Bar/Bat Mitzvah FAQ’s

It's not unusual for parents to be anxious about the scheduling of, and educational preparation for, Bar/Bat Mitzvah. Here is the best advice you'll ever get about this process:

Take a deep breath. Together we will make each aspect of our child's B'nai Mitzvah at CSI go as smoothly as possible.
Really!

Our goal is to provide your child with a full, engaging and meaningful Religious School experience and to prepare each of our students to take their place in the Jewish Community. B'nai Mitzvah is one stop along the way towards Jewish adulthood; our staff is highly experienced and ready to guide and assist at every stage.

At what point do we schedule your child's Bar/Bat Mitzvah at CSI?

• During the first week of November of each year we send out a complete packet of information for each child born in a particular year.  All CSI members born in that year get the packet, it does not matter whether you attend Religious School at CSI or a Day School.

What part do I as a parent play in this scheduling process?

• We will be sending you all the information you will need to select three dates in order of preference.  CSI provides the Ritual guidelines, all available dates, the parameters for your specific choice based on your child's Hebrew birthday, the English calendar for the year, a list of holidays and the dates on which BM at CSI is not possible.  It's best to think about your choices, talk to those whose presence at your simcha are most important and  then send back your dates by the deadline indicated in the cover materials.

What happens then?

• When the deadline has passed we will create a list of possible BM dates for the entire group. We resolve conflicts using 2nd choices and if need be, 3rd choices.  When required we contact families to consult in these resolutions.
• All families get the entire calendar as soon as it's done.
• All families then have an opportunity to request switches by the date indicated in the cover materials. This is NOT  first-come, first-served!  We wait until the deadline passes and then take a fresh look at the requests.
• A new list is sent to the entire class.

And then???

• Our goal is to have happy students and happy families.  Should you find that your needs change, just email Ellen and we'll do what we can to resolve any issues you have.