Raising The Bar Mitzvah

What could be more ingrained in the Jewish psyche as well as pop culture everywhere than the B’nei Mitzvah ceremony? For generations, families have joined synagogues and schlepped their kids to lessons. These hapless pre-teens struggle with cracking voices and unfamiliar melodies, fight with their parents about time spent practicing, and eventually face a couple hundred of their closest friends and relatives to sing for a couple hours in a foreign language. The current model of B’nei Mitzvah training does not resonate with most 13-year-old kids. They do it because they know they have to do it. Their parents and grandparents went through the same thing. It’s time to re-evaluate how our kids learn and prepare to be knowledgeable and engaged members of the Jewish community. Raising the Bar Mitzvah is the book that will lead Jewish professionals as well as lay congregants on a more productive and meaningful path.

Teacher's Manual for running a Messianic Bar Mitzvah program.

The students workbook for a Messianic Bar Mitzvah program. For use with the Teacher's manual.

During the fall leading up to her bat mitzvah, Tara (Hindi for “star”) Feinstein has a lot more than her Torah portion on her mind. Between Hebrew school and study sessions with the rabbi, there doesn’t seem to be enough time to hang out with her best friend Ben-O—who might also be her boyfriend—and her other best friend, Rebecca, who’s getting a little too cozy with the snotty Sheila Rosenberg. Not to mention working on her robotics project with the class clown Ryan Berger, or figuring out what to do with a priceless heirloom sari that she accidentally ruined. Amid all this drama, Tara considers how to balance her Indian and Jewish identities and what it means to have a bat mitzvah while questioning her faith. With the cross-cultural charm of Bend It Like Beckham, this delightful debut novel is a classic coming-of-age story and young romance with universal appeal. Praise for My Basmati Bat Mitzvah "In my opinion, My Basmati Bat Mitzvah shows that everyone is different in their own way and some get the advantage of being culturally diverse. I rate the book 5 stars!" —Shivani Desai, age 13 STARRED REVIEW "The latest spunky heroine of South Asian–Jewish heritage to grace middle-grade fiction, Tara Feinstein, 12, charms readers from the get-go in this strong, funny debut." —Kirkus Reviews, starred review "Tara’s inquisitiveness, openness, and determination to chart her own path stand out in this warm story of family, faith and the ways people are unique yet intertwined." —Publishers Weekly "With a conversational and authentic tween voice, Tara invites readers into her world as she explores the larger issues of faith, compassion, and tradition while confronting the awkwardness that is puberty—her questions regarding God are poignant and relatable while her opinions on training bras are simply spot-on..." —The Bulletin of The Center for Children’s Books "Authors often mention but then shrink from exploring in depth their characters’ mixed religious heritage; it’s a sensitive subject that demands close scrutiny. Freedman bucks that trend, avoiding didacticism by portraying broader issues through Tara’s personality and unique circumstances. As Tara learns in this skillful exploration, an important source of her special strengths—questioning spirit, empathy and strong ethical compass—is her mixed heritage." —The Jewish Daily Forward "This story will have resonance for many children of many faiths at the cusp of religious adulthood." —Booklist "As she makes her way through these challenges, she learns a great deal about friendship, family, and heritage. Freedman handles the ethnic and religious diversity of Tara’s family and friends with a light touch, but doesn’t shrink from exploring some of the complexities of a dual heritage." —School Library Journal "This book’s well-drawn characters bring two colorful cultures to vibrant life. The contemporary urban setting, cast with touches of humor and romance, frame mature ideas of peer and self-acceptance in a familiar, lighthearted world. Middle grade girls will readily befriend Tara and pick up new cultural understanding." —Library Media Connection

In Surviving Your Bar/Bat Mitzvah, Cantor Matt Axelrod provides a practical, humorous guide for Jewish students and their families as they prepare for their “big day.” Breezy and friendly yet reassuring and focused, Axelrod easily cuts through the fear and stress that teens often feel in the months leading up to their bar or bat mitzvah. In addition to helping the student prepare for the bar or bat mitzvah by walking the reader through the service and providing helpful study tips for learning a Torah and haftarah portion, Surviving Your Bar/Bat Mitzvah also helps both students and their families cope with the stressors associated with the planning of the celebration, addressing everything from teens’ fears about making mistakes to time management skills to dealing with family over/underinvolvement. Cantor Axelrod’s experience helping hundreds of teens prepare for their bnei mitzvah will help students and families not just survive but understand and enjoy this important Jewish milestone.

Ladd C. Hoffman provides the events, planning, and execution of a coming-of-age celebration with a purpose that he devised for his sons. You will hear the thought process and the challenges the event produced. You may be encouraged to plan some type of event for your child.A child moving to adulthood.Parents leading their children to maturity.Challenging your children to maintain their faith.An example of how to take a child through a ceremony about growth.

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.

Recent years have seen an increased interest in Jewish life, its culture, and its celebrations. There are many new students of Judaism, often potential converts or members of interfaith families who are seeking to learn more about the religion and its rituals. Unfortunately, many of the existing texts that examine the Jewish holidays are written in a dry, unexciting way, making it difficult for the reader to retain much information. For those seeking to learn more about Jewish celebrations, Cantor Matt Axelrod has written Your Guide to the Jewish Holidays: From Shofar to Seder. Intended for the reader who has no prior knowledge about the Jewish holidays as well as the reader who knows the basics about the holidays but wants to understand the holidays on a deeper level, Axelrod’s book takes a humorous, light-hearted look at the 11 most important Jewish holidays. Instead of simply explaining that Jews are obligated to observe in a certain way because of a biblical text, Axelrod shows where each holiday, along with its rituals, came from in a historical context. He provides a humorous retelling of the biblical passages relating to the holiday, explorations of rituals associated with each holiday, and descriptions of traditional foods. Your Guide to the Jewish Holidays also features special sections labeled “In Depth” or “Perfect for Families” that expand upon elements of each holiday in ways that provide greater understanding of traditions or that invite the reader to get the rest of the family involved.