Objectives: Identify the areas of miscommunication, tension, and conflict in parent/child relationships in general and around the b-mitzvah preparation process. Reflect on how parents and teens communicate with one another. Use Jewish wisdom to help them think about issues of communication.
Objectives: Explore Jewish and cultural ideas about friendship; Clarify their beliefs about friendship; Identify the different kinds of friends they have their lives; Feel grateful for positive friendships in their lives
Objectives: By the end of this session, participants will be able to: Recognize that moving from childhood to adolescence involves physical, emotional, spiritual, and intellectual growth. Identify that becoming a teenager and a b-mitzvah involves balancing between personal growth and receiving and giving support to others.
This session focuses on how “Simcha,” one of the core values of celebration in the Jewish community, might be in conflict with the average preteen’s b-mitzvah experience. The preteens are helped to identify and embrace the variety of feelings that they might associate with elements of their b-mitzvah—particularly during the pandemic.
2-3 months before. Decide with your team which sessions you are using with which grades and insert dates and times into your school calendar; Send note to parents with dates and times of family sessions; Assess staff and decide who you want to facilitate; Tell your Moving Traditions Field Team Member the dates of your…
Objectives: By the end of the session, participants will be able to: Identify the way gender norms are expressed and enforced in participants’ communities; Articulate the ways these gender norms can be limiting; Have a deeper understanding of their parent or child’s experience as a teen/preteen; Feel supported by a community that values authenticity as…
A session for b-mitzvah students about the challenges of dressing up, performing, and being true to yourself. In this session, we ask the questions: What does it mean to be the center of attention? Why do some people like it and dislike it? Why do some people treat boys and girls differently in terms of…
This session is connected to the idea of the b-mitzvah photo montage. It has each student looking back at childhood to ask: What were some of the events and memories that shaped childhood? What choices did they make? What were moments of deep learning? The session reflects on the transition inherent in the life cycle of b-mitzvah and exploring…
Updated 2024. Objectives: Families will explore different ways of doing a “mitzvah project” and the differences between Chesed, Tzedakah and Tzedek. Preteens will think more about their own project in relation to their b-mitzvah. Parents will consider what aspects of Tikkun Olam, repairing the world, are most meaningful to them.
Objectives: Participants will understand the experience of becoming a b-mitzvah as becoming a teenager and becoming the parent of a teenager; Participants will be able to articulate their family’s and community’s values around the b-mitzvah experience; Parents and preteens will explore what they are excited about and nervous about in relation to the preteen’s b-mitzvah
