Becoming a Leader

Plan each child’s mentoring role with a younger class or a T’filah segment to lead.

Children wonder and discover; you facilitate more than you lecture.

• What kind of Jewish leader do I want to be?
• How can I help younger students the way I was helped?
• What does it mean that learning continues after B’nei Mitzvah?

The journey’s purpose: children step into leadership. They lead T’filah, mentor younger grades, and look ahead to Confirmation and lifelong learning — Hebrew and Judaic learning continue after B’nei Mitzvah.

• Madrich/Madrichah — guide/leader
• Dor l’dor — generation to generation

“Is religious school over after my Bar/Bat Mitzvah?”

Not at all — it’s a milestone, not a finish line. Confirmation and teen programs continue the journey.

• Children see themselves as leaders and mentors in the community.
• Children commit to continuing their Jewish journey beyond B’nei Mitzvah.

Affirm many kinds of leadership (leading prayer, mentoring, service, art) so every child finds their own way to lead.

Folktale. Moses Lifts Up Joshua (Tanakh) — a great leader who raises up the next leader.

Changemaker. Rabbi Angela Buchdahl — the first Asian-American ordained as a rabbi, and now the senior rabbi of one of the largest congregations in America.

Debate it: what makes a great Jewish leader — knowledge, courage, humility, or listening?

“Your child is stepping into leadership and mentoring. Try at home: celebrate how far they’ve come, and talk about continuing the journey after B’nei Mitzvah.”