The Bar Mitzvah Program
What does it all mean?
The Bar Mitzvah is a very traditional religious ceremony that dates back thousands of years. The ceremony itself was the culmination of dozens of hours of religious schooling, at a time when religion played a very prominent role in everyday family and communal life.
But what does it mean for today's youth? In a world in which many Jewish children go to school in non-religious school systems and do not live in homogenous, Jewish communities, how can we pass on the holistic significance of the Bar Mitzvah; preparing our children to take their first steps on the long journey towards adulthood? How do we help themselves prepare for the young men they are about to become?
Rabbi A.B. A'amar's Bar Mitzvah program assists these soon-to-be-adults to explore what it means to take this significant first step.
The program is comprised of Sections, Chapters and Activities. At the end of each section, participants must complete the activities summarizing some or all of the chapter elements and discuss them with their parent mentors. The chapters are designed to be hands-on; some of them include reading materials but others require the participant to conduct independent research by a variety of means in order to complete the chapters and the ensuing activities successfully.