Bmitzvah
Honor this highlighted time in your child’s life through the lens of Jewish culture and tradition.
AGES 12+
We create a customized pathway allowing each person to explore a wide array of content extending back 3000 years, in ways that are relevant, meaningful and engaging.
We will celebrate together through a personalized ceremony, incorporating traditional and contemporary elements.
The Beinenu BMitzvah journey is filled with joy and meaning. We curate a customized approach, facilitated by Daphna and incorporating the entire Beineinu team.
We refer to each specific approach as a pathway. The diversity of pathways available to a BMitzvah student is reflective of the diverse ways in which one can express their personal connection to Judaism. Pathways range from traditional to contemporary adaptations. Torah is at the center, and we do some serious “unpacking” of our ancient stories. BMitzvah students engage in a variety of elements, crafting a d’var Torah - a response reflecting individual reactions, including chanting Torah, leading various prayers, and expansive exploration of culture, history and Israel.
To elaborate, we firmly believe there is no one way to do a Bmitzvah, The journey is specific to you. We will work with you from start to finish crafting a pathway that is meaningful, relevant and fulfilling. Our work together will involve a consistent partnership with a Beineinu BMitzvah coach, with regular private sessions ranging from 45-60 minutes.
We work with students of all levels of ability and learning needs. We can teach participants to read Hebrew, and some choose to learn from a transliterated version of the text.
As broadly defined as the BMitzvah experience can be based on your interests and learning styles, our process always engages these 5 core areas:
1. Unpacking a Torah portion - exploring the narrative in English, discussing the various aspects including characters, problem, solution, challenges, lessons, relevance today etc...
2. Writing a "d'var Torah" - reaction/response to the Torah portion which is shared with the community. BMitzvah are also able to incorporate a creative artistic response including music poetry, photography, painting etc…
3. Justice Initiative - a big piece of becoming a BMitzvah is that you become responsible for contributing to your community. We create a plan around a topic the youth is passionate about or finds interesting. The project includes a minimum of 13 hours of volunteering or effort towards the project. This does not need to be completed prior to the date of the BMitzvah. Initiatives can include and are not limited to an awareness campaign, raising funds, organizing a collection or a combination of volunteering at different organizations.
4. Chanting from the Torah, including the blessings before and after. We provide a recording to all of our BMitzvah students.
5. Creating and co-leading the service with Daphna and the team of musicians.
“The process of becoming a bar mitzvah was joyful, manageable and accessible for our son. Daphna's infectious energy, beautiful music and deep spirituality lifted the ceremony for a memorable and deeply meaningful rite of passage, for our family and all the assembled guests.”
— Edward M.
