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Bar/Bat/BMitzvah
Judaism recognises that adolescence is an important time of transition from a child to a teenager. That change is marked through the BMitzvah. (Recognising that Hebrew is gendered, and that is hard to find a term that includes everyone, we use this inclusive term to allow our members to choose whether they would like to call their celebration a bar mitzvah (male), bat mitzvah (female) or a less-gendered term for those who do not choose to identify as either). At Temple Israel we believe that every child is unique and so each of our BMitzvah celebrations has its own personal feeling. We have a process of preparation that allows each child to get themselves ready for their BMitzvah day. This involves learning Hebrew and basic Jewish knowledge such as the festival cycle and Shabbat, some Jewish history and thought, and how Progressive Judaism differs from other streams of Judaism.
This is facilitated through the Beit Batya Hebrew School. Once the child is ready, they enter the BMitzvah programme, an 18 month course that ensures they have the practical skills necessary for leading the service, chanting from the Torah and Haftarah and giving a d’var Torah, a short teaching based on their Torah portion. To do this they are assigned a tutor and one of our rabbinic team who will guide them through to the BMitzvah process.
Each BMitzvah student will work on their own personalised Mitzvah Project, something that they will do to make the world a better place. This could be volunteering time, raising money or collecting goods for a cause in line with their own interests.
In keeping with our egalitarian principle that all are counted equally in our synagogue, students celebrate their BMitzvah at the age of 13 or older, irrespective of gender, and likewise all read from the Torah and Haftarah.
To find out more about how to enrol your child in the Beit Batya Hebrew School, please email
