|
|
B'nei Mitzvah: Planning Guide
» Tutoring and Individual Study
Tutoring
- Approximately nine months before the ceremony, the tutor will contact the family to arrange for a skills assessment for the student. The tutor will then develop an appropriate program of study for the student.
- During the course of the tutoring, the student will learn several new prayers, Torah and Haftarah trope (melodies) particular to their portions, how to read and chant their specific Torah portion, how to read and chant their specific Haftarah and the cues for the order of service. The sequence of study will be roughly as follows:
- Learn the tallit, Torah and Haftarah blessings.
- Learn, review and refine execution of the core Shabbat prayers and blessings
- Learn the Torah portion and how to chant it.
- Study with the Rabbi and prepare the drash (interpretation of the Torah portion).
- Learn the Haftara portion and how to chant it.
- Learn service cues and flow, and refine presentation skills.
- It is the family's responsibility to arrange a schedule of dates and times for the private sessions with the tutor. If the student must break an appointment, please notify the tutor at least 24 hours before the scheduled session. Except in cases of sudden illness or other such extreme circumstances, the family will be responsible to pay for sessions cancelled with less than 24 hours notice.
- Students are requested to come to each tutoring session fully prepared and feeling confident about the assigned work from the previous session. Parent(s) and/or guardian(s), the Rabbi, the Executive Director/Director of Education, and the B'nei Mitzvah Program Director will be notified if the student begins to fall seriously behind. An alternative plan for helping the student will be determined by the student, tutor, and family. Our goal is for the student to demonstrate his/her commitment to becoming a Bar/Bat Mitzvah.
- Students should be prepared to spend 45 minutes a day studying the above material as assigned. We recommend that each student schedule a particular time every day to study, as one would a piano or karate lesson, and adhere to the schedule as consistently as possible.
- Ohr HaTorah encourages curtailing or limiting supplementary activities during the Bar/Bat Mitzvah preparation period. Should the student fall seriously behind in their preparation, please consider suspending supplemental activities until after the Bar/Bat Mitzvah service. If preparation will take place during the summer months, we recommended that the family limit extended vacations, camps, etc., or, if these are already planned, that the student make arrangements with the tutor to accommodate for the absence. Many summer camps, particularly Jewish ones, offer B'nei Mitzvah tutoring services. If a student will have these services available, notify the B'nei Mitzvah Program Director and materials will be prepared for the student to learn while they are away.
Study with the Rabbi
- About three months prior to the service, the B'nei Mitzvah Program Director will contact you to schedule a meeting with the Rabbi, the student and family to begin the process of writing the drash (speech) and start planning/discussing the service.
- The students' independent study with the Rabbi and preparation of their drash begins with a group study session of classmates who have proximate ceremony dates together with their families. The student will then begin to study independently with the Rabbi. Along with the Torah content, the Rabbi instructs the students in the Jewish interpretive process.
- The student's first meeting with the Rabbi will be scheduled through the B'nei Mitzvah Program Director. Additional meetings between the student and the Rabbi will take place as necessary based on the progress of the student. Please be aware that it is incumbent upon the student to complete their assignments and send them to the Rabbi before additional meetings will be scheduled.
- In preparation for the first meeting, please review and prepare in advance from the Drash Writing Guidelines that follow so that maximum productivity can occur during this meeting.
|
|
