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A B'nai mitzvah is one of the most important events in a young Jewish person’s life, signaling their formal recognition as an adult in their religious community. Girls aged 12-13 and boys 13-14 will complete their b’nai mitzvah by leading a service for their synagogue, involving reading prayers from the Torah and giving speeches.
As we all know, while a B’nai mitzvah is a cause for celebration, it can also be quite intimidating for students and requires extensive preparation ahead of time. This is why having a thoughtful and thorough bat and bar mitzvah curriculum is so vital.
Every synagogue is different and has different practices for its members’ B’nai mitzvahs. To help your synagogue set its curriculum, this guide will discuss commonalities many b’nai mitzvahs share and how you can best help your community’s children prepare.
What should be included in your bat or bar mitzvah curriculum?
Ultimately, your bat and bar mitzvah curriculum is up to your synagogue. However, in general, the curriculum should cover all the prayers, chants, and other religious texts each student is expected to know and perform at their B’nai mitzvah.
Learning this curriculum is often a major undertaking, and students should start preparing six to eighteen months in advance with the aid of a tutor. A B’nai mitzvah marks a young Jewish person’s transition into adulthood, and the preceding educational process is meant to help them not only prepare for the ceremony but also learn about their heritage and Jewish identity.
As such, B’nai curriculum is often extensive and consists of teaching a student Shabbat rituals, how to read and write Hebrew, the meaning and proper celebration of Jewish holidays, how to read and study the Torah, and more. Of course, students will also be given the opportunity to practice the specific readings, chants, and speeches they will deliver on their B’nai mitzvah.
What is a bat or bar mitzvah’s structure?
Hw your synagogue conducts B’nai mitzvahs is ultimately up to your clergy, staff, and community. For example, some synagogues usually hold B’nai mitzvahs on Shabbat, whereas others try to avoid scheduling B’nai mitzvahs on the Shabbat and major holidays.
However, there are a few common elements many B’nai mitzvahs share. These include:
- A reading from the Torah if the ceremony is held on a Torah reading day
- An aliyah, where the person celebrating their B’nai mitzvah recites a blessing over the Torah
- Leading a prayer, chanting from the Torah or Haftarah, or delivering a d’var Torah
- For a bar mitzvah, a boy might also wear tefillin
- The reception, where attendees are invited to celebrate with food, music, and dancing
Additionally, family often participate in their child’s B’nai mitzvah. Prior to the event, clergy may ask the child’s family to provide a list of names for detailing what prayers various members of the family will read.
How can my synagogue prepare students for their bat or bar mitzvah?
If your synagogue, like many, has students who don’t attend Jewish day school, you should aim to provide them with the resources and tutors they need to succeed on the day of their B’nai mitzvah.
However, with so much to plan and material to cover, it can be easy for students, tutors, parents, and clergy alike to get overwhelmed. Far too often, synagogues rely on disparate spreadsheets that can make scheduling appointments and maintaining communication far more challenging tasks than they need to be.
Fortunately, today’s synagogues have access to software like Mitzvah Tools from Shulware. Mitzvah Tools is an all-in-one B’nai mitzvah planning and educational tool. It offers synagogues a variety of features, including:
- Easy scheduling. While much of a student’s B’nai mitzvah learning can be done independently, they’ll still need to periodically check in with their tutor to get advice, ask questions, and receive feedback. With Mitzvah Tool’s scheduling and calendar capabilities, students can request meetings with their tutors in just a few clicks.
- Milestone tracking. One of the biggest challenges in B’nai mitzvah education is parent visibility, with many families not knowing what their child is studying. With milestone tracking, parents can easily check in on their child’s progress throughout the entire learning process.
- Multimedia resource hub. Tutors can provide students with every resource they need, no matter where they are, by uploading documents, videos, and audio files to Mitzvah Tools’ cloud-based, mobile-friendly platform. Plus, Mitzvah Tools comes preloaded with recordings of Torah and Haftarah Portion chants to help get your B’nai mitzvah curriculum started.
- Remote learning capabilities. Not every student has the ability to meet up with their tutor in person regularly. With remote learning tools, like video conferencing and recording software, students can work on their own and then check in with their tutor to ensure they’re staying on track.
- Collaborative task management. Ensure tutors and clergy are on the same page by getting your entire team involved in the task creation process. With collaborative editing tools, your entire team can log in to Mitzvah tools to add and edit tasks, ensuring students get a comprehensive B’nai mitzvah education.
- Automatic Matbeah set-lists. Planning your service’s prayer order and ensuring it’s followed correctly is likely always at the back of your clergy’s mind. Take the burden off of them with automatic Matbeah set-list creation, allowing them to get updated on the prayers scheduled for each B’nai mitzvah without delay or mistake.
Mitzvah Tools provides students and tutors with everything they need to complete a full bat or bar mitzvah curriculum. However, don't just think of Mitzvah Tools as an educational platform. With its planning and scheduling tools, it gives your synagogue the power to craft a consistent B’nai mitzvah organizing process. This saves everyone—parents, clergy, administrators, and students alike—time and energy, while also ensuring each B’nai mitzvah goes off without a hitch.
Additional Bat and Bar Mitzvah Resources
A strong bat and bar mitzvah curriculum arms your synagogue’s next generation with the knowledge they need to fully enter your community. Ensure their B’nai mitzvah ceremonies go off without a hitch, thanks to a meaningful curriculum that they can access with ease.
Looking for more resources for improving your synagogue’s communication and technology? Check out these top articles:
- Breaking Down Barriers: A Simple Digital Gateway to Jewish Community. Discover how you can integrate software into your synagogue’s day-to-day management to improve community connections.
- How to Navigate Synagogue Financial Planning and Management. Strong financial planning allows your synagogue to make smart investments and better leverage its resources to benefit your community.
- Bridging the Digital Divide: A Heart-Centered Approach to Technology in Your Synagogue. Convincing your community to adopt new technology can be a challenge. Learn how to discuss software with your congregation so you can smoothly implement tools that better their experiences with your synagogue.
