Perhaps you never had a Bar or Bat Mitzvah as a child.

Maybe you feel there was something missing in your Jewish life.

You might be seeking a new rite of passage.

Or a way to honor a transition in your life.

 

Bar or Bat Mitzvah is the Hebrew/Aramaic term for becoming “of the age of Mitzvot”, literally, “the child of the Mitzvah”. Someone who is of the age of responsibility for incorporating Jewish values, ethics and tradition into their lives. A life of mitzvot, spiritual practice, and communal and social responsibility. 

 

Your B’nai Mitzvah may have taken place in a world, time, or era where your personal denomination, family, or gender didn’t allow for a full expression of this milestone.

Perhaps you’ve always wanted to chant from the Torah, or to be witnessed in a different rite of passage.

 

In the Jewish communities of antiquity, B’nai Mitzvahs were celebrated by involving the child in their personal and community responsibilities, from laying Tefillin (leather prayer wrappings) to being part of a prayer Minyan (quorum), and often through an Aliyah (calling up) to the Torah. In medieval times, it expanded into a full ceremony of Torah chanting, sometimes Haftorah chanting from the Prophets, and giving a meaningful D’var Torah (teaching) to the community. 

 

In America today, a B’nai Mitzvah is a party, a milestone, and a rite of passage. You may feel that you missed out, that you wanted to be seen in a new way, that you want to celebrate your transition with more meaning and depth than your childhood self.

 

And so, our Darchei HaLev pathway to B’nai Mitzvah will incorporate not only a ritual for community witnessing, but the chance to learn, be, and do as you enter your own personal portal to communal and spiritual responsibility. 

 

You may choose to read and chant from the Torah.

You may prefer to lead a prayer in public.

You may choose a ritual project that you co-create in your own personal community, home or family life.

You will be witnessed. You will be seen.

And you will enter into your Age of Mitzvot with fanfare, celebration and community.

 

Our Adult B’nai Mitzvah Pathway will prepare you to step forward into this new portal of age with intention and wisdom.