child will practice as often as you require it
- Your child will procrastinate as much as you allow it
- You have a b’nei mitzvah community: partner with the other families
Wrong reasons to get bar/bat mitzvah
- Party
- Presents
- Dad/mom did it
- Grandparents pushing it
- Everyone’s doing it
Right reasons to get bar/bat mitzvah
- Figure out what I believe in
- Learn how to speak in public
- Conquer shyness
- Learn how to work toward a long-term goal
- Learn how to follow the rules yet produce something personal
Wrong things to learn from bar/bat mitzvah
- There are a thousand excuses for failure
- My family will love me even if I do a poor job
- My friends don’t know the difference between correct and incorrect Hebrew
- I can always lip-sync the rabbi
- If I talk fast and indistinctly enough, no one will know if my speech makes sense or not
Right things to learn from bar/bat mitzvah
- What I do matters
- What I say matters
- If I put my best foot forward, people will take me seriously
- Planning ahead makes all the difference
- Judaism belongs to me if I want it, in any way that I want it