Bat Mitzvah Classes 2026-2029

• Yearning to deepen your knowledge and commitment to Torah, tefillah (prayer), and kehillah (community)?
• Wanting to become more familiar with Shabbat and holiday observance?
• Considering participating in an Adult Bat Mitzvah experience with your Women’s League sisters?

We’d like you to join us if you want to celebrate an Adult Bat Mitzvah for the first time, if you want to revisit or reinvent the one you had, or if you want to enrich and expand your Jewish literacy. This 2 1/2 year program will culminate with your Bat Mitzvah at the WLCJ Convention in 2029 (at this time we do not have a Convention location, nor do we know if there will be a virtual option).

Classes will meet on the third Thursday evening of the month. While participation in this program is a benefit of your membership, there is a fee: $18.00 for the first half year, followed by $36.00 for the second and third years.  

Books you will need:

• A siddur (prayer book), either Sim Shalom or Lev Shalem
• A Chumash (bible), either Hertz JPS or Etz Chaim

You will also need to be able to read in Hebrew. Women’s League offers classes in beginning and intermediate Hebrew so you will be able to acquire this skill. The reason for this is that at your Bat Mitzvah service, you will be leading a prayer from the morning service, having an Aliyah, and reading a line from the Torah. We will work with you on your prayer, and Rabbi Margie Cella will be teaching trope, the cantellation (notes) in 2029.

The curriculum we’ll be following was prepared by the Melton Research Center specifically for Women’s League. Originally intended to be covered in 2 years, we have stretched it to 2 1/2 years because it also includes the Bat Mitzvah preparation for Convention. Most of the sessions will be taught by the Rabbis and Educators of the Conservative movement, and the majority of our presenters will be women.

Class format will begin with the prayer for studying and end with the prayer after study completion, Kaddish d’Rabbanan.

Please let us know you are interested in participating by emailing me, the WLCJ Bat Mitzvah Chair, at tholtzman@wlcj.org. The deadline for contacting me is November 30, 2026.

IMPORTANT: It has come to our attention that many women reached out to me back in September 2026, when the Bat Mitzvah Class was first advertised. The initial runnings of the flyer had an incorrect email address and I did not receive many inquiries. If you emailed me at any time since September and did not hear back, please reach out to me again today at tholtzman@wlcj.org. I apologize profusely for this inconvenience.

L’Shalom,
Toby B. Holtzman
WLCJ Bat Mitzvah Chair
tholtzman@wlcj.org