Moving Traditions — a national organization that partners with Jewish institutions across North America to engage Jewish teens and families — invited the Jewish Grandparents Network to share expertise in how to engage grandparents in synagogue and other B-Mitzvah programs.
The result? JGN and Moving Traditions created two 1½-hour fully scripted B-Mitzvah sessions specifically for grandparents and teen grandchildren in synagogues and other institutions — whether they are together in person or at a distance.
The grandparent-teen sessions are:
1. “What Does It Mean to Become a Teen?”
The B-Mitzvah family thinks beyond the bimah and the celebration and focuses with a Jewish lens on what it means to become a teenager today and to be the parent or grandparent of that teenager.
Click HERE to see a sample of this lesson.
2. “Reading Between the Lines”
Teen and grandparent learn how to explore Torah text, strengthening their bond through study, and prepare for the teen’s process of writing a d’var Torah (speech based on a Jewish text).
Click HERE to see a sample of this lesson.
The grandparent-teen sessions — like all of Moving Traditions work — “embolden Jewish youth to thrive through the pursuit of personal wellbeing (shleimut), caring relationships (hesed), and a Jewish and feminist vision of equity and justice (tzedek).” Combining positive psychology with Jewish values, the new B-Mitzvah sessions center on human development and the grandparent-teen relationship.
Clergy and Jewish educators, for more information about becoming a partner organization please contact Moving Traditions.
Banner photograph by Sadie Braunstein