Beth Chai » The Greater Washington Jewish Humanist Congregation

Bar/Bat Mitzvah celebrations at Beth Chai are as unique as our individual members. General approaches used in past Bar/Bat Mitzvahs include original primary research, oral history, philosophical or ethical investigation, musical performance, dramatic reading, and creative composition (story or play), as well as traditional Torah study and interpretation. Some sample topics are:

• Basis in Torah for ethical treatment of animals
• Overview of Jewish websites
• A comparison of traditional and modern commentaries on a weekly Torah portion (Lechi Lach)
• Experience of discrimination against Jewish athletes
• A family’s Holocaust experience
• A comparison of the Ten Commandments to the US Constitution
• A family’s immigration from a Latin American country
• Violin performance demonstrating the link between klezmer music and medieval cantorial modes

Please click here to peruse some sample ceremonies and presentations.

Sample Beth Chai Bat Mitzvah Ceremony:

• Karen Robin Adler, November 2003
• Amy Elizabeth Herman, September 2000

Sample Beth Chai Mitzvah presentation:

• Children of Interfaith Families, Matt Campbell