The 2011 annual retreat was fantastic!! There was a palpable joy in the air. New participants and habitual attendees combined to make this year one to remember. Please click this link to view the first set of photos from this year’s retreat. Photos courtesy of JMN member, Marian Moore.
Teen identity class
Birthland Bar Mitzvah is designed especially to meet the individual needs of Jewish families formed by adoption from Guatemala. Jewish studies, tailored to the talents and abilities of each Bar or Bat Mitzvah child, culminate in a family expedition to the birthland where Jewish identity and Guatemalan roots are woven together in a tapestry of discovery and celebration.
Families work with Nancy Hoffman (via e-mail), based in Guatemala, to custom design their visit to Guatemala. Families work with Rabbi Julie Greenberg to create a learning plan to prepare for the Bar or Bat Mitzvah ceremony. Your Birthland Bar Mitzvah experience is built around five days in Guatemala that include a mitzvah/service project, rehearsal, relaxation and exploration of beautiful Guatemala and a personally meaningful Bar/Bat Mitzvah weekend.
By DINA KRAFT
New York Times
JERUSALEM — The tall man in the velvet fedora and knee-length black jacket with ritual fringes peeking out takes long, swift strides toward the Western Wall. It’s late in the day, and he does not want to miss afternoon prayers at Judaism’s holiest site.
“We have to get there before the sun goes down,” he says, his stare fixed behind a pair of Ray-Ban sunglasses, the first clue that this is no ordinary Jerusalem man of God. It’s the rapper Shyne, the Sean Combs protégé who served almost nine years in New York prisons for opening fire in a nightclub in 1999 during an evening out with Mr. Combs and his girlfriend at the time, Jennifer Lopez.
“My entire life screams that I have a Jewish neshama,” he said, using the Hebrew word for soul.
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