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Meaningful bar mitzvas
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by Ben Gallob
JTA
A Reform rabbi who, as a bar
mitzva candidate, years later felt
resentment over what was for him
a painful and meaningless expe
rience, decided that, when he began
his congregational practice, “no
youngsters should merely endure
bar/bat mitzva” and that the cere
mony should be organized to be “a
stirring adventure and enjoyed to
the fullest measure.”
Rabbi Steven Mason of Williams
port, Pa., rabbinic adviser to Jew
ish Student Unions at several insti
tutions in the Greater Hartford
area, reported, in a recent issue of
the “Journal of Reform Judaism,”
on his painful recall that some 20
years before, his voice could barely
master the required chanting and
that the portion of the week “was
meaningless and irrelevant to my
‘sitz-in-leben’ as a youth.”
Out of that experience came his
conviction that “every youngster
should be able to choose the Torah
portion” for the ceremony “that
has the most meaning in respect to
his or her individual personality.”
He admitted that, at the begin
ning, he did not know “how to
implement this concept with b’nai
mitzva in my congregation.” He
found that most of the prospective
candidates “lacked a basic knowl
edge of the Bible, let alone the
insight in selecting a particular
text. It became clear that the pro
cess would be successful only
through my guidance as a rabbi.”
Casting about for an approach,
he reported he decided to take “my
cue from Carl Jung and his disci
ples, who wrote extensively about
the concept of the collective un
conscious and the images that it
produces.”
Jung called these images “arche
types,” many of which center a-
round folklore and its heroes.
Mason noted that a “number of the
Jewish values that we attempt to
transmit to our youth seem to
reside in the common past expe
riences and history of our people.
In turn, values of the collective
past become depicted in the per
sonalities of our heroes.”
He cited, as examples, “the faith
and courage of Abraham, the
strength of Samson, the military
skill of Joshua, the wisdom of
Solomon and the commitment of
Moses.”
The problem Mason found in
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seeking to apply this approach was
that the values as portrayed “by
these heroes are only potentiali
ties” which must be “self-actualized
within the individual and projected
into the future” of the young can
didate.
If this could be achieved, he felt
that “the individual selection of
bar/ bat mitzva Torah portions cen
tering around a particular Jewish
hero and espoused value of that
hero can become a symbol that
synthesizes the collective past, the
young person’s living present and
his or her hopes of self-actualizing
as a loyal Jew and mature adult in
the future.”
With such a framework, Mason
declared, a rabbi can move the
proposal from theory to reality by
devising a series of questions lead
ing the bar or bat mitzva candi
date to join in the selection of a
sidra for the ceremony.
Essentially, he reported, five
questions are asked: What is your
favorite school subject? What are
your favorite hobbies? What would
you like to be when you grow up?
What do you think you will be
doing five years from now? What is
your favorite Bible story or biblical
character whom you admire the
most?
Mason said these questions and
their answers help the tutoring
rabbi to select a “tailor-made” por
tion “that matches the aspirations”
of the candidate. “Subsequently, a
haftorah portion can be chosen to
supplement the Torah narrative.
Sometimes, the corresponding
haftorah to the selected sidra suffi
ces well enough.”
Mason then described some ex
amples of how the theory has
worked, with his goal of making
the ceremony exciting and mean
ingful. “A bat mitzva student who
mentioned to me that she wanted
to become a pediatrician selected
the Moses birth narrative. For her
haftorah, she was assigned Elisha’s
revival of the comatose child.”
A boy who has aspirations of
becoming an attorney was enthu
siastic about the Genesis account
of Abraham’s arguing with God
over the destruction of Sodom and
Gomorrah. His haftorah portion
reflected the confrontation of Ahab
by the Prophet Elijah.”
Mason declared this approach
was “well-suited” to small congre
gations but could also be used in
larger temples, “thus enriching the
relationship of rabbi and student
while countering the notion that
our large congregations are cold
and impersonal.”
He suggested that, “through this
encounter, each candidate’s person-
hood is affirmed by the individual
choice of sidra and, in turn, a
strong bond is forged by the rabbi
and young congregant during the
stormy period of adolescence.”
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Bar Mitzvah (as shown)
Bat Mitzvah (see page 13)
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MERNA STEIN 252-1060
PAGE 15 THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE July 18, 1986