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Meaningful bar mitzvas -iCwrnrnrwrrnrnrT*^^''^ 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 ■r~ ‘ > — Personalized Hospitality Baskets Phone 257-GIFT . Unique Packaging * Delicious Edibles Anita Rottner and Carla Silver 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.” Honor the Occasion ...with a gift to last a lifetime Image size 11x15 $ 90 tfiii original muCti-coCor iz XL T ififi original tfiat commzmoratzi tfiii miCzitonz. Bar Mitzvah (as shown) Bat Mitzvah (see page 13) njou can cfiooiz from onz of tfiz Cargzit izfzctiom of art Crg notzcf ffJ.zivLi.fi artiiti. MERNA STEIN 252-1060 PAGE 15 THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE July 18, 1986