RJ Blog

by Rabbi Rachel Barenblat I love the excited buzz in the synagogue before Shabbat morning services when one of our kids is going to be called to the Torah as b’nai mitzvah. I love the eager, nervous energy I feel emanating from the family. The parents, caught between the mundane organizational details they were worrying about yesterday and the growing awareness that today is something different, a different kind of time. The younger sibling, if there is one, rolling their eyes but also realizing that this is going to be them someday. I love standing outside in the field behind [...]

The Jewish Journal reported this week on the growing trend of teenagers exiting Jewish life once their b’nai mitzvah experiences come to an end – and what the Reform Movement is doing about it. Reporter Ryan Torok writes, When Isa Aron considers b’nai mitzvah today, she gets the impression that parents — and sometimes synagogues — care more about their son or daughter performing flawlessly when on the bimah than they do about their forming lasting connections to Judaism. “The moment itself is wonderful because the kid is up there performing and all that, but Jewish value of the moment [...]

by Anna Marx Jewish and Christian bloggers have been actively discussing the new show on TLC, “The Sisterhood,” where one family announced they are planning a “Christian bar mitzvah” for their son. While the Jewish world is wrestling with bringing the bar mitzvah ceremony into the 21st Century (some would say it takes a revolution!), the Lewis family is planning a “Christian bar mitzvah” for their son, Trevor. Pastor Brian, Trevor’s father, was raised Jewish and converted to Christianity. The Lewis family sees the bar mitzvah as an opportunity to embrace their Jewish heritage — at least with a big party, [...]

by Jennifer B. Perlick Two years ago I realized, “Wow, my daughter’s bat mitzvah is coming up!” Of course, I wanted it to be special. I wanted it to be really meaningful for her – and for me and the whole family – but I wasn’t super-inspired by the b’nai mitzvah ceremonies I was attending at my synagogue. Don’t get me wrong, I love my congregation, Har HaShem in Boulder, CO. It offers the largest community of Jewish families in Boulder, its religious school is extremely well-run, and the rabbi and cantor are both young and hip. But the b’nai [...]

In a controversial blog post on Kveller.com that’s making waves within the Jewish community, rabbinical student Patrick Aleph proposed yesterday that the Jewish community dramatically rethink b’nai mitzvah, which he says are “not really worth anyone’s time or money.” Aleph, who studies at the Rabbinical Seminary International in New York City (and is not affiliated with any movement), says we should instead replace the bar mitzvah with a “a new type of [b’nai] mitzvah system where the entire family learns the curricula for the bar or bat mitzvah ceremony, and passes it on to the child through in-home learning, as opposed to [...]

The Reform Movement’s B’nai Mitzvah Revolution is the widest reaching initiative ever, launched by the Movement to radically transform the entire B’nai Mitzvah experience. Earlier this month, the first set of pilot congregations participated in a weekend-long workshop with 65 professionals and lay leaders from 14 congregations including faculty and staff from Hebrew Union College’s Experiment in Congregational Education (ECE) and the Union for Reform Judaism’s Campaign for Youth Engagement (CYE). The goal of the workshop was to support the congregational teams in radically rethinking their approaches to the preparation for, and celebration of, bar and bat mitzvah.

The Jewish month of Elul is the perfect time for this symposium, and not just because  synagogues are opening of their religious school doors to young people and their parents for another year of Jewish learning. Elul is the very season of return. This month, in anticipation of the new year, we pause to recommit ourselves, communally and individually, to the enterprise of Jewish life and learning. So it’s the perfect time not only to imagine the future, but also to examine ways to inspire the next generation to discover joy in Jewish learning. Dr. Charles Edelsberg’s recent essay, characteristically, is [...]

The B’nai Mitzvah Revolution is here! This major new initiative is one of several strategies the Reform Movement is launching to address critical concerns about why so many teens leave congregational life after their b’nai mitzvah, and, too often, take their parents out the door with them. We’re thrilled to announce the 14 Reform congregations across North America that were selected to participate in an innovative pilot program to more fully engage families, institute new methods of teaching and keep teens and their families engaged in their communities. With seed funding from the B’nai Mitzvah Revolution, a joint initiative of the [...]

by Rabbi Nicki Greninger Do you know Hebrew?  If you ‘know’ Hebrew, what does that mean? Does it mean you know the letters of the aleph-bet and can sound out words? Does it mean that you feel comfortable with modern, spoken Hebrew? Does it mean that you understand basic Jewish life vocabulary in Hebrew? (i.e. words like shalom and tzedakah or phrases like tikkun olam or b’tzelem Elohim) Does it mean that you know most of the words of the prayers we say and can recite them with the community, even if you could not necessarily translate the prayers word for [...]

Why do so many synagogues struggle with Hebrew instruction, t’fillah education, and post-b’nai mitzvah celebration? We have come to believe that these challenges — and others, too — are all related to one deep-seated problem: Jewish learning prior to age 13 is driven by the bar/bat mitzvah celebration. This common practice was instituted more than 70 years ago to increase involvement in the synagogue. But, it has had the opposite effect. Treating bar/bat mitzvah as the goal and end point of Jewish education has degraded Hebrew learning, stifled efforts to expose students to the depth and meaning of communal worship, [...]