My Bar / Bat Mitzva

by Bert Menco

workbook
1 Bar and Bat Mitzva workbook

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 Colophon

This workbook is the result of many years of teaching Bar and Bat Mitzva
students. It is intended as a basic text, from which certain subjects can
be elaborated on in more detail. With thanks to all my students for their
insights and feedback during the lessons. Good luck to everyone who
will use this book in the future.

Author – Marcella K. Levie

Design – Marion Verhaar
Illustration front cover – Bert Menco
Chazzanut – Jessica Hennis

Copyright: All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or

reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission
of the author. © MKL 2020

Contact: Marcella Levie, mklevie@gmail.com,

0618297194, www.marcellalevie.nl

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 Contents
Preparation for your Bar/Bat Mitzva ............................................................................................. 4
Which books do you need? ............................................................................................................. 5
What you need to know for your BM ............................................................................................ 5
When is your Jewish birthday? ...................................................................................................... 5
BM Mission statement .................................................................................................................... 6
BM is a “Rite of Passage” ................................................................................................................. 7
My Jewish identity ............................................................................................................................ 9
BM, how does it work? ..................................................................................................................10
Reading Tora ...........................................................................................................................10
Aliya ..........................................................................................................................................11
Siddur.......................................................................................................................................11
Lehning............................................................................................................................................11
Reading Haftara .............................................................................................................................12
Tikkun Olam....................................................................................................................................13
Our Jewish books and sources .....................................................................................................14
Tenach .....................................................................................................................................14
Tora ..........................................................................................................................................15
Talmud .....................................................................................................................................16
Halacha ....................................................................................................................................16
Midrash ....................................................................................................................................16
Minhag .....................................................................................................................................16
What is the difference? Mitzva, Halacha or Minhag? .................................................................17
Tsedaka ...........................................................................................................................................18
Doing mitzvas .................................................................................................................................19
The reward for doing a mitzva is to do another mitzva ............................................................20
Who or what is God? .....................................................................................................................21
Beracha is a blessing .....................................................................................................................22
Shabbat shalom .............................................................................................................................23
Shabbat morning service ..............................................................................................................24
Prayers and songs ..................................................................................................................24
Shema Jisrael ..................................................................................................................................25
A Shema Holocaust story ......................................................................................................26
Answer the questions ............................................................................................................27
The Amida .......................................................................................................................................28
Siddur assignments .......................................................................................................................29
Derasha tips....................................................................................................................................30
BM dictionary .................................................................................................................................31
Hebrew letters are numbers ........................................................................................................32

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 Mazzel tov!
You have chosen to do your Bar/Bat Mitzva
at Beit Ha’Chidush.
Beit Ha’Chidush is the name of our community.
It means “House of Renewal”.
This booklet is meant to help you learn
everything you need to know.
step 1
How and when are you going
to practice
You will have homework every lesson. Make
sure you have enough time to study and
practice. For your Tora portion it is best to
study every day for at least 10 -15 minutes.
In the months preceding your BM, you may
not be able to do as many out of school
activities as usual (sports, hobbies) or see
your friends as much.
step 2
Coming to shul
You will learn about the order of the Shabbat
service and the meaning of certain prayers
and blessings in the Siddur (prayer book).
Come to shul as much as you can, so you know
what to do when it is your turn. Look on the
website or in our Newsletter (Chidushim) for
dates and times. www.beithachidush.nl
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Preparation for
your Bar/Bat Mitzva
(from now on called BM)
The word Mitzva can be translated as
commandment or good deed.
You will be the son or daughter of the Mitzva
soon and there are a few things you and your
parents need to think about while you prepare.
Good luck with everything! ‫בהצלחה רבה‬
Marcella
step 3
Derasha or Dvar Tora
Your speech or Derasha can be about many
different subjects. Every Tora portion has many
themes that help to connect that ancient text to
something that moves you or is important to you.
There are many Tora commentaries all over the
internet. Every year when we read the same old
stories in the Tora, we learn something new. You
will write a new and personal commentary for
your BM. While studying, think about what you
would like to talk about.
step 4
Your Mitzva project
We ask you to choose a Mitzva project, because it
is important for a son or daughter of the Mitzva,
to do a real Mitzva. You will dedicate your BM to
something or someone outside yourself. In this
way you will help people who are less fortunate
than you. You can choose to support War Child
or Greenpeace for example. We will discuss your
ideas during our lessons. Look for something
that you get enthusiastic about. Make sure you
do the project before your BM date.
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 Which books do you need?
w “Time to read Hebrew”, part 1 & 2 (if you do not read Hebrew)

w Tenach or Chumash

w Siddur BHC (pdf available)

w “When a Jew celebrates”, by Harry Gersh

w Shiron Ledor wador (order through website BHC or Marcella)

w A beautiful notebook

What you need to When is your

know for your BM Jewish birthday?
Minimum package
Go to the internet, to www.hebcal.com and
w Reading Hebrew look for Hebrew date converter.
w Berachot: Blessings candles, wine, bread,
tallit, Tora, Shehechianu 1. At Gregorian date type in your date of birth.
w Kiddush: Blessings + Veshamru Click on “after sunset” if you are born after
w Prayers: Modeh Ani, Ma tovu, Shema, sunset. (a new Jewish day starts at sunset)
Amida, Oseh Shalom. Click on Compute Hebrew date. This is the date
w Parasha: Minimal of 10 psukim (lines) of your Jewish birthday.
w Derasha: Speech
w Mitzva project 2. Change the year to the year of your BM and
click on Compute Gregorian date. Now you have
calculated your Jewish birthday in the year of
What else you can do your BM. The Shabbat closest to that day could
w Haftara be a good day to celebrate, but you may also
w Other prayers or songs choose another date. In fact, you can do your
w P
lay a musical instrument, alone BM anytime, even when you are 80 years old.
or with others
w C
reative ideas are very welcome

When is your Jewish birthday?

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 BM mission statement
I want my BM to reflect my personal interests
and talents. I expect to work hard and have
great accomplishments during this process and
to experience my family’s pride in me for what
I will have experienced and learned and how
we go about sharing this with those who attend
my BM ceremony.

Write at least half a page on WHY you want to do your BM.

(if you need more room, write in your notebook)

To help me and my family create the best and most memorable BM, I will consider doing something
special for my ceremony, to make it uniquely mine. I will show what I am capable of, in a way of study,
reading, song, music, dance, or any other creative way to make it a special event.

I am curious to learn more about:

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 Bar Mitzva is a “Rite of passage”
For explanation of difficult words, look on page 31
“Rite de passage” is a French expression that can
be translated as “ritual of passage” or “transition
ritual”. You pass from one stage to the next stage
in your life. We know that there are many such
rituals in different cultures. Think for example
of Africa.
Perhaps you have heard of a famous book and
film, called “Roots” by Alex Hailey. It is a story
about a black family and their history. One
of their ancestors was called Kunta Kinte. He
came to America as a slave from East-Africa.
When Kunta was 12 years old, he was taken
into the jungle together with a group of boys
his age. A special teacher taught him everything
a man needs to know to survive in his tribe.
For example, how to make a fire when you are
far away from home or how to gather food in
the jungle. After he had learned everything he
needed to know, there was a big ceremony in his
honor. That was his “Rite of passage” and the end
of his training.
So “Rite of passage” means that you go from one
situation to the next, in this case from being a boy
s t ep
e n e xt
Th
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to a man. To be a man, Kunta had to learn how
to hunt and kill a lion. When he returned to his
tribe, he was not the same Kunta. He no longer
lived in the same hut with his parents. He built his
own hut. He did not even want to hug his mother
anymore, because now he was a man and no
longer a child.
You are now approaching puberty and will
probably go to Middle or Highschool soon. This
marks a new phase in your life. You do not have
to kill a lion, but you are no longer a child and
need to learn to take responsibility. In Judaism
you do this by showing your family, friends and
wider community something about yourself.
By reading from the Torah, giving a speech and
leading prayers, you will show a bit more about
who you are and what you stand for. This is the
Jewish “Rite of passage”.
Why are these rituals done when kids are
12 or 13 years old?
Because puberty is an important and sometimes
quite difficult period in life. You know something
is about to change and that you are about to
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 enter a new phase in life. You know what it is like
to be a child, but you have no idea what it is like
to be an adult. That is why there are rituals to
help you (and your family) pass into adulthood.
In the Middle Ages people lived a lot shorter than
we do now and children became adults much
earlier too. They often married at the age of 14
or 15 years. That meant you had to earn a living
and have children already. Nowadays you are not
really an adult at that age, but you are old enough
to take on certain responsibilities.
The origins of Bar Mitzva
We do not know a whole lot about the origin of
BM. There is nothing mentioned about it in Tenach.
The first time something is mentioned in one of
our old books, is in the Mishna, part of the Talmud,
an ancient book with laws, stories and discussions.
The Mishna mentions that a boy of 13 and a girl
of 12 can be held responsible to take on the
mitzvot. That means that they should be able to
take care of themselves and help others, just like
their parents.
The Mishna also says that after your BM you
should fast on Yom Kippur and that a boy counts
as a man when a quorum of 10 men (a minyan) is
needed for prayer. A boy can also lead a service.
In our shul boys and girls are equal, but this was
not the case in the old days.
We do not know if there were special ceremonies
in the time of the Mishna. The first time this
is described is in the Middle Ages in Germany
and Poland, two countries with a large Jewish
population in those days. The ceremony was only
for boys and much smaller than it is now. It could
even be held at home.
Reform or Liberal Judaism
In the 19th century, Reform Judaism was founded
in Germany. Reform means that there was a
need for change and more freedom. It was no
longer necessary to keep to all the mitzvot as
described in the Tora and rabbinical literature.
That was a huge and important change, because
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now, for the first time in history Jews could be
Jewish and live a modern life. For example, you
could use electricity on Shabbat, you could cook
and travel on Shabbat and you did not have to
live close to the shul or kosher shops any longer.
Beautiful music was composed for the prayers,
which made it easier and more fun to pray and
sing along. Women could sit next to men in shul.
Women could be rabbis. Lots of changes were
made. Thanks to those early Reform rabbis, this is
now very normal for us.
The Reform movement spread throughout
Europe and the rest of the world. For example, to
the United States and Canada where many Jews
had escaped to from Eastern Europe in the 19th
and 20th century. Also, in the Netherlands, the
Reform community is a large and active Kehila.
In our Kehila, Beit Ha’Chidush, the House of
Renewal, we adopted a lot of the Reform ideas. In
our community men and women are equal and
people with Jewish fathers can be members. In
most communities only a Jewish mother counts.
And how about girls?
Since the Middle Ages, Orthodox Jews, who live a
strict religious life, did not have a Bat Mitzva for
girls. And that is still the case in most orthodox
communities nowadays. This all changed when
Judaism started to become part of the modern
world. The first girl that ever did a Bat Mitzva, was
Judith Kaplan Eisenstein. It was in 1922 in the U.S.
Judith was the daughter of Mordechai Kaplan,
a well-known and important rabbi. She did not
read from the Tora scroll, but from a Chumash,
because girls where not yet allowed to read from
the Tora.
Later in the 20th century, girls started to read
from the Tora, just like the boys. Boys and girls
became equal within the community. Also,
the BM parties became much more elaborate.
Are you going to have a big party too?
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 My Jewish identity
This cake is your whole life. Divide the cake into parts that reflect the different aspects of
your life. Mention family, friends, hobbies, sports, music, etc.
How big is your Jewish part? You may leave empty space to fill out later.

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 Bar / Bat Mitzva,
how does it work
The Tora is divided in 54 portions, according to
the 54 weeks of the Jewish year.
The Jewish year is a moon-year. It is divided
into 12 months of 28 or 29 days. A moon-
year is 354 days. This means that the year is
shorter than our regular sun-year. To make
sure all the holidays are celebrated in the right
seasons, we have a leap month almost every
2 years. The leap month is called Adar 2 or
Adar Beit.
The names of the months are:
Nissan, Iyar, Sivan, Tammuz, Av, Ellul, Tishri,
Cheshvan, Kislev, Tevet, Shvat, Adar.
On which Jewish date is your BM?
Go to www.hebcal.com
Reading Tora
The names of the different
Parashot are based on the
first or first few words
of the portion. For
example: Bereshit
is the name of the
very first Parasha, because
the story starts with the word
Bereshit (in the beginning), the very first word
of the Tora. The first Parasha is read every year
during the festival of Simcha Tora, which means
“joy of the Tora”. This is a very joyful and fun
festival in the month of October, after the last day
of Sukkot. On this day the last and the first portion
of the Tora are read. Each year when we finish
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Each Tora portion is called a Parasha or
Sidra. The same Parasha is read on a certain
Shabbat in all synagogues in the world. Most
synagogues do not read the whole portion,
but one-third of it. This is called the tri-annual
cycle. It means that it takes not 1 year but
3 years to finish reading the Tora.
In our synagogue we do not use this method.
Instead we ask you to choose a minimum
of 10 psukim or lines from the portion of
the week. This is the part you will study for
your BM.
You could summarize the Tora in one
sentence: “What you don’t want to happen to
you, don’t do to someone else. That is called
“The Golden Rule”. Can you give an example
of this rule?
reading the Tora, we start again at the beginning
right away. On Simcha Tora we dance with the
Tora, eat sweets and sing happy songs, because we
are happy that we have such a special book with
so much sweet wisdom in it. A book that helps us
to live a good life. That is why the Jewish people
are often called “The people of the Book”.
How old do you think the Tora is? Think about
Did you know that….?
it? The Hebrew alphabet is about 3500 years old.
The last
When letter ofwrite
did people the Tora is a Lamedscrolls?
on parchment and
the first
When were one
theafiBeit.
rst books printed? When was
Together they
paper invented? make the word “Lev”, ‫לב‬
which means “heart”.
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 Aliya
During the service of your BM you will be called up to read from the Tora for the first (and hopefully not
the last because it is a mitzva) time in your life. You are called up with your Jewish name if you have one.
This is a good reason to choose a Jewish name before it is your turn.

Your Jewish name :

When your name is called, you walk up slowly towards the Bima. Then….
1: Touch the text in the Tora with your tsitsit (kiss them if you like).
2: Hold the poles (etsim) of the Tora and say the Beracha before the Tora-reading.
3: Pick up the Yad and recite your portion.
4: Touch the text again with your tsitsit (kiss them again if you like).
5: Hold the poles, while you say the Beracha after the Tora-reading.
6: Stay on the Bima, while you get your blessing from the rabbi or service leader.

Siddur the same order of prayers.

The BHC Siddur is available as PDF.
To be able to follow the service you need a https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bF8FMeB9U3ZKz
Siddur, or prayerbook. Every Siddur has about NzE8BB800oWrBzqSzms/view

Lehning
We call reading from the Tora, lehning. It is not Every Ta’am has a name. Here you see the signs
singing and not reading out loud, but something and their names.
in between. In the Chumash, the text is marked
with vowels and Te’amim. Te’amim are musical
notes. You will learn how to recite these for your
BM. The Te’amim also mark where to put the
accent in the word. They were created by a group
of scholars, called the Masoretes in the 10th
century, to help people read and remember the
text better. Just like a song is easier to remember
than a poem. You will be lehning 10 -15 psukim
(lines). The Tora has no vowels, comma’s, full
stops or musical notes. That is why you need to
practice beforehand really well.

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 Reading Haftara
In many shuls not only Tora is read, but also Look for the Haftara that belongs to your
Haftara. This is a portion from the book of Parasha. Click on the name of your parasha
Prophets or Nevi’im. In our shul we usually do at https://www.hebcal.com/sedrot/ and scroll
not read this part, but if you would like to do down to Haftarah for Ashkenazim.
it, that would be fantastic. The prophets were
powerful people with supernatural talents. They
could see and hear things that normal people
could not, and they could communicate with
God. In this way they helped people to take
the right decisions in life. Reading the Haftara
probably started in a time of our history when it
was forbidden to read from the Tora.

What is a prophet? Do they still exist?

Did you know that…?

A robot can write Tora.
This experiment was done in Berlin, Germany.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dqe7YwkBUNk

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 Tikkun Olam Ideas for my
Mitzva project:
‫תיקון עולם‬
Tikkun Olam literally means repairing the
world. Whenever we do a mitzva, we do it to
make the world a better place. Doing a mitzva
is supposed to inspire you to do more mitzva’s.
That is why doing mitzva’s never stops. It feels
good to do something good for the world, for
others or for ourselves. We call that Social
Action. According to Jewish philosophy, it is our
task in life to repair as much as we can in this
broken world.

Rabbi Yitzchak Luria lived in Sefad, Israel,

during the 16th century. He was a very wise
and special person. He told the following story
about why the world we live in is broken and
why there is so much suffering everywhere.

Before there was anything, there was only light.

Lots and lots of light and NOTHING.
He believed that when God created the world,
God breathed in deep and did not breathe out.
That way he made room for the world to come
into existence out of NOTHING.
God said: “Let there be light” and the divine
light was poured into big vessels, like big clay
pots and sent into the world. These vessels
broke into millions of tiny pieces because the
divine light was so strong that they could not
hold it. Luria said that this is the reason the
world is broken. It is our task to find the broken
pieces of the vessels and the millions of sparks
of light that landed in the world and mend the
light. This is what he called Tikkun Olam. This
is what we do when we do mitzvot. He did not
mean this literally of course.

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 Our Jewish books and sources
Tenach ‫תנך‬
Tenach is an abbreviation of the Hebrew names
of the three parts of the Old Testament: Tora,
Nevi’im (prophets), Ketuvim (writings). There are
24 books in Tenach.
The Old Testament was originally written in
Hebrew, with a little Aramaic. If there is an Old
Testament, there must be a New Testament as
well. The New Testament was originally written
in Greek and is all about the life of Jesus. Jews do
not read the New Testament in synagogue.
In Tenach you can find something about all
aspects of life: history, philosophy, love stories,
family feuds, women’s rights, wars, laws, dreams
and more.
Some parts have stories or laws, other parts
give advice about many aspects of life, how to
deal with criminals, animals, slaves, strangers
or enemies. Tenach is like a whole big library of
books. You can always find something that you
are looking for.

Answer the following questions:

1. How many books does the Tora have?

2. What is the name of the book that holds your Parasha?

3. What does the name of the book and the Parasha mean?

4. What do we call the Tora, when it is not in a scroll but in a book?

5. The Tora is part of a bigger book, called:

How do most people in the world call it?

6. Tenach has 3 parts. Mention them?

7. What do the names of these parts mean?

8. What is Haftara?

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 Tora ‫תורה‬

Greek Hebrew
Genesis = beginning. Bereshit = beginning
First stories of the Hebrews.

Exodus = departure Shemot = names

Liberation from slavery in Egypt.
Receiving the Tora.

Leviticus = about the Levites Vayikra = and he called

Priestly laws and rituals for the sanctuary.

Numeri = counting the people Bemidbar = in the desert

Fourty years in the desert to the borders
of the promised land.

Deuteronomium = repetition Devarim = words

Moses repeats the laws for the new
generation that grew up in the desert.

What else do you A Yad is a pointer, usually made of silver.

Yad means hand in Hebrew. At the end of the

know about Tora? pointer there often is a hand with a finger

pointing to the text.

The Tora is made of parchment, skins from goats The oldest scrolls were found in 1947 in the caves
or sheep. The scroll is about 30 meters long. of Qumran, near the Dead Sea in Israel. That is
That means we need about 30 goats or sheep why they are called the “Dead sea scrolls”.
to make one.

The Tora is probably more than 3000 years old

and has been copied in every generation letter
by letter. Every letter is of great importance. It is
said that every letter in the Tora represents a
Jewish person in the world. Just like every person
is important, so is every letter.
That is why we must read carefully and slowly
without mistakes and use a Yad.
Did you know that….?
Thirteen letters in the Tora are decorated
with small crowns. The Midrash tells that
when Moses went up to mount Sinai to
receive the Torah, he saw God putting
the crowns on the letters.

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 Talmud ‫תלמוד‬
The Talmud is a collection of laws (Halacha),
and stories (Aggada). The Talmud is written
between the 2nd – 6th century, which means it
is about 1500 years old. It contains two parts:
Mishna and Gemara. There are two Talmuds,
one is called Yerushalmi, discussions of the
rabbis who studied in Yerusalem and the other
Bavli, discussions of the rabbis in Babylon. The
Talmud explains the laws from the Tora and
contains many explanations and discussions
written down by important rabbis in those
days. This is what orthodox Jews study all day
and every day.
Midrash ‫מדרש‬
Midrash is the part of Jewish wisdom literature
that explains Tora through stories. These
explanations started about 2500 years ago,
when the Jews returned from exile in Babylon.
Drash or Midrash means to research or explain.
This is what we do when we give a Derasha, or
speech about the part we read in the Tora. You
will do this for the first time on your Bar/Bat
Mitzva.
A famous midrash:
There once was a man who wanted to become
Jewish, but he did not have time to study all the
books, so he went to different rabbis and asked :
“Can you please teach me the Tora while I stand
on one leg?” Most rabbis said: “No way”, that is
impossible and sent him away. Then he came
to rabbi Hillel with the same question. The wise
rabbi Hillel said to him: “What you do not want
to happen to you, don’t do unto others. That is
the whole Tora, the rest is commentary. Now
go home and study.”
Talmud (Shabbat 31a)
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Halacha ‫הלכה‬
Halacha is another word for “Jewish law”.
Through time different rabbi’s and scholars
have written down the laws in books
and manuscripts. This is called Rabbinic
literature. An example is the Mishné Tora
by Maimonides and the Shulchan Aruch by
Joseph Karo. These laws are derived from the
613 mitsvot or commandments in the Tora.
In every generation, laws are adjusted for new
situations. For example, when it says in the
Tora that you are not allowed to make a fire on
Shabbat, does that mean that you cannot drive
or play computer games on Shabbat? How
about riding your bike? And what to think about
the rules of kosher? There are so many new
products all the time.
Minhag ‫מנהג‬
A Minhag is a custom. There are many customs
that are not Halacha. For example, we may eat
chicken soup every Friday night for Shabbat.
This is no law, but a custom that has been
passed from generation to generation. Or we
sing certain melodies in our shul that they
do not sing in other shuls. Doing BM is also
minhag. It is not a law.
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 What is the difference?
Mitzva, Halacha or Minhag?

1. Fasting on Yom Kippur

2. Eating challa on Shabbat

3. Lighting candles on Friday night

4. Giving presents on Chanuka

5. Believing in one God

6. Having a mezuza on your doorpost

7. Wearing a Magen David

8. Visiting a sick friend

9. Giving money to a charity

10. Honor your parents

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 Tsedaka
Tsedaka means righteousness, but is mostly From the highest level to the lowest level:
translated as charity, which means giving money 1. T
 o help a person now, so that he/she does not
or help to those who need help. need help in the future.
2. T
 he one who gives help and the one who
A famous Jewish philosopher, by the name of receives help do not know each other.
Maimonides or the Rambam, who lived in the 3. T
 he giver knows the receiver, but the receiver
12th century in Spain and Egypt, taught us that does not know the giver.
there are 8 levels of Tsedaka. 4. T
 he giver does not know the receiver, but
the receiver knows the giver.
5. T
 he giver gives generously without being
asked to give.
6. T
 he giver gives generously after being asked
to give.
7. T
 he giver gives a little, but with a warm feeling,
after being asked.
8. T
 he giver gives a little, against his will, because
he was asked.

Can you think of a charity you would like to donate to for your Bar/Bat Mitzva?
(more than one is fine too)

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 Doing Mitzvas
“One mitzva leads to another mitzva.” (Mishna/Avot 4:2)

Here are 12 mitzvot you can already do, with instructions of how to do them.

1. Ahavat Tsion = love for Israël

Give some of your BM money to the Jewish National Fund to plant a tree in Israël

2. Bal Tashchit = take care of the environment

Turn of the light if you leave a room.

3. Bikur Cholim = visit the sick

Visit a sick friend from school.

4. Hachnasat orchim = hospitality

Invite friends to your home.

5. Hidur pnei Zaken

Respect older people.

6. Kibud av ve’em
Respect your parents. Keep your word.

7. Lo leshon hara = speaking bad of people

Do not gossip.

8. Rodef shalom = pursue peace.

Help friends who are fighting, to make it right again.

9. Shomer shabbat = keeping shabbat

Light candles for shabbat and make it a special day.

10. Talmud Tora = Hebrew school

Read a book with Jewish stories.

11. Tefila = prayer

Say the Shema prayer before you go to sleep.

12. Tsa’ar ba’alei chaim

Take good care of animals. Be vegetarian.

Can you think of one more?

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 The reward for doing a mitzva is to
do another mitzva
The rabbis of the Talmud understood very well
that people tried to avoid following rules they
did not understand. That is the reason why, they
explain, that the Tora does not give reasons or
rewards for doing mitzvot.
If you get different amounts of money for doing
certain chores around the house, you can guess
why it is better to not know beforehand what
the reward is. If you are not in the mood, or in
a hurry, you will do the chores that make most
money and leave the other ones.
Do you do chores around the house? Which
ones? Do you get a reward?
Which other small or big mitzva’s do you
do already?
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The midrash tells the following story:
One day a king employed 3 gardeners to take
care of 3 different trees on his estate. Every
gardner chose his own tree. That night the king
called the gardeners to the palace. He asked
them to tell him which tree he had taken care of.
The gardener who took care of the peppertree
he gave one piece of gold, the gardener who took
care of the tree with the white flowers he gave
half a golden coin and the gardener who took
care of the olive tree he gave 200 golden coins.
“Why didn’t you tell us beforehand how much
we would get payed for which tree?, the men
asked. If I would have done that, said the king,
who would have taken care of the tree with the
white flowers?”
Rabbi Yehuda Hanassi always said: ”Be just as
careful in doing small mitzvot, as in doing big
mitzvot. You never know what your reward will be.”
And Ben Azzai said: ”The reward for doing a
mitzva is to do another mitzva. Because it is
nice to do a mitzva, you automatically feel like
doing another one. And another one... and
another one...
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 Who or what is God?
“Faith is not knowledge of what the mystery of The last name is a combination of 4 letters ‫יהוה‬,
the universe is, but the conviction that there is We do not pronounce this as a word and do not
a mystery and that it is greater than us”. say it out loud. According to the rabbis this is the
David Wolfe-Blank real name of God. It means “was – is - shall be”.
This is the same as The Eternal.
In Judaism there are many names for God. The reason you are not allowed to say the name
Here are a few: is because it would diminish God to a name,
w Adonai like a person. Because God is everything and
w Elohim everywhere and has no limits, God has many
w El names. When we are not praying we call God
w Hashem Hashem, which means “The Name”.
w De Eeuwige
w Joed-Heh-Wav-Heh

Do you think that God exists?

Draw or write your thoughts about God here:

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 Beracha is a blessing
A blessing or beracha is said before or after you do something. It helps
you to focus. You can also say a beracha if you want to bless someone.

Write down the 7 berachot you need to know for your BM (in Hebrew).

1. Candles:

2. Wine:

3. Bread:

4. Talit:

5. Shehechianu:

6. Before the Tora reading:

7. After the Tora reading:

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 Shabbat shalom
Most BM’s are celebrated on Shabbat, but this is not a law. It can be celebrated on any day of the week.
Shabbat makes it extra special because it is such a joyful and holy day. On Shabbat we wish each other
Shabbat Shalom (a Shabbat of peace).

Keeping Shabbat is the 4th of the 10 commandments. 3000 years ago, the writers of the Tora came up with
a revolutionary idea: to stop working for one day and enjoy what you have created and worked for during
the week. Nowadays we think that is normal.

In the Tora, the 10 commandments Kiddush

are mentioned in two places.
In one place (Devarim 5:12) it says: ‫שמור‬
Shamor - Keep (or guard) the Shabbat.
In the other place (Shemot 20:8) it says: ‫זכור‬
Zachor - Remember the Shabbat.
Give an example of ‫שמור‬.
What do you NOT do on Shabbat that
you do on weekdays?
On Friday evening and on Saturday after
service, we make Kiddush. Kiddush means
“sanctification”. We sanctify the Shabbat
with candles, wine and challah bread.
Candles symbolize the light of Shabbat,
wine is a symbol of joy and bread, sprinkled
with salt, is a sign of wealth. You will say the
berachot over the candles, wine and bread.
On Saturday morning you will sing Veshamru.

Give an example of ‫זכור‬.

What do you DO on Shabbat to make it a
special day?

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 Shabbatmorning service (shacharit)
(shachar means early morning)

The shabbat morning service consists

of 7 parts + Kiddush: 6. Musaf
Children’s blessing.
1. Birkot hashachar
Opening 7. Closing prayers

2. Psukei de zimra + Kiddush

Psalms

3. Shema & prayers

4. Amida
Main prayer

5. Kri’at hatora
Reading the Tora

Prayers and songs

Modeh/Modah Ani
Modeh/Modah ani lefanecha, ruach chai vekayam
She’hechezarta bi nishmati, bechemla raba
emunatecha
Ma Tovu
Ma tovu ohalecha Ya’acov, mishkenotecha Yisrael
Ma tovu ohalaich Leah, mishkenotaich Rachel
Veshamru
Veshamru venei Yisrael, et hashabbat
La’asot et hashabbat ledorotam brit olam.
Beni uven benei Yisrael, ot hi le’olam
Ki sheshet yamim, asa Adonai, et hashamayim
ve’et ha’aretz
Uvayom hashvi’I shavat veyinafash.

Hine ma tov
Hineh ma tov u-ma na’im shevet achim (achiot)
gam yachad.

Oseh Shalom
Oseh shalom bimromav, hu ya’aseh alenu
Ve’al kol Yisrael, ve’imru Amen.

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 Shema Jisrael Shema Jisrael
This is Judaism’s most important prayer. Adonai Elohenu,
Adonai Echad
Traditionally it is said 3 times a day. You will
say this prayer, together with the Kehila,
during your BM ceremony.
Baruch shem kevod malchuto le’olam va’ed

To practice you can start saying it every night

Ve’ahavta et Adonai elohecha bechol levavcha
before you go to sleep and create your own
uvechol nafshecha
prayer to thank Adonai for the day that has
uvechol me’odecha, vehayu hadevarim ha’ele
been and ask for love and health for you
asher anochi metzav’cha
family and friends.
hayom al levavecha. Veshinantam levanecha
vedibarta bam beshivtecha bevetecha
uvelechtecha vaderech uveshochbecha
uvekumecha ukeshartam le’ot al yadecha vehayu
letotafot been enecha. Uch’tavtam al mezuzot
betecha uvish’arecha.

Translation
Hear Israel, Adonai is our God, Adonai is ONE.

EVENING PRAYER
Blessed be the Name and the glory of its realm
Thank you Adonai, for the day that
has passed
forever.
I hope I made good use of it.
Thank you for all the fun I had today
and for all the good things that happened.
Bless my parents, brother(s), sister(s), Love Adonai, your God, with all your heart and
my family and friends and everyone I love.
I hope I have only good dreams
with all your soul, and with all your might. And
Please let me wake up in a good mood,
with a smile and ready for a new day. these words that I command you this day shall
be upon your heart. Teach them dilligently to
the generations to come. Speak of them when
you sit in your house and when you walk upon
the road, when you lie down and when you
arise. Bind them as a sign upon your hand and
they shall be a reminder between your eyes.
Write them on the doorposts of your houses
and upon your gates. Devarim 6: 5-9

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 A “Shema” Holocaust story
After the Shoa, Rabbi Eliezer Silver from
Cincinatti (USA) went to Europe to look for Jewish
survivors of the Shoa. He especially looked for
children who had been hiding in convents during
the war.
The story goes that he entered a certain convent
in Krakau, Poland of which he had heard that
there were many Jewish children and he asked
the priest if he could visit the children for a
few minutes before they went to sleep. While
he stood there in the big dormitory, he started
saying the words of the Shema Yisrael in a soft
and sensitive voice. The dorm was immediately
filled with crying and excited kids.
Rabbi Silver looked at the priest and both
understood what had been the meaning of this
visit. The children had said these words with
Did you know that…?
The Shema prayer is inside the Mezuza that is
on our doorpost, just like it says in the last line
of the prayer “…write them on the doorposts
of your houses”. It is written on a small
parchment scroll, just like the Tora.
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their mothers every night before they went to
sleep, before their mothers were killed by the
Nazi’s. The Shema Yisrael was locked in their
hearts forever. And these precious words were
the path that brought them back to their people.
When we say the Shema we close our eyes,
we turn our attention inside and connect to
ourselves and other Jews in the world. We are
reminded that in our world that is so spread
out and broken, there is one source of life that
created everything: “Adonai Echad”. It is our duty
to find that ONE-ness and mend the brokenness
by doing mitzvot. That is what we call Tikkun
Olam. Maybe the children in the convent had a
feeling of connection and one-ness that night
that Rabbi Silver came to visit them before they
went to sleep.
The parchment is called Klaf in Hebrew.
Many religious people touch the
Mezuza and kiss their hand every
time they pass by it.
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 Answer the questions:

1. Why do you think the Shema is the most important prayer in Judaism?

2. The Shema commands us to hear or listen.

What do you hear when it is really quiet and you concentrate on listening?

3. The Shema says that Adonai is ONE. What does that mean?

4. Why do we close our eyes when we say the Shema?

5. In our Siddur, the Shema is on page 118-120 in the Shabbat morning service. Before and after
the Shema are two prayers about love:
Ahava raba en Ve’ahavta. We call this the love sandwich.
Do you know a nice love poem to recite on your BM?

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 The Amida
The Amida is the main prayer of the service.
Amida means “standing prayer”. On Shabbat it
consists of 7 berachot. You will recite this short
version of the Amida on your BM.
1. Thank you, Adonai, that you helped our
ancestors and that you help us as well.
Thank you for giving us such good examples.
Baruch Ata Adonai, magen Avraham
ve-ezrat Sara.
2. Thank you, Adonai, for the rain, that makes
the food grow on the fields, so that we have
enough to eat. Thank you for healing the sick
and supporting the dying and for bringing
new babies into the world, so that we can
continue to live as a people.
Baruch Ata Adonai, mechayeh kol chai
3. We bless you because you are holy and you
mean a lot to us.
Baruch Ata Adonai, ha’El hakadosh
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4. Thank you, Adonai, that you love us and have
given us the Shabbat as a very special and
holy day.
Baruch Ata Adonai, mekadesh hashabbat
5. We ask you Adonai to always protect us.
We hope that you will always be with us.
Baruch Ata Adonai, hamachazir
Shechinato leTsion
6. We thank you Adonai, for all the good
things you do for us. We are grateful for
that every day.
Baruch Ata Adonai, hatov shimcha ulecha
na’eh lehodot
7. Please bring peace, for us and for Israel and
the whole world.
Oseh shalom bimromav, hu ya’aseh
shalom alenu
Ve al kol Yisrael, ve’imru Amen
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 Siddur assignments
The word Siddur is derived from the word Seder which means order.
Every Siddur basically has the same order.
Once you know the Seder, it is a lot easier to follow along with the prayers.

1. Look on page 81 of the BHC Siddur. You see a pyramid.

Do you see the big letters in the middle? What do they spell and what does that mean?

2. What are the different parts of the service according to the pyramid? Mention a few.

3. On Saturday morning the service is called Shacharit. What is it called on Friday night?

4. What is the first prayer we sing when we enter the synagogue?

5. Can you find the Shema and Amida prayers? On which page?

6. L
 ook for the part that says Tora service. Can you find the Berachot for the Tora service? Which page?

7. Look through the Siddur to find a nice prayer, song or poem that you would like to recite or sing during
your BM ceremony. Which one did you choose?

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 Derasha tips
How do you build up a story:
1. Opening, the story is introduced and
placed in a context.
2. Warming up, the story starts to move.
3. Development, the story builds up to a
climax.
4. Climax, you have everyone’s attention.
5. Cool down, conclusions, building
towards the end.
6. Closing, the end.
Derasha tips
The Derasha must include:
1. Short summary of the Parasha.
2. The part that I chose to read and why
I chose it.
3. How do I connect this to my life?
4. What did I learn from it?
5. What did I learn from the whole process of
doing BM?
6. Thanking my BM team.
8. Wie wil ik aan het eind van mijn
Derasha bedanken.
Every time we read the Tora we discover something new about the text and about ourselves.
What did you discover?
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Derasha tips
While you are writing, think about:
Who do I write it for? Who is my audience?
What do I actually want to say? What is the
point?
Is it too heavy, too light, too serious, too long,
too short?
Humor is important. Jokes are allowed.
Derasha tips
While presenting in shul think about
1. Eye contact with your audience.
2. Speak slowly and take short breaks.
3. Use your voice in different ways to make it
more interesting.
4. Stay in contact with your inner self and do
not get distracted.
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 BM dictionary
Aliya Called up to read from the Tora

Beracha Blessing

Bima Platform in shul

Chumash Tora in a book, chamesh = 5 = 5 books of the Torah

Derasha/ Dvar Tora Speech + explanation of the Parashah

Haftara Book of Prophets

Hashem Literally “the name”. Name of God when not praying

Kehila Jewish community

Lehning Reciting the Tora portion

Mishna 
Part of the Talmud, collection of laws, written by Rabbi Yehuda Hanassi
around the year 200 AD

Mitzvot Commandments or good deeds

Parasha / Sidra Tora portion that is read every week

Siddur Prayer book

Tallit Prayer shawl

Talmud Mishna and Gemara. Commentaries on the Torah

Te’amim Musical notes for lehning

Tenach Bible/Old Testament - Tora, Nevi’im, Ketuvim

Tora First 5 books of Tenach or Old Testament

Tsitsit Fringes on your Tallit

Tsedaka Literally “righteousness”. Giving to charities

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 Hebrew letters are numbers
In many Chumashim the numbers of each line or pasuk is marked by Hebrew letters.
Here you can find the numerical value of each letter.

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