A haunting and powerful collection of stories from one of America's finest writers.

How to manage the process with grace, joy and good sense. A practical guide that gives parents and teens the "how-to" information they need to navigate the bar/bat mitzvah process and grow as a family through this experience. For the first time in one book, everyone directly involved offers practical insights into how the process can be made easier and more enjoyable for all. Rabbis, cantors and Jewish educators from the Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist movements, parents, and even teens speak from their own experience. • What's it all about? • Preparation for Parent and Child • Tutoring, stress, expectations, enjoyment, planning for children with special needs • Negotiating the ceremony and celebration • Designing a creative service, heightening the spiritual exercise, special issues related to divorced and interfaith families, planning a party that neither breaks the bank nor detracts from the inherent spirituality of the event.

In Mazel Tov, celebrity journalist Jill Rappaport and photographer Linda Solomon offer an intimate glimpse of the bar or bat mitzvahs of some of the most talented people in entertainment, politics and business. This remarkable book brings together stories and never-before-seen family photos of a variety of public figures, as they look back on their thirteen-year-old selves and reminisce about the celebration that marked their transition into adulthood. The wonderfully candid interviews in Mazel Tov document deeply poignant, and often hilariously awkward, moments in these very public lives. Interviewees include Jeremy Piven, Senator Joseph Lieberman, Marlee Matlin, Richard Dreyfuss, Ronald Perelman, Howie Mandel, Gene Shalit, Harvey Fierstein, Judy Gold, Larry King, Donny Deutsch, Michael Kors, Charles Grodin, Josh and Andy Bernstein, and many others. Their experiences run the gamut: Kirk Douglas decided to be bar mitzvahed twice, while others, like Noah Wyle, always wanted one but never had the chance. There are stories of bar mitzvahs, bat mitzvahs, confirmations, and the only documented "bark" mitzvah, held in honor of two beloved pets. Though the stories vary greatly in their detail, they all express a common appreciation for values and traditions that have been passed down through the generations. Illustrated with photos pulled from family albums as well as contemporary portraits, Mazel Tov is an appealing tribute to the enduring bonds of faith and family.

Make the world a better place through good deeds--big or small. "Thank you, really, for devoting your energies to making the world just a little bit better. By doing so, you are saying to yourself, and to others, that this whole Bar/Bat Mitzvah thing is real and important. And, this book will help you figure out great ways to put your own passions, interests, and hobbies to work for mitzvah." --from the Foreword Are you searching for a meaningful and fun mitzvah project? This inspiring book is packed with ideas to help you connect something you love to a mitzvah project or tikkun olam initiative that you can be passionate about. It is filled with information, ideas and activities to spark your imagination, as well as a planning guide to get you organized and off to a good start. Creativity and Compassion Arts & Crafts - Clothes & Fashion - Computers & Technology - Food & Cooking - Movies & Drama - Reading & Writing Putting Mitzvot in Motion Animals - Camp - Fitness - Health - Music & Dance - Sports Your World, Our World Environment - Family - Friends, Neighbors & Your Community - Global Community - Israel - Your Jewish Heritage

You're in the process of planning your child's bar or bat mitzvah and unanticipated issues keep threatening the joy of this "joyous occasion." Maybe you're divorced and you and your ex are fighting over how much this is all going to cost, never mind how you're going to handle the public awkwardness. Or maybe your spouse isn't Jewish and the whole question of religious meaning is coming up all over again. Or maybe you're worrying about your relatives' disapproval. They're from the city, and your plans for an informal party in the backyard will never meet their expectations. You are in the thick of a complex and pressured moment in your life, sandwiched between the needs of your emerging teenager and your aging parents, dealing with your own issues about being old enough to be the parent of a Bar/Bat Mitzvah (you were always the kid at these affairs, weren't you?), while trying to orchestrate your child's formal coming-of-age in the Jewish community. What would be crazy is if you weren't feeling stressed... For well over a decade, family therapist Judith Davis, Ed.D., has been studying the meaning of the bar/bat mitzvah in the lives of contemporary American Jewish families. In this wise and witty book, the first to focus on the psychological and development issues of the bar/bat mitzvah year, Dr. Davis shows you exactly what you can do to create magic and meaning for the whole family.

Presents the story of the author's journeys across America to attend the most distinctive b'nai mitzvah he could find in order to reveal how the bar and the bat mitzvah have become a distinctively American rite of passage.

Make Your Own Bar/Bat Mitzvah is using and inspiring guide that takes you step-by-step through the process of creating a very personal and meaningful Bar/Bat Mitzvah. This book offers a joyful and effective planning process that will help you produce a coming of age ritual filled with innovative ideas and sound guidance. Rabbi Goldie Milgram provides an effective, exciting process to help you organize this experience to meet your needs, in particular your studies, mentors, service, Torah talk, party, gifts and expressions of appreciation. Pragmatic and inspiring, this ground-breaking work will help students, families and communities to create healthy and memorably happy bar/bat mitzvah experiences. Rabbi Goldie Milgram is spearheading the Bar/Bat Mitzvah Institute Initiative, developed under a grant from the Nathan Cummings Foundation and focused upon creating more meaningful and effective ways of preparing students for bar/bat mitzvah. Author of Reclaiming Judaism as a Spiritual Practice: Holy Days and Shabbat, she is Founder and Executive Director of the non-profit educational research and training group, P?nai Yachadut and also runs the highly regarded web site family ReclaimingJudaism.org. ?Reb Goldie Milgram is an extraordinary, creative, and wise teacher/mentor/guide/partner in the exploration of the Bar/Bat Mitzvah process. She takes the reader on a multi-dimensioned journey to discover various meaningful traditions and rituals and, in turn, to express them into a spiritually significant celebration. This book is the Bar/Bat Mitzvah's equivalent to What Color Is Your Parachute.? -Peninnah Schram, author, Stories One Generation Tells to Another ?Rabbi Goldie Milgram restores relevance and spirituality to the process of becoming bar/bat mitzvah. Her guidance is delivered with great wisdom and compassion. I highly recommend this work.? -David A Cooper, author of God is a Verb