Great article about kids layning [reading from the Torah] for their bar/bat mitzvah (“Changing Up The Bar/Bat Mitzvah Experience,” April 20). I am a rebbe here in Israel, and I tutor a lot of kids. I also give bar mitzvah lessons.
I was very proud of myself when teaching my own son. Every time he became frustrated practicing reading from the Torah, I said, “Fine, let’s do something else, I have no problem with you not layning.” (Over a year later he admits that I never put any pressure on him, although he did end up layning the whole parsha [Torah portion]).
We spent a lot of time learning other texts. That was great time we spent together. He also did a chesed project where he went to a hospital in Jerusalem to give out gifts to sick children.
I think so much more quality time could be spent with our children if they didn’t have this pressure of preparing one year for a procedure that takes 30 minutes.
Thank you for bringing this to the public’s attention
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