Coming of Age: The First Regional JDC Bar/Bat Mitzvah Seminar

Nearly 13 years since JDC began to fan the sparks of Jewish renaissance after the fall of Communism, Jewish communities in Central and Eastern Europe – and their first post-Communist generation of youth – have come of age. JDC seized the opportunity, by setting the date and booking the hall for the inaugural JDC regional Bar and Bat Mitzvah Seminar.

From the Adriatic and Baltic coasts to the banks of the Danube – even Mumbai, India – 31 present and future Jewish educators, ages 19-60, gathered at the Balint House Jewish Community Center in Budapest, Hungary from November 23-26, 2003. Only two had celebrated bar or bat mitzvahs of their own, but all shared a desire to create personally meaningful b’nei mitzvah ceremonies for members of their communities.

The catalyst for the seminar was a letter from Prague, sent by a community educator who needed materials to prepare local youth for this lifecycle event. However JDC saw the request as symbolic of a larger, regional need. Organized together with ITIM – the Jewish Life Information Center in Jerusalem, the JDC-sponsored Bar and Bat Mitzvah Seminar reached, for the first time, a wide range of communities hoping to make this Jewish tradition a relevant part of their own experience.

Participants from Estonia, Lithuania, Serbia, Croatia, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, and India joined a team of experts in the field from the U.S. and Israel, and a corps of their peers facing similar challenges and the same window of opportunity. " I see bar and bat mitzvah ceremonies as a way to grow closer to our Judaism," explained Rafael from Hungary, as others in the group discussion nodded in agreement.

At an age when other forces are pulling youth in all directions, becoming a bar or bat mitzvah can also provide an anchor in community life, and represents the potential for committed Jewish leadership, for sound Jewish families and communities, and for a strong Jewish future. The seminar gave participants the tools they need to help realize that potential, from the various prayers to the basic format for structuring a d’var torah, a discourse on the torah portion.

"The suggestions for how to meet diverse needs, interests, and often complicated family situations were of invaluable help to us and a unique aspect of the seminar," said Ana from Croatia. Participants also received a very practical bar mitzvah gift, a copy of "Trope Trainer", cutting edge computer software that includes tutorials on the ritual chanting of the torah reading, the haftorah, and related blessings.

The seminar focused on the traditional basics, such as the use of tallit and tefillin, while also exposing the group to new pedagogic approaches and the idea that there is no single way to become a bar or bat mitzvah. Participants learned about existing models worldwide, including the possibility of reading torah in the vernacular, diverse options for young women, and the idea of including a community volunteer project as part of the rite of passage.

For the mock bar and bar mitzvah ceremonies of two "cousins" that culminated the seminar, participants were assigned tasks and roles, such as wording the invitation and acting the part of the rabbi. The bat mitzvah, Junona from Vilnius, Lithuania, prepared a moving d’var torah, while the bar mitzvah, Igor from Tallinn, Estonia, learned studiously with one of the seminar instructors in order to chant several lines from the sefer torah.

"It was important to me that I not just act something out," said Igor. "This was my first time reading torah, so our celebration was a real bar mitzvah."

The guests threw candy to mark the occasion, danced to traditional simcha music, and sat down to a festive dinner. After agreeing to meet in a virtual forum on an ongoing basis to share challenges and best practices, they left, inspired to begin planning bar and bat mitzvah celebrations in their own communities.

"Mazal tov, mazal tov, " participants said in parting, "We can’t wait to bring the spirit of this event back home."