FRS B’nei Mitzvah are unique.  From the way that we prepare at Friday Group and Shabbat Programme to the atmosphere we have at the Friday night service, B’nei Mitzvah are a true example of what makes this community special. 

At the heart of the process is Friday Group.  Anyone visiting FRS on a Friday evening will be struck by the level of concentration and commitment.  With young people working in pairs around the building there is a real sense of a young community learning together.

Amit Handelsmen
Director of Education

Friday group is co-ordinated by the Director of Education with the synagogue Rabbis and the Friday Group coordinator.
If you have any questions or concerns about Bar or Bat Mitzvah preparation at FRS please contact the office on 020 8446 3244

We are very pleased to announce that the new Kitah Chet teacher will be Rabbi Barbara Borts. Barbara has many years experience in teaching Bnei and Bnot Mitzvah and she is looking forward to meeting you all in September.

Shabbat Programme

In addition to Friday Group, during year 7 (Kitah Zayin) and Year 8 (Kitah Chet), young people at FRS are expected to attend Shabbat Programme on a Saturday morning. 

Kitah Zayin:

This year is specifically designed to ensure that all students have an appropriate level of Hebrew reading skills as well as an understanding of some of the key prayers and of the significance of Bar and Bat Mitzvah. Kitah Zayin Curriculum focuses on three projects:

• ' The Family Project' in which the class explores the history of British Jewry and their own families.
• G'milut Chasadim (acts of kindness), in which the class will decide and execute their own social action project.
•  The Friday night service, when the class will build and lead a Kabbalat Shabbat service.

Kitah Chet:

Kitah Chet is designed to complement the learning undertaken at Friday Group. While Friday Group focuses on the actual preparation for Bar or Bat Mitzvah, Kitah Chet aims to prepare young people to become Jewish adults living in the Diaspora.  It aims to give participants a relationship with traditional and modern Jewish texts that they can access in the future and involves discussion of the demands Judaism makes on us in terms of our ethical behaviour.

In addition, the Kitah Chet group is intended to provide a support network for our young people in this important year in their lives.  Therefore, when there is a Bar or Bat Mitzvah the group goes together to the service to support their classmate. We ask the young people to wear appropriate attire when attending Shabbat Service in general and each other’s Simchas in particular.

All young people at FRS are expected to attend Kitah Chet throughout the year of their Bar or Bat Mitzvah, even after their own ceremony.  As well as being an expectation of B’nei Mitzvah at FRS, this is also a commitment to help support each other.

For the Shabbat Morning Service students learn

• To read the Ten Commandments
• To recite or sing the brachot (blessings) before and after reading from the Torah, and those before and after reading the Haftarah.
• To read and/or Leyn (sing traditional melody) a portion from the Torah.
• To prepare and read a derasha (introduction), outlining the meaning and significance of the weekly Sedra and Haftarah.
• To read the Haftarah (normally in English).

In addition, students have the opportunity to choose their own songs and readings for the Kabbalat Shabbat service and to write their own personal prayer to be read or said quietly in front of the ark on the Shabbat morning.

For more information on Friday Group and the full B'nei mitzvah progamme download this booklet (66Kb) and/or contact the B'nei Mitzvah programme coordinator bmitzvah@frsonline.org