Hebrew School & B'nai Mitzvah

The bar/bat mitzvah process is filled with many challenges and many rewards.  Each child, and each family, has different goals, desires and hopes.  There is no one way.  Everyone’s needs and skills are different.  At BTEE our goal is to make the bar/bat mitzvah ritual enjoyable, the goals achievable and the process encouraging. 

 

Through individual hard work and the support of a caring community, we hope to help our students bring Jewish values and traditions to life.  Bar/bat mitzvah preparation offers training in many of the skills the students will need to live as Jewish adults, including:

 

• The Concept of God and Mitzvah: Who is God?  Where is God?  What does God want from us?  What is a mitzvah?  Why does God command us to perform them?   

• Perseverance: Meaningful goals are achieved with hard work over a period of time.  To become a bar/bat mitzvah requires that the child and his/her family adjust their schedules and commit themselves to study and practice.

• Long-Term Planning: The bar/bat mitzvah process requires that child and his/her family look ahead and plan the steps necessary to achieve a worthy goal.

• Responsibility: As a bar/bat mitzvah, the student becomes responsible for his/her actions.

• Jewish Prayers and Traditions: Through learning prayers, melodies, and the basic structure of Jewish worship services, students learn how to be a part of any Jewish service anywhere in the world.  These are skills that travel with the students throughout their lives and lead them to achieve spiritual, moral and intellectual growth. 

• The Value of Community: Our warm, family community at BTEE offers a supportive environment that cannot be found anywhere else. The support offered leading up to and on the big day and beyond demonstrates the importance of the “extended family” of the BTEE community.

• Public Speaking: Public speaking is a skill that serves well throughout life.  To speak well publicly is one of the key components in effective and successful leadership.  The bar/bat mitzvah process gives students the opportunity to work on this important life skill in front of a supportive community.

• Teaching: The Jewish tradition has been passed down from one generation to the next through the teacher/student relationship, with each generation adding their voice to the continuing conversation.  The student’s speech (D’var Torah) will show that he/she is a part of that chain and can learn, understand, and transmit the Torah. 

• Tzedakah: God commands us to help those less fortunate than ourselves.  All bar/bat mitzvah candidates are required to select a long-term mitzvah project that will have a positive impact in the greater community.

• Tikkun Olam: As Jewish adults, we are called upon by God to be responsible for healing, mending and repairing the world.  Again, mitzvah projects provide an opportunity for students to begin this important life-long commitment.