Guest Rambler, Rabbi Chaim Helman, JFX Bar Mitzvah Coordinator

It's so exciting to be teaching JFX's very first Bar Mitzvah group.

Ari, Alex, Andrew, Max and Ryan - you guys make it great! We start every day with different parts of the prayer service. We are learning some of the basic prayers: Adon Olam, Modeh Ani and Aleinu, while gaining Hebrew recognition and fluency. Each week another boy is chosen to lead part of the serviceand all the others learn when to respond "Amen." We are also learning the weekly Torah portion and we discuss how each week's parsha is relevant to this exciting milestone in each boy's life: becoming a Bar Mitzvah. We are learning that a Bar Mitzvah is not something that you do or have, but rather become, and are learning from our role models in each parsha how to become the kind of Jew that is responsibleaccountable for their actions! In upcoming weeks, we will be talking about free will and personal choices and how becoming a Bar Mitzvah is just the beginning. We have also begun one-on-one Torah study with some of our Bar Mitzvah boys, and this has really taken off nicely. I'm excited to offer this opportunity to the rest of the group in the coming weeks!
Shabbat Shalom from Baltimore where my family is visiting for... a Bar Mitzvah!