Leader's Discussion Guide for A Spiritual Journey

This leader's guide is designed to be used in conjunction with A SPIRITUAL JOURNEY: The Bar Mitzvah and Bat Mitzvah Handbook. The materials contained in this guide will help you prepare children and their families for Bar and Bat Mitzvah. Young people prepare for B'nai Mitzvah affectively as well as cognitively. And so, many of the activities suggested in this guide emphasize the emotional, moral and spiritual spheres of the experience.

The guide is divided into four units:

1. Defining the Ritual
2. Liturgy and Prayer
3. Torah and Haftarah
4. The Family Prepares

Each unit contains activities in four areas:

1. Experiential Activities
2. Values Formation
3. Spiritual Development
4. Discussion Points

Note that we use the rubric "Values Formation" rather than "Values Clarification." Though the process of children and their parents articulating their present values is a vital part of moral development, Jewish educators have a responsibility to inculcate and nurture the formation of values within the spectrum of identifiably Jewish beliefs. We can help families to "move up in holiness," l'alot b'kedushah.

The activities suggested in this guide can be implemented by the Rabbi, the Educator, or the classroom teacher. However, some experiences suggested for "Spiritual Development" and some of the "Discussion Points" may be best introduced by the Rabbi. We hope that their inclusion will encourage meaningful Rabbinic participation in this Family Education experience.

Feel free to reorder or restructure the units or the activities within each unit to develop a course best suited to your own educational setting. We'd like you to consider the suggestions as a menu from which you may select the best learning opportunities to meet the needs of your particular group.

We hope you will use this guide as a springboard for creative, informative sessions for young people and their families.