Stories @ CSI

Sunday, February 12, was the first meeting of the Journey to Adulthood (J2A) cohort for 2025 - 2026 B’nai Mitzvah families, and CSI's very first official B'nai Mitzvah Date Announcement ceremony. We began with some singing led by Rabbi Ari on the guitar. He introduced the phenomenal crew that will be supporting us through this journey. Then Rabbi Ari told the next generation that he was going to tell us our story. He proceeded to tell the entire Torah! As he got to the Torah portion of each Bar/Bat Mitzvah, Rabbi Ari would pause and announce their name, parasha, and date. The children received a sign with their name, B'nai Mitzvah date, parasha, and an artistic rendering of an aspect of their portion, and then went to sit with their family on the bimah steps. 

This was such an incredible way to connect the children to the bigger picture of where their parasha fits in the whole Torah. It also connected all the children together with their families to our Shearith community as well as Jews all over the world and throughout history. Quite a powerful moment!

The families then mingled in groups and discussed what they love about being Jewish and more. Each child was given their very own siddur to use on their journey. Then the children all gathered under a tallit on the bimah for a Shehechianu blessing, after a brief teaching by Rabbi Helfand.