Overview

How to manage the process with grace, joy and good sense. A practical guide that gives parents and teens the ""how-to"" information they need to navigate the bar/bat mitzvah process and grow as a family through this experience. For the first time in one book, everyone directly involved offers practical insights into how the process can be made easier and more enjoyable for all. Rabbis, cantors and Jewish educators from the Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist movements, parents, and even teens speak from their own experience. • What's it all about? • Preparation for Parent and Child • Tutoring, stress, expectations, enjoyment, planning for children with special needs • Negotiating the ceremony and celebration • Designing a creative service, heightening the spiritual exercise, special issues related to divorced and interfaith families, planning a party that neither breaks the bank nor detracts from the inherent spirituality of the event.

Full Product Details

Author:   Cantor Helen Leneman ,  Rabbi Jeffrey K. Salkin ,  Rabbi Julie Gordon, MA
Publisher:   Jewish Lights Publishing
Imprint:   Jewish Lights Publishing
Edition:   2nd Edition, Revised, Updated, and Expanded
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 1.40cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.472kg
ISBN:  

9781681629834

ISBN 10:   1681629836
Pages:   226
Publication Date:   17 May 2001
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Available To Order  
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Table of Contents

Acknowledgments xiii Foreword xv Rabbi Jeffrey K. Salkin Preface xix Rabbi Julie Gordon Introduction xxi Cantor Helen Leneman Section I: What's Bar/Bat Mitzvah All About? 1 1 Bar/Bat Mitzvah Basic Elements: Start to Finish 3 Cantor Helen Leneman 2 What Parents Should Know Before the Bar/Bat Mitzvah Ceremony 15 Susie Tatarka 3 ""Passing"" the Bar (or Bat) Mitzvah: Setting Clear and Realistic Expectations for Everyone 21 Cantor Marshall Portnoy 4 A Guide for the Perplexed Parent: How to Ask the Right Questions about Preparation 33 Cantor Helen Leneman 5 The Parents' Rite of Passage 43 Rabbi Susan B. Stone 6 Ritual Magic and Family Drama: Finding New Meaning in an Old Story 47 Dr. Judith Davis 7 To a Religiously Skeptical Jewish Parent 57 Rabbi Jeffrey K. Salkin Section II: The Family's Perspective 65 8 Tales from the Home Front: Lessons from Family Experiences 67 Cantor Helen Leneman 9 Reflections of a Mother 77 Missy Cohen Lavintman 10 Reflections of a Father 83 Neal Gendler 11 Post B'nai Mitzvah Thoughts: Teens Reflect 89 Norman Lavintman, Maya Jaffe, Jennifer Greenberg, Miriam White 12 The Bat Mitzvah Dress: An Intergenerational Story 97 Dr. Nechama Liss-Levinson 13 Journey of One Interfaith Family 103 Dr. Donna R. Hart 14 What to Say to Your Child on the Bimah 109 Rabbi Sandy Eisenberg Sasso Section III: Essentials and Options for the Service and the Celebration 119 15 Designing a Creative Service 121 Cantor Helen Leneman 16 Celebrating and Negotiating: Avoiding a Post-Divorce Battle on the Bimah 129 Sally Weber 17 Making the Theme Meaningful 139 Rabbi Aaron Bergman 18 Do You Need a Party Planner? 145 Cantor Helen Leneman 19 Coming of Age: The Significance of Bar/Bat Mitzvah for Interfaith Families 151 Joan C. Hawxhurst 20 Celebrating Bar/Bat Mitzvah Successfully as an Interfaith Family 155 Lena Romanoff 21 Special Needs Children Speak for Themselves 161 Appendix A: On the Learning Path—Selected Resources for Parents 171 Dr. Barbara Wachs (z""l) Cantor Helen Leneman Appendix B: Shabbat Morning Service Outline 181 Cantor Marshall Portnoy Appendix C: Helpful Hints for Parents of Special Needs Children 83 Beverly Weaver Appendix D: Selected Bibliography: Recommended Sources for English Readings 187 Cantor Helen Leneman Glossary 189 About the Contributors 193

Reviews

Out of her vast experience as Cantor and educator, Leneman has written an important guide that strengthens and solidifies the family through the wisdom and warmth of Judaism. <strong>Rabbi Harold Schulweis</strong>, Valley Beth Shalom, Encino, California</p> Inspires, challenges, comforts and guides parents as the mutli-faceted bar/bat mitzvah process enters their lives. <strong>Dr. Jeffrey Schein</strong>, National Education Director, Jewish Reconstructionist Federation</p>

Out of her vast experience as Cantor and educator, Leneman has written an important guide that strengthens and solidifies the family through the wisdom and warmth of Judaism. -Rabbi Harold Schulweis, Valley Beth Shalom, Encino, California Inspires, challenges, comforts and guides parents as the mutli-faceted bar/bat mitzvah process enters their lives. -Dr. Jeffrey Schein, National Education Director, Jewish Reconstructionist Federation

Out of her vast experience as Cantor and educator, Leneman has written an important guide that strengthens and solidifies the family through the wisdom and warmth of Judaism. Rabbi Harold Schulweis, Valley Beth Shalom, Encino, California Inspires, challenges, comforts and guides parents as the mutli-faceted bar/bat mitzvah process enters their lives. Dr. Jeffrey Schein, National Education Director, Jewish Reconstructionist Federation

Author Information

Cantor Helen Leneman's specialty is bar/bat mitzvah education. She has worked as a cantor and a b'nai mitzvah teacher in Los Angeles, Baltimore and the greater Washington, DC, area. For several years she chaired the B’nai Mitzvah Educators Network of CAJE. The Network has over 300 members in the U.S. and abroad. She has a BA from UCLA and an MA in Judaic studies from Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion, and studied cantorial liturgy with cantors Allan Michelson (z""l) and William Sharlin. She is the author of Bar/Bat Mitzvah Education: A Sourcebook. She is an associate member of the American Conference of Cantors, and a member of the Society of Biblical Literature. Cantor Leneman directs an outreach program for unaffiliated families who wish to celebrate their children’s becoming bar or bat mitzvah. She lives with her family in Rockville, Maryland. Rabbi Jeffrey K. Salkin is recognized as one of the most thoughtful Jewish writers and teachers of his generation. He has helped people of all ages find spiritual meaning in both the great and small moments in life. A noted author whose work has appeared in many publications, including the Wall Street Journal, Reader's Digest and the Congressional Record, Rabbi Salkin is editor of The Modern Men's Torah Commentary: New Insights from Jewish Men on the 54 Weekly Torah PortionsandText Messages: A Torah Commentary for Teens; and author of Being God's Partner: How to Find the Hidden Link Between Spirituality and Your Work, with an introduction by Norman Lear; the best-seller Putting God on the Guest List: How to Reclaim the Spiritual Meaning of Your Child's Bar or Bat Mitzvah; For Kids—Putting God on Your Guest List: How to Claim the Spiritual Meaning of Your Bar or Bat Mitzvah and Righteous Gentiles in the Hebrew Bible: Ancient Role Models for Sacred Relationships (all Jewish Lights), among other books. 
 Rabbi Julie Gordon, MA, director of education at Adat Shalom in Bethesda, Maryland, is author of the popular day school prayerbook B'chol L'vavcha: A Shabbat and Festival Companion. She has over 25 years of professional experience in Jewish education, synagogue life and communal service.

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