B Mitzvah

The experience of becoming B Mitzvah at SIJCC includes:

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One-on-one mentorship with a skilled mentor who guides the student through their learning goals and helps them prepare for a culminating experience. 

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A culminating ritual in which the student demonstrates their learning and readiness to enter this next phase of communal life.

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Family meetings led by SIJCC to navigate and prepare for the B Mitzvah journey. 

At SIJCC

Jewish learning on a deeper level is a fundamental component of this experience.

There is rich wisdom within Jewish tradition. Studying and grappling with that wisdom is crucial for a young Jew when they come of age. We come from a tradition of questioning and it is important for young people to have a safe space to question their tradition and to wrestle with how that it is integrated in their lives. The ceremony should represent the capstone of a rigorous process of learning and discovery, so that the young person emerges from their learning and discovery process different than how they started.

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It is important to mark major life transitions.

There is deep value in marking young peoples’ coming-of-age. Our young people are coming to terms with themselves, accelerating the process of self-discovery, and grappling with how they interact with the world around them.

Coming-of-age experiences should feel appropriate for the person having them.

Marking coming-of-age can look different for different people. Individuals who are coming-of-age should have agency in their coming-of-age experience. One size does not fit all.

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Life does not happen alone in a vacuum, it happens with community.

Coming-of-age is not something that one can do alone—a community of loving, connected, present people welcome the young person into community. While it is the individual becoming a bat/bar mitzvah, it is a moment in time that involves the whole family and their relationship and commitment to Judaism. The connection between the young person and a trusted, knowledgeable mentor can catalyze deep self-discovery that benefits the young person and the broader community.

SIJCC Membership required for this program.

B Mitzvah Mentors & Staff

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  • Rabbi Ye’ela Rosenfeld is a native Israeli who has lived in Los Angeles since 2006. She currently serves as Rabbi and Cultural Director at Der Nister - Downtown Los Angeles Jewish Center and officiates services and life cycle events for unaffiliated Jewish families all across Greater Los Angeles. She is also serving as Temple Beth Israel of Highland Park’s Director of Education and Community Engagement.

    Other than serving as a Rabbi, Rosenfeld is also a film and theater writer and director who is a Graduate of the MFA film directing program of the American Film Institute conservatory in Hollywood. She has directed films and theater in Israel, the Czech Republic and the U.S. Her films screened in festivals worldwide and won numerous awards. For the theater, she has directed the works of Vaclav Havel, Friedrich Durenmatt, Jean Paul Sartre and Howard Zinn. Rabbi Rosenfeld lives in Eagle Rock with her husband David and her children Ori and Libi. She is a passionate teacher and writer, and an unapologetic bookworm.

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  • Marnina Schon Wirtschafter (she/they) loves co-creating joyful, accessible, and meaningful ritual experiences, from 30+ b'nei mitzvah services, to the SIJCC Days of Awesome. Rooted in a pluralistic Jewish upbringing in Berkeley, Marnina studied at UCLA, organized with Bend the Arc, and explored Yiddishkayt in Germany and Eastern Europe. As a performer, Marnina starred in the Sundance dramedy series Chanshi, sang and fiddled in the musical Once, recently appeared on Netflix’s Unstable, and played violin on Dropout with the Play It By Ear band!

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  • As a ritualist, teacher, and spiritual counselor, Rabbi Kerry Chaplin (yes, that is her real name) practices and preaches an embodied, living spirituality through authentic relationship with one’s own mind, body, and spirit. He believes that sharing this authenticity with others and with the Divine, however you understand the Divine today, deepens connections that help us live better.

    Before becoming a rabbi, Rabbi Kerry was a community organizer, living all things justice. In every community where she has served as a rabbi, from Hillel at UCLA and Vassar College, to Lab/Shul, to Beit T’Shuvah, Rabbi Kerry has been committed to helping those at the margins experience connection with themselves, others, and Something Bigger.

    She is grateful for her teachers at the Ziegler School, Washington University in St. Louis, her yoga teachers, and so many others known and unknown. She lives and plays with her kiddo Frankie, wife Julia, and kitty Smudgy.