Questioning is a central religious and spiritual act of the Jewish people. Asking questions is an art form, one we develop over the course of our lives. The questions you formulate as you read your Torah portion (parashah) will be the basis of your d’var Torah (Torah speech) at your Bar or Bat Mitzvah. This is your opportunity to teach your community about what you think and believe about your Torah portion and how it relates to your life. The d’var Torah is prepared under the guidance and direction of your assigned Rabbi, and delivered to the synagogue community immediately before chanting your Torah portion. Students attend at least three meetings with their rabbi, beginning around seven months prior to the service.
In addition to Torah study, gratitude is also a central component of Shabbat and we want to give our Bar and Bat Mitzvah students an opportunity to thank the special people who helped them prepare. The Bar or Bat Mitzvah student will be invited to offer a short expression of gratitude and thanks after the Haftarah and blessing. The thank you should be no more than one paragraph and focus on the people who helped them prepare for the Bar or Bat Mitzvah.
Here are some helpful steps for studying your Torah portion:
- Prior to your second meeting with your rabbi, read your entire parasha (Torah portion) out loud several times (preferably with parents or a Jewish educator). You can also watch a 3-minute clip from bimbam.com (formerly g-dcast.com) that tells the story of the parsha hashavua, or Torah portion of the week.
- Write down the “big ideas” in your Torah portion. For example, if your Torah portion is about sacrifices and all the detail surrounding them, the big idea might be “What is the point of sacrifice?”
- Now, as you read your portion again, write down a minimum of ten questions or comments. You might want to think about:
- What inspires or interests you in this text
- What confuses or bothers you in this text
- The unexpected use of a word or phrase
- The actions of a particular character
- A strange or unfamiliar concept, idea or practice
- Any connections you see between this text and other parts of Jewish life
- Any connections you see between this text and other parts of your life
- After you’ve compiled your questions, read them over again and choose some meaningful ideas or questions you want to explore more. Finding something that is meaningful to YOU is what will ultimately make it meaningful for others as well.
- After you’ve had a chance to formulate your own ideas about your Torah portion, you might want to check out an ancient commentary, like Rashi, or a modern one, like the Women’s Torah Commentary or commentary from ReformJudaism.org.
Now it’s time to start writing! In the beginning, don’t worry about length. Just start writing -- that is hard enough! At the end of the process, you will want your d’var Torah to be about 2-4 pages double spaced with 12 point font and default margins.
- Start you d’var Torah with a brief, four to seven sentence overview of your Torah portion. You do not need to go into detail here. This is meant to only give the congregation a taste of what is going on. The real meat should come in the next sections since those are your actual teaching sections.
- First, state the ONE point you found most meaningful or interesting. Now it’s time to SHOW the community how and why this is meaningful to you (we use the word show instead of tell deliberately!). Show them using personal examples and details. Paint them a picture using words. Create a snapshot of how your point plays out in your life (this should be the longest section of your d’var Torah).
- Now bring it home. SHOW the congregation how and why your point should be important to them. Give them something to do. Give them examples of how your teaching could potentially relate to their lives.
We can’t wait to learn with you!