How to manage the process with grace, joy
and good sense.
A practical guide that gives parents and
teens the "how-to" information they need to navigate
the bar/bat mitzvah process and grow as a family through this
experience. For the first time in one book, everyone directly
involved offers practical insights into how the process can be
made easier and more enjoyable for all. Rabbis, cantors and
Jewish educators from the Reform, Conservative and
Reconstructionist movements, parents, and even teens speak from
their own experience.
• What’s it all about?
• Preparation for Parent and Child
• Tutoring, stress, expectations,
enjoyment, planning for children with special needs.
• Negotiating the ceremony and
celebration
• Designing a creative service,
heightening the spiritual exercise, special issues related to
divorced and interfaith families, planning a party that neither
breaks the bank nor detracts from the inherent spirituality of
the event.
"Out of her vast experience as Cantor
and educator, Leneman has written an important guide that
strengthens and solidifies the family through the wisdom and
warmth of Judaism."
—Rabbi
Harold Schulweis, Valley Beth
Shalom, Encino, California
“Inspires, challenges, comforts and
guides parents as the mutli-faceted bar/bat mitzvah process
enters their lives.”
—Dr.
Jeffrey Schein, National
Education Director, Jewish Reconstructionist Federation
Cantor Helen Leneman’s specialty is bar/bat mitzvah education. She has
worked as a cantor and a b’nai mitzvah teacher in Los
Angeles, Baltimore, and the greater Washington, DC, area. For
several years she chaired the B’nai Mitzvah Educators
Network of CAJE. The Network has over 300 members in the U.S.
and abroad. She has a B.A. from UCLA and an M.A. in Judaic
studies from Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of
Religion, and studied cantorial liturgy with cantors Allan
Michelson (z”l) and William Sharlin. She is the author of
Bar/Bat Mitzvah Education: A
Sourcebook. She is an associate
member of the American Conference of Cantors, and a member of
the Society of Biblical Literature. Cantor Leneman directs an
outreach program for unaffiliated families who wish to
celebrate their children’s becoming bar or bat mitzvah.
She lives with her family in Rockville, Maryland.
