Shalom All,
This month we will be celebrating two milestone events in the lives of our congregants. First the Confirmation of Jacob, Harrison, Joseph, and Hannah and then, two weeks later, the Bar Mitzvah of Rory. All of them have spent a number of years in our Religious School studying and learning with our community. All of them have also spent the last year, studying with me, over Zoom (unfortunately), to be ready to stand before you and declare their Jewishness.
For Rory, the Bar Mitzvah ceremony is an old ritual, filled with Tradition, that is meant to announce his “Jewish Adulthood.” On that day he will lead our congregation in prayer, he will read from our sacred Torah, and he will speak about what he has learned. Becoming a Bar Mitzvah tells us that he is committed to the mitzvot and ready to take on the Jewish responsibilities that God has given to our people.
Confirmation, on the other hand, is a relatively new ritual in the history of our people, but no less meaningful. It is a ceremony for older students, who are graduating from their formal religious education. It happens during our Shavuot celebration commemorating the giving of the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai.
According to Tradition, this was the moment that our ancestors changed from a group of emancipated slaves into a nation of God. For when our people accepted the “yoke of the Commandments,” they became the chosen ones, a living example of a holy life lived according to God’s laws.
One particular point that the rabbis make about this moment is the element of choice. Our ancestors were already freed. Sure they were in the wilderness, and may not have fully understood all of the implications of their freedom, but they were still free. And so, it was as free people that they chose to connect themselves to the Eternal, to accept God’s Commandments, and walk in God’s ways.
In many ways, this is the choice we are asking our students to make at this moment, to fully and freely accept Judaism in the same way our ancestors did.
Shavuot/Confirmation services are Sunday night, May 16th, at 7:30 pm. Rory’s Bar Mitzvah is May 29th at 10:00 am. Though both of these ceremonies will happen over Zoom, I hope you will still be able to join us.
Chag Sameach everyone, and Mazel Tov to Hannah, Harrison, Jacob, Joseph, and Rory.
Shalom,
Rabbi Todd