B'nei Mitsvah Study

Every year we hold a B'nei Mitsvah ceremony for children ages 12-13 who are completing their Jewish Cultural School studies. For these children, the full preceding year is dedicated to research and group activities in preparation for the B'nei Mitsvah ceremony. Each child presents her/his own researched speech or creative performance at the ceremony. Students must have completed at least one year of Secular Humanistic Jewish education prior to entering the B'nei Mitsvah class.

Welcome!

We look forward to an exciting year together, in which we and our children will get to know each other and share in our unique approach to Jewish education. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Hanna Merin, Director
Ann Levin, Assistant Director
jcs@machar.org

Calendar

Classes are held on a schedule that is roughly every other Sunday, with additional times scheduled for community service and other family activities.
See our Calendar.

Those who wish to send their children to the Jewish Cultural School must have a family membership in Machar. A Machar membership and JCS application form is here for your convenience.

Fees

Tuition for the 2007-2008 school year is $555 for the first child, $495 for the second child and $435 for the third child. Fees are paid along with membership dues to our Executive Director. A fee of $75 for the first teen and $25 for additional teens, is also charged for the Teen Group. There is no charge for the first year, which comes immediately after the b'nei mitsvah year.

So What's A Sunday Morning Like?

Each Sunday that the Jewish Cultural School meets, there's music for all from
9:45 -10:15 am. Not only is there singing, but the lively Machar Band, made up of children, teens, and adults, accompanies. Afterwards, the children go to their classes and adults may attend Machar's Adult Education program.
See the Program Calendar.

At 12:15 pm everyone meets for a nosh (snack) and a schmooze (conversation).

The Machar Band: Multigenerational Musical Fun

The Machar Band is a multi-generational music troupe that plays klezmer, traditional Jewish, Yiddish and American folk songs. On any given day, we have trombones, trumpets, guitars, clarinets, violins, cellos and saxophones beating out tunes for the congregation and area Jewish events.

For years, our former music director, Ken Giles, used to warm up parents and children with his guitar and voice on Sunday mornings, just before classes at the Jewish Cultural School. He eventually started asking kids from the congregation to join in. This began with some percussion, then a saxophone and eventually a whole set of instruments played by kids as young as four and as old as, well, let's just say that some of the kids were retired.

Over the years, the Band has become a tradition at Machar. When we're in top form, we have over ten players belting out tunes like, Bashana, Erev Shel Shoshanim, Hava Nagila and Imagine. In addition to playing each Sunday for the School, we play at the Washington Jewish Folk Arts Festival as well as for the B'nei Mitzvah ceremonies of our congregation.

The key to the Band is playing songs relevant to the season. So, on Hanukkah
we play tunes like, Light One Candle, (Peter Yarrow) S'vivon, and I Have a Little Dreidel. On Purim, we play, My Esther, and Oh Today, We'll Merry, Merry Be. To commemorate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, we play The Times They are A 'Changin,' We Shall Not be Moved, and We Shall Overcome. On special occasions we have also been known to teach some funny parodies to honor our members.

Music is integral to Jewish culture. Our heritage is full of songs that record our collective history, envision our highest aspirations and make fun of the kinds of people we are. The Machar Band uses music to teach our traditions and pique concern about social challenges -- ranging from the search for peace to commitments toward social justice and environmental sanity.

Each year, young musicians come out of the woodwork to play along. The sound isn't exactly the Israeli Philharmonic. At times, we sound more like the Petticoat Junction band than a Jewish Congregation music troupe. But, we care more about including everyone who wants to play than creating the world's most beautiful music. We see the Band as an evolving work in progress that, like much else in Machar, finds itself, ironically, making the most of Jewish traditions as it refuses to organize itself in the mold of simply what has been handed down.

Music helps us dance through life. Many see these days as dark times. The Machar Band tries to shed a little light in the midst of such darkness--light that can lighten our load, help us celebrate the wonders and bring us together in song.

Paul Wapner, Machar Band Director
paul@machar.org

Post B'nei Mitsvah Teen Program

Every year, Machar's Teen Group Coordinator and Rabbi Ben, along with the teens (ages 13-18) put together a calendar of activities that include community action, social events, and group travel. The teen group meets approximately once a month to have fun and at the same time share common ideas and discuss issues that concern them all as teenagers, as secular humanists, and as Jews. Activities range from going out for dinner and to the theater and then having some discussion about the play, to meeting at a teen's house for a Jewish holiday party or to watch a movie and discuss it, to participating in a community-service activity as a group. Members of the Teen Group also attend the SHJ Teen Conclave to meet new Jewish friends from across the United States and Canada, who share common goals and who have common needs as secular humanistic youth.

Sonya Weisburd, Teen Coordinator
sonya@machar.org

Adult Education

The Jewish Cultural School also offers a number of activities for adults. Throughout the year, adult education classes are held concurrently with the children's Jewish Cultural School classes. Past topics have included principles of humanistic Judaism, Jewish history, Zionism, the meaning of Jewish life-cycle events, Jewish holidays, anti-Semitism, Yiddish poetry, parent and teen issues, and the history of humanism. Our monthly newsletters post the adult education schedule. See also the Program Calendar for more information.

Tzedakah Program

At Machar, we believe that giving to others less fortunate than ourselves is one of the most important mitzvot ("commandments") we can perform, and a value that we want to share with our children. Tzedakah (money for charity) is collected at the during the all-school music time by passing around a tin or box.

At the end of the year, all of the money collected is divided up evenly among the various cultural school classes, and each class decides which charity or charities they would like their portion of the money to go to. We give the classes a list of charities to choose from. Some are Jewishly oriented, such as Project Mazon, the Jewish response to world hunger; or Seeds of Peace, which brings together Jewish and Arab children so they can learn about one another's cultures. Others are more general, such as Bread for the City, a local organization that helps low-income people in our area.

Machar has also held special fundraisers for specific causes, such as relief for the Jewish community of Argentina and emergency relief for a local rabbi and her family whose home was destroyed.

If you would like more information about the kinds of organizations we support and why we chose them, contact us at info@machar.org.