TORONTO'S SECULAR JEWISH COMMUNITY SCHOOL

SECULAR B'NAI MITZVAH PROGRAM

585 Cranbrooke Avenue, Toronto, ON M6A 2X9

TORONTO'S SECULAR JEWISH COMMUNITY SCHOOL

Secular B'nai Mitzvah Program

• Do you want your child to have a Bar or Bat Mitzvah ceremony, but your family is not religious or is unaffiliated?

• Are you looking for a non-traditional approach that will allow your child to have a uniquely personal and meaningful rite of passage?

• Do you need a program that welcomes multi-cultural families, single-parent families, same-sex parented families, and self-identified Jews?

• Are you looking for a way for your child to have a Bar/Bat Mitzvah without having a congregational affiliation or knowledge of Hebrew?

Toronto's Secular Jewish Community School's secular B'nai Mitzvah Program may just be the right place for you and your child.

Our diverse community welcomes families who define their Jewish identity as cultural, ethnic or historical, rather than religious. Our alternative, secular life-cycle event provides a rare opportunity for Grade 6 and 7 students, parents and educators to collectively shape their B’nai Mitzvah (the Hebrew term for the combination of Bar Mitzvahs and Bat Mitzvahs) ceremony, custom-tailoring it to highlight the specific interests and talents of the students.

Students celebrate their B’nai Mitzvah after completing a two-year long educational program. Students research a Jewish-themed topic of their choosing, and present their papers as part of a group ceremony. Past topics include: Marc Chagall; The Pale of Settlement; The Jewish Road to Hollywood; Art in the Holocaust; and The Origins of Bar/Bat Mitzvahs. The ceremony is woven together with Hebrew, Yiddish and English songs, dramatic vignettes and a candlelighting dedication. To add an extra level of depth, students also participate in the Holocaust Centre of Toronto’s B’nai Mitzvah of Remembrance Twinning Project.

Students require no previous knowledge of Hebrew, and participation in the ceremony does not require a congregational affiliation.

The goal of our Secular B’nai Mitzvah Program is to inspire in its participants a love of Jewish culture, history, wisdom, and ethics and imbue a strong sense of Jewish identity. Traditionally, B’nai Mitzvah-aged children were considered responsible for the observance of all religious laws/mitzvot (commandments), and the Bar Mitzvah was considered to be a rite of passage into adulthood.

In our modern society, this age is no longer considered the beginning of adulthood, but rather the advent of adolescence -- a period of searching for one's identity and direction in life. The word mitzvah is interpreted within the secular world as "good deeds", from its currently more common Yiddish usage.

The Secular B'nai Mitzvah Program and the resulting ceremony require two full years of preparation and a substantial commitment of time and effort on the part of the students, parents, and the School. The culminating event is the result of years of teamwork which builds lasting connections between the students, their families, and the School. The students are required to complete a number of projects during the course of their two years. Key among these are their B'nai Mitzvah presentation and their Twinning presentation. Each student will produce a significant piece of independent research on a topic of their choosing on a subject relevant to secular humanist Judaism. They also will participate in the Holocaust Centre's Twinning Project in which each student is twinned with an individual who died during the Holocaust before having their Bar Mitzvah or Bat Mitzvah. The students will produce a short biography of the twin as a part of their preparation for the ceremony. Outside of preparations for the event, the students will participate in Tikkun Olam ("Repairing the World" = environmentalism and social action) and tzedakah (charity) projects to raise their social consciousness as well as taking part in classroom discussions, at the Winchevsky Centre, of topics relevant to their coming of age as Secular Jews.

The curriculum taught in our two years of classes is designed to provide students with the resources to answer four key questions:

• What does it mean to be Jewish?
• What makes me personally define myself as Jewish?
• How can I make the world a better place?
• What does it mean to me to become a Bar Mitzvah/Bat Mitzvah?

Our students are provided with the basic knowledge needed to discuss key issues and develop their own opinions. Themes covered include:

• Jewish History: from its mythical roots to the modern day
• Tikkun Olam: (literally “repairing the world”) humanity’s responsibility to make the world a better place
  
• Jewish Values and Ethics
  
• Multiple Ways of Being Jewish: the various streams of religious Judaism compared to Secular Judaism; Jews around the world
  
• The B’nai Mitzvah: its traditions and the Secular approach

Toronto's Secular Jewish Community School and its Secular B'nai Mitzvah program are affiliated with The Centre for Enhancement of Jewish Education of the UJA Federation of Greater Toronto.
Morris Winchevsky Schools: Registered Charitable Number: 13215 2851 RR0001
© 2008. Morris Winchevsky Schools. All Rights Reserved. Last Updated: 7 August 2008.
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