Becoming a Bar Mitzvah is special and meaningful.  It is a personal and individualized experience, where each family is valued and each individual child is honored.  It is also a process in which the child becomes a part of the bigger Jewish community and gains new rights and responsibilities.  Most importantly, it is a process through which the child and the family as a whole have the opportunity to appreciate the importance and relevance of Judaism in their lives.

I spend significant time with the students and families individually, striving to build a meaningful relationship with them.  Each ceremony and process is tailored to the abilities of the student and the needs of the family.  Each service looks different.  I have had families create their own prayer books.  I have had students sing or play instruments within the service.  I have had as many or as few family members participate in the service as desired, in ways that felt most appropriate and authentic to the family.  There is a tremendous amount of room for the family and students to express their individuality, as well as for the service to be personal and intimate.

Studying together, we will create an understanding and proficiency of a Torah portion and haftarah.  Creating and delivering a meaningful D’var Torah (speech) is one of the rites of passage that every child must happily go through.

Some of the benefits of working towards a Bar Mitzvah in this manner are:

• We will be able to arrange private tutoring sessions scheduled in a flexible manner.
• We will be able to personalize our Bar Mitzvah experience from the beginning to the end.
• There are a wide selection of venues to make it your own.
• The entire process is tailored toward the individual.

So what does it mean to become a Bar Mitzvah? The ceremony formally and publicly welcomes the Bar Mitzvah into the community. The Bar Mitzvah service is a symbolic bridge between childhood and young Jewish adulthood.