Develop a committee to redirect the focus of Bar and Bat Mitzvah celebrations
NEED:
In many communities, Bar and Bat Mitzvah celebrations lose their spiritual character and become moments of materialistic ostentation and adolescent revelry, despite the best intentions of parents.
PROCESS:
Develop a joint committee consisting of parents, educators, pre and post Bar/Bat Mitzvah children and community Rabbis, to explore ways of enhancing or restoring the spiritual and ethical meaning of this vital religious moment.
POSSIBILITIES:
- Explore the possibility of creating communal limits on expenditures for such events. Consider a community relationship to Mazon, or to the Grinspoon Foundation's "Young Philanthropists" project, as ways of enhancing the ethical message of the occasion.
www.shamash.org/soc-action/mazon/
12401 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 303
Los Angeles, CA 90025-1015
Phone: (310) 442-0020
Fax: (310) 442-0030
mazonmail@aol.com
Tracie Bernstein, National Coordinator of Bnai Tzedek
(413) 781-0712
380 Union St
West Springfield MA 01089
tracie_bernstein@aspensquare.com
- Have open discussion about the character of musical and other entertainment that is appropriate for Bat/Bar Mitzvah celebrations. This is a perfect context for discussions of the broad notion of Tzniut as a communal value.
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