+ Set Your Date! Bar/Bat Mitzvah

Dear Tamid Parents,

We hold the Bar and Bat Mitzvah experience in the highest regard. Darren and Darcie believe this is one of the most important aspects of their rabbinic work and we believe it is reflected in the attention we all give to this process. And done well, it can be a beautiful experience for your child and your family.

We have established a new process for selecting the date of your child’s bar/bat mitzvah ceremony. This is to accommodate approximately 30 students that need to reserve dates for their ceremony in 2017-18 and for our congregation to establish a fair and equal process for all of our families.

In many established congregations, a family will “get a date” from their Temple. Our philosophy is to be more flexible and more individual in our process and work with you to find the right date.

Important points:

1. The B’nai MItzvah training program is two years long. Students born in 2004 will enter the Year One program next Fall (Sept 2015). Classes will meet once per week at Tamid.

2. On April 14th, 5PM, parents of children born in 2004 (turing 11 years old in 2015) will meet with the rabbis to discuss date planning and what to expect during the next 2-3 years. Every question will be answered at that meeting. This meeting is for parents and students and will be held at Tamid.

3. At the April 14th meeting, you will be given all the possible dates to celebrate your child’s ceremony along with suggestions about how to best select your date. By April 21st, each family will be asked to submit three dates in order of preference and the office will do their best to accommodate one of the three dates.

4. In future years, we will have this meeting in November of the year in which your child turns 10. This gives preference to children who have been involved at Tamid from an earlier age, which we encourage.

5. If your child was born in 2004 and you already have a date for their ceremony on the Tamid calendar, the date stands. You will be able to modify or change this date after May 1, 2015.

6. At the April 14th meeting, we will discuss all the options – venues, days of the week, times – that you can choose to have your ceremony. We will also be sharing information re: Bar/Bat Mitzvah in Israel with Darren in August 2017

If there is anything we can do to support your family during this process, please let us know.

Thank you,

Rabbi Darren Levine

Rabbi Darcie Crystal

Christina Broussard, RJE