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Becoming a Bar or Bat Mitzvah is an important milestone in the life of a Jewish teen. It marks the point at which a child begins to take on a level of adult responsibility for his or her own religious life. While our Youth Education programs at Temple Isaiah aim to foster a lifelong love and practice of Judaism, our programs from PreK–12 Grade, our 4th–6th Grade years particularly work to prepare our students for their special day.
Our clergy and staff work together to make things as easy as possible for our families, so they can enjoy this meaningful event:
Because B’nai Mitzvah is such an important milestone, the process toward being recognized as a B’nai Mitzvah on the Temple Isaiah bimah is a process that stretches over several years:
Families looking toward B’nai Mitzvah should join Temple Isaiah before the 3rd Grade year begins. Of course Temple Isaiah will accept students later in the process that come from another congregation or have moved to the area.
In the winter of the 4th Grade year, families will be asked to fill out a date request form and receive their dates, learn who your partner is,* and to hear more details about the process at the end of the 4th grade Shabbaton in Late February or early March.
Sit back and relax, you have two more years! Just make sure to attend Religious School regularly and come to the 5th grade Shabbaton held for the 2021-22 school year on May 14, 2022.
(For some students, the items closest to the day of their B’nai Mitzvah of may occur in 8th Grade)
* Due to the large number of students at Temple Isaiah, most students are partnered with another on the day they become a B’nai Mitzvah. This partnering in no way reduces the honors reserved for families or the attention from the Temple Isaiah staff. Those initially assigned a single, may be partnered with someone later should additional students join the class. Singles are only guaranteed for students with special educational needs.
B’nai Mitzvah can be memorialized with a plaque on our Tree of Life. For more information about celebrating a B’nai Mitzvah, or commemorating your own on Temple Isaiah’s tree, you can download the form here.
Bat Mitzvah photo courtesy of Kristin Goldscher at Anna Elliott Photography. Bar Mitzvah photo on the homepage courtesy of Evan Dahne at Maryland Photo Video.