When:?
On hiatus 2023-2024.
Who?
Recommended for grades 6-8.
Free to KSS Member Families. All welcome to join. More information on membership here!
NO PRIOR HEBREW SCHOOL EXPERIENCE NECESSARY!
AND, your don’t have to be planning a B Mitzvah ceremony to participate.
What?
Based on the work of Rabbi Goldie Milgram (2014) Reclaiming Bar/Bat Mitzvah as a Spiritual Right of Passage: An Empowering Guide for Students, Families, Educators, & Clergy and our kehilah’s 10+ years of spiritually nurturing young people as they transition from childhood into adolescence, this program is designed to maximize the full potential and power of the B’ Mitzvah tradition. We’ll focus on the journey towards this milestone, not just the event.
Why?
During our time together and through individual study, participants will:
- Cultivate a sense of Jewish Identity and build Jewish social bonds;
- Learn and develop fluency around elements of Jewish ritual and religious life;
- Understand Judaism as an evolving civilization and consider B’ Mitzvah as a right of passage comparative to those in other indigenous cultures;
- Engage with mitzvot;
- Explore connections between ancient Jewish teachings and contemporary social and environmental issues;
- Identify and study a portion of the Torah.
B Mitzvah Journey will be led by Jodi Kushins, longtime lay leader in Kehilat Sukkat Shalom. Born and raised in the New York metro area, Jodi spent many years deeply immersed in the Conservative movement, including a decade at Camp Ramah in the Berkshires as a camper and staff member. She is a lifelong learner and passionate student of all things involving Earth-based Judaism. Professionally, Jodi is a professor of Art Education for the University of Florida (online) and urban farmer @ Over the Fence Urban Farm.
For more information, email: info@sukkatshalomcolumbus.org
Material support from:
*As we work to design rites of passage that are meaningful to young people today, we want to be inclusive of all young people. For this reason, we’re adopting the term B’ Mitzvah to describe this program.
The following is an explanation of this practice, adopted from Keshet’s “A Guide for the Gender Neutral B-Mitzvah.”
“For many young Jews, a Bat or Bar Mitzvah is an exciting rite of passage when they become an adult in the eyes of the Jewish community. It is the first time the person is called up to the Torah. However, this ceremony can be extremely gendered (as evidenced by the name Bat/Bar Mitzvah: daughter/son of the commandment).”
As a Reconstructionist/Renewal community, we are mindful that “we are part of a Jewish tradition that is continuously evolving. For example, the coming-of-age ritual was originally (and still is today in Orthodox communities) only for boys. The Bat Mitzvah ceremony (for girls) only became popular in the US in the 1970s! Most branches of Judaism continue to grow and adapt in order to meet the needs of contemporary Jewish communities. There is a growing need for a gender-inclusive version of this ceremony, which is not surprising considering Judaism has a tradition of discussing gender diversity stretching back thousands of years!”