SAMPLE Josie Greenblatt’s Personalized Bat Mitzvah Page

Josie, use this page 3-4 times each week to prepare for your Bat Mitzvah. To ensure simcha success, please use the tools and downloadable items provided here to learn and practice your training assignments between visits with Cantor Green. For questions, e-mail me at cantor@kehillatbethisrael.com or call/text me at 613-327-3984. It is your responsibility to check this page to ensure it’s working properly right after each lesson, and let Cantor Green know if there’s a problem right away.

VERY IMPORTANT – MUST READ: KBI B’nei Mitzvah Handbook ONLINE
Click here to confirm you’ve read and understood the entire handbook (required).

Bat Mitzvah Date: SATURDAY, June 14th, 2025, 9:00am
Parashat Nasso
14 Sivan, 5783

Tutoring Schedule – Starting June 3, 2023: Thursdays, 3:40-4:00pm @ KBI

DATE/TIME GOALS HOMEWORK ASSIGNED
Th, June 3

SKYPE

Intro to B’nei Mitzvah Process

Goal Setting

Confirm BM Date

BM Materials Folder/URL

Intro to Webpage and homework technique

Set Lesson Day/Time

STUDY METHOD (always have your printouts/pages in front of you)

1. In your first homework session, Listen to the assigned audio files (or assigned part thereof) at least 15 times in a row. Let it sink in! Best practice is to listen a couple more times in a second sitting before trying to sing along.

2. Sing along with the audio files many times until it is identical, smooth and confident. If there are glitches, use the slider to “rewind” and review a word or two at a time until identical. You’ll know you’re ready for step 3 when the audio recording feels too slow or is ‘holding you back’.

3. Sing the whole assignment without the audio file (as you will in your next lesson).

Use this approach every week, and knock my socks off with how well you know it!

AND, 4. every week, you MUST review at least once, everything learned to date, and FIX any glitches.

Th, June 10 Prepare Haftara Trope like a song Learn first half of Haftara Trope like a song, up to first “sof pasuk” (PDF | MP3)
Th, June 17 Review Haftara Trope first half

Prepare rest of Haftara trope sheet

Learn Blessings Before and After Torah Reading (PDF | MP3 – Before | MP3 – After)

Learn Torah Trope like a song, first half, up to the “]” using the audio file in the downloads section, below.

Th, Jun 24

3:40-4pm

Review Haftara trope

Prepare Blessing before Haftara

Learn blessing before Haftara
Th, July 1 NO LESSON – CANTOR VACATION Keep learning blessing before Haftara.
Th, July 8

3:40-4pm

Review Blessing before haftara

Prepare Haftara 2:1

Learn Haftara 2:1 (MP3)
Th, July 15

3:40-4pm

Review Haftara to date (with blessing before)

Prepare haftara 2:2-3

Learn Haftara 2:2-3. Use the “Haftara MP3” audio file in the downloads section, below. As you can see in the table, 2:2 starts at 0:38 seconds, and 2:3 starts at 1:08. Use the slider within the audio file to get to the right starting point. We’ll do it that way from now on. Note that v17 is missing the verse announcement, but the starting point will still be as indicated.

Bonus! Go to www.kehillatbethisrael.com/HHH and sign up to participate in the youth choir recordings for a fantastic virtual music video we’re doing for the High Holy Days! Just select the youth parts and start watching the youtube videos for each (it will be obvious what’s what on that page!). Make sure your parents are aware and agree to your participation!

Th, July 22

3:40-4pm

Review Haftara to date

Prepare Haftara 2:4. Maybe some of 5

NO LESSON – JOSIE AT CAMP
Th, July 29

3:40-4pm

Review Haftara to date

Prepare Haftara 2:4

Touch up v3, making sure to differentiate between la-a-chei-chem and v’-la-a-cho-tei-chem.

Learn Haftara 2:4 (from 1:21 in the audio file)

Th, Aug 5

4:20-4:40pm

Review Haftara to date including blessing

Prepare Haftara 2:5

Learn Haftara 2:5 (at 1:51 in the audio file)

Touch up 2:4 (particlularly, v’na-a-fu-feha)

Th, Aug 12

5:15-5:35

Review Haftara to date

Prepare Haftara 2:6-7

Learn Haftara 2:6 (from 2:22 of the audio file) and 2:7 (from 2:35 of the audio file), at least up to word 4 on page 2 (umeimai). If you can, finish all of verse 7 (MP3)

Touch up 2:5

Th, Aug 19

3:40-4pm

Review Haftara to date

Prepare Haftara 2:7-8

Finish learning Haftara 2:7 (2:35 in the audio file)

Learn Haftara 2:8 (3:11 in the audio file), at least up to “basirim“, but if you can, learn all the way to the end of 2:8.

This Shabbat morning is the Bar Mitzvah of your “classmate”, Leo Carroll. Try to come to KBI for around 9:30 to see what a Bar Mitzvah is like at KBI, and support your peer. Your parents will need to register your family to be there, for contact tracing.

Th, Aug 26

3:40-4pm

Review Haftara to date

Prepare Haftara 2:8 and first half of 2:9 (up to v’am’ra)

Learn Haftara 2:8 – from 3:11 of the audio file

Learn first part of 2:9, up to v’am’ra – from 3:32 of the audio file

Th, Sep 2

3:40-4pm

Review Haftara to date

Prepare rest of 2:9 and 1st half of 2:10

Finish smoothing out 2:9 first half (esp. u-vik-SHA-tam)

Learn rest of 2:9 and half of 2:10 (From 3:53 of the audio file)

Th, Sep 9

5:20pm-5:40pm?

Review Haftara to date

Prepare rest of 2:10 and 2:11

NO LESSON
Th, Oct 7

5:20-5:40pm

Review Haftara to date

Prepare rest of 2:10 and 2:11

Learn rest of 2:10 (4:30 in audio file) and 2:11 (4:42 in audio file)
Th, Oct 14

5:20-5:40pm

Review Haftara from 2:8

Prepare Haftara 2:11-12

Learn Haftara 2:11-12 (4:42 and 5:08 respectively in the audio file below)
Th, Oct 21

5:20-5:40pm

Review Haftara

Prepare Haftara 2:13 and first half of 14

Learn Haftara 2:13 and first half of 2:14 up to m’ahavai. (5:27 and 5:43 respectively, in the audio file below)
Th, Oct 28

5:20-5:40pm

Review Haftara to 2:13

Prepare haftara 2:14

Learn Haftara 2:14 (5:43 of the audio file)
Th, Nov 4

5:20-5:40pm

Review Haftara to date Sort out v5 – “v’sam-ti-ha” and “v’sha-ti-ha

Go back to the beginning, sing through your haftara and find any moment that’s not quite confident or correct (ie., moments where you stumble), and use the audio files on those words to add markings to your page to help you get it the same as in the audio files.

Th, Nov 11

5:20-5:40pm

Review the Haftara

Prepare Haftara 2:15

Learn Haftara 2:15 (from 6:20 in the audio file)
Su, Nov. 21

12:30-12:50pm

Review Haftara to date

Prepare Haftara 2:16 and 2:17

Learn Haftara 2:16 and 2:17 (at least up to l’fetach tikvah, but if you can do the whole verse, even better!) from 6:54 in the audio file.
Th, Nov 25

5:20-5:40pm

Review Haftara to date

Prepare Haftara rest of 17 and v18

Learn Haftara rest-of-v17 and v18 using the audio file below.
Su, Dec. 5

10:30-10:50am

Review Haftara to date

Prepare Haftara 1:19-20

Learn Haftara 1:19-20
Th, Dec 9

5:20-5:40pm

Review Haftara (from beginning this time)

Josie didn’t get to v20, so…

Prepare Haftara 1:20

Learn Haftara 1:20
Th, Dec 16

5:20-5:40pm

Review Haftara from page 3

Prepare Haftara 1:21-22

Learn Haftara 1:21-22
Th, Dec 23

5:20-5:40pm

Review WHOLE haftara

Prepare Blessing 1 after Haftara

NO LESSON – JOSIE ON VACATION
Th, Jan 6

5:20-5:40pm

Review WHOLE haftara

Prepare Haftara 1:22

Prepare Blessing 1 after Haftara

Smooth out 1:21-22

Learn first half of blessing 1 after Haftara (PDF | Audio: Blessing 1 | 2 | 3 | 4)

Th, Jan 13

5:20-5:40pm

Review Haftara from verse 1:15

Review Blessing 1 after haftara, first half

Prepare 2nd half of blessing 1 after haftara

If time, prepare blessing 2 after haftara

Keep smoothing out 1:21-22

Learn 2nd half of Blessing 1 after haftara. Make sure to really LISTEN to that part of the audio file many times before you sing along — that will help the tricky melody of the descending scale really stick in your brain.

Th, Jan 20

5:20-5:40pm

Review whole haftara

Review blessing 1 after haftara

Prepare Blessing 2 after haftara

__________________ _____________________

Downloads (click to open, right-click to save to your computer)

Torah/Haftara Trope Sheet (PDF | Torah Trope | Haftara Trope)

Blessings Before and After Torah Reading (PDF | MP3 – Before | MP3 – After)

Maftir Aliyia (PDF | MP3)

20:25 – 0:00 26 – 0:40 27 – 1:00

Blessing before Haftara (PDF)

Haftara (PDF | MP3), all in Amos Ch9

7 – 0:00 8 – 0:33 9 – 1:14 10 – 1:40 11 – 2:04
12 – 2:34 13 – 2:58 14 – 3:30 15 – 4:08

Blessings after Haftara (PDF | Audio: Blessing 1 | 2 | 3 | 4)

Torah Service (folder)

 

Goals in order of priority

Blessings before and after Torah reading –

Maftir aliya –

Blessing before Haftara

Haftara –

Blessings after Haftara –

Torah Processional –

Torah Recessional –

D’var Torah & Mitzvah Project (with Rabbi Polansky) –

Other items as time allows: Other Torah aliyot; Musaf; Hallel

 

Notes

Josie is going to day camp. May have to move lessons a bit later over summer.