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On Sunday February 9, 2014 at 2:30 pm parents and students interested in learning more about the Adventure Rabbi Program’s Bar and Bat Mitzvah options are welcome to join Rabbi Jamie Korngold at Bear Creek Elementary School in South Boulder for an introduction to our 10-month program.
Our Bar and Bat Mitzvah Program is radically different than anything you have encountered. We use Judaism and nature to teach bar and bat mitzvah students the skills they will need to be a content, compassionate, confident and responsible teenager.
Philosophy:
Maybe you have heard the joke about the Bar Mitzvah boy who announces during his Bar Mitzvah speech, “Today I am a man, tomorrow I go back to 8th grade.” We’ve often wondered what leading a Shabbat morning service has to do with becoming a man. Centuries ago when Bar Mitzvah was created, leading a service was a task that a boy took on at age 13. But today, is that really the best we can do to prepare a boy to be a man and a girl to be a woman?
Admittedly, we push general Judaic learning less than other programs. But we believe if our Bar and Bat Mitzvah students come away loving Judaism and understanding why Judaism is relevant to their lives, they will be inspired to keep learning Jewishly for many years.
We address topics kids should learn in life and teach them through a Jewish lens.
Our Bat or Bar Mitzvah students do not just learn the Kiddush, the Kaddish and how to read Torah.
Our Bar or Bat Mitzvah students will also learn how to change a tire, change a diaper, avoid trouble on Facebook, make a matzah ball and bake challah.
Our Bar or Bat Mitzvah students will learn to look out for others while climbing a peak and to take responsibility for their own actions while snowshoeing or hiking under the full moon.
Our Bar or Bat Mitzvah students will even learn how to write a polite email and why that is important.
(And our bar and bat mitzvah students will come to understand what each of these tasks have to do with being Jewish.)
We talk about the daunting choices that our Bat and Bar Mitzvah students will face in the turbulent teenage years ahead. Many of these choices may seem innocuous to the Bar and Bat Mitzvah kids, but in actuality their decisions can drastically effect their lives.
We will talk to our Bat and Bar Mitzvah students about making good choices and giving those choices a voice. We will use Jewish wisdom to teach about body image, Facebook, and friendship. We will explore responsibility toward self, family and community. (Think of it like mensch training.)
We have three very different programs, but they all share two goals:
- For the bar or bat mitzvah students to love being Jewish.
- For your family to discover that Judaism is meaningful, relevant and accessible.
Our three programs are:
- Individual Study (10 month program)
- Adventure Class (10 month class)
- Bar or Bat Yisrael (12 week program)
Click here for more information on these programs and www.AdventureRabbi.org for more information about who we are and what we do.
