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By Ellen S. Hattenbach, Mitzvahs with Meaning, www.mitzvahswithme.com<\/em><\/p>\n Got the mitzvah blues? Stressed about throwing the big bash? Squeezed by economic pressures? All that, with a bar\/bat mitzvah to plan? Naturally a parent\u2019s first thought is \u201cshow me the money\u201d. Days were when the three words most spoken to cherished ones were \u201cI love you\u201d. Over the past two years, they\u2019ve been replaced by \u201cin this economy\u201d. But maybe this economy has cleared a path, opened the door, provided a real opportunity for more meaningful bar\/bat mitzvah experiences. The economy has allowed us to celebrate the real meaning of the mitzvah, the elements of this occasion that really matter.<\/p>\n A Bar\/Bat Mitzvah is meant to be a beautiful, once-in-a-lifetime milestone. But somewhere, over time, communities lost focus -somehow the emphasis shifted to the \u201cbar\u201d at the party rather than on the mitzvah performed by the child. Just one year after chanting Torah, how many of our children can cite the name or meaning of their Torah portion? To help inspire and give you just one example of how you may weave all the elements together to create a mitzvah with meaning, here is Kira’s story.<\/p>\n KIRA CAN!<\/p>\n Kira, a \u201ccan-do\u201d person is someone who, when faced with a challenge, says, \u201cI didn\u2019t only do the Kira Can project because I should,\u201d explained Kira, \u201cbut because I could.\u201d Guests left the party with a fresh pink Kira Can asking them to save for a charity of their choice, inspiring others to keep giving. This time the can was filled with a bag of white chocolate covered popcorn- -yum!<\/p>\n Creating a B’nai Mitzvah with meaning requires time, work and imagination to <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.4.9″ custom_margin=”-30px|||||” custom_padding=”0px|||||”][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Bar \/ Bat Mitzvah Planning: Finding the Mitzvah in the Economic Downturn Finding the Mitzvah in the Economic DownturnBy Ellen S. Hattenbach, Mitzvahs with Meaning, www.mitzvahswithme.com Got the mitzvah blues? Stressed about throwing the big bash? Squeezed by economic pressures? All that, with a bar\/bat mitzvah to plan? Naturally a parent\u2019s first thought is \u201cshow […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-5069","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milestonesmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/milestonesmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/milestonesmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milestonesmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milestonesmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5069"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/milestonesmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5069\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5242,"href":"https:\/\/milestonesmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5069\/revisions\/5242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milestonesmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
It marks the celebration when a child of the Jewish faith becomes thirteen
(twelve in some cases) and is ready to take on the responsibilities of the mitzvot
(commandments). A child reads from the Torah and, in many cases, a celebration ensues, for this child for this child has now taken his\/her place in the Jewish community as a young adult.<\/p>\n
Now alas, those three famous words \u201cin this economy\u201d have helped bring back perspective, allowing us to plan bnai mitzvahs where the focus is really on the mitzvah. Still, many families find it a challenge on how to intertwine the Torah portion and tikkun olam (repairing the world) throughout the service, the mitzvah project and the celebration.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can do it!\u201d Kira challenged herself for her bat mitzvah to feed Chicago\u2019s
hungry by collecting 1800 cans of food\u2026 and money to buy more.
Proceeds from Project \u201cKira Can\u201dwent to the Greater Chicago Food
Depository, Ezra Food Pantry and Deerfield Food Pantry.
In addition, Kira sent out pink, personalized, save the date tzedekah cans to
all invitees labeled \u201cKira Can!\u201d Each person was asked to save a penny a day,
then bring the can to her Bat Mitzvah party in lieu of a gift. The designed can
quoted scripture \u201cthose that turn the many to tzedekah shall shine like
the stars\u201d.
At the celebration, guests were greeted by a giant 8\u2019 tall version
of the Kira Can with placecards fastened to it. Kira even had a decorated
coin-counting machine like they have at banks so guests could
pour in their change and be part of the contribution to feed the hungry.
Over $5000 was raised right at the celebration.
Kira\u2019s place card display and table names were directly tied to the theme
and were based on mitzvot. Each table\u2019s name started with Kira Can and
finished with a mitzvot (Kira can\u2026\u201dfeed the hungry\u201d, Kira can\u2026\u201dvisit the sick\u201d).
Kira discussed Project Kira Can during her dvar Torah and talked about
the Torah\u2019s view of sacrifices; she said that nothing she did was
\u201cgiving up\u201d anything, but \u201cgiving to\u201d others.<\/p>\n
fully integrate the Torah portion, service project and the mitzvahs into a wonderful celebration- -but it need not break your bank. Yes, \u201cin this economy\u201d more and more families are truly able to put the focus back on the mitzvah rather than on the bar.<\/p>\n