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Over the years, we have spent significant time considering and reviewing our existing bar/bat mitzvah policy and have made several changes in order to ensure that the approach we take serves the needs of our students, families and the larger school community. I deeply appreciate the many helpful suggestions and comments that I received from parents as we worked to reshape the policy.
While the updated guidelines are attached, the main adjustments are reflected below for your convenience:
Families will be able to reserve a date on the Yavneh simcha calendar starting 24 months before the date of the actual event. If a conflict arises with the date and time families are asked to coordinate with each other to resolve the matter. No family will receive preference for a date/time prior to 18 months before the event.
Families will be able to reserve one date and one time (either late morning/early afternoon or evening) for their simcha.
The simcha calendar will be made available online to families in our school for planning purposes.
Reservations will be accepted via email only to robin.rosenbaum@yavnehacademy.org.
Families are asked to invite either all the boys in the grade or, all the girls in the grade, the entire grade or less than 25% of any of the aforementioned groups.
By reserving a date on the school calendar, families implicitly agree to adhere by the school’s bar/bat mitzvah guidelines as set forth in our policy.
If you want to arrange to have an element of your celebration during school (laining, hanachat tefillin, dvar Torah), please contact Rabbi Ross at aaron.ross@yavnehacademy.org.
The policy is designed to enable each family to fully enjoy their simcha in a manner that fully reflects Yavneh’s values. If you have any special circumstances, please reach out to me directly so we can work to address them together.
For the past several years, a group of parents in that year’s grade have coordinated a class gift program for bar/bat mitzvah celebrations. Through this program, each child receives a class gift and makes a contribution to a tzedakah of their choosing, rather than receiving a gift from each child attending their simcha. We are currently looking for a few parent volunteers who would like to lead the class gift program. Please contact Ricki Scharf if you are able to help.
Sincerely yours,
Rabbi Jonathan Knapp
Head of School
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