Max, use this page 3-4 times each week to prepare for your Bar Mitzvah. To ensure simcha success, please use the tools and downloadable items provided here to learn and practice your training assignments between lessons. 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).
| DATE/TIME | GOALS | HOMEWORK ASSIGNED |
| We., May 15
5-6pm In Cantor Green’s office |
Intro to B’nei Mitzvah Process
Intro to Webpage Goal Setting Lesson 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. |
| Tu, Aug 6
5:10-5:30pm |
Prepare and provide BatM folder
Prepare Blessing Before and After Torah reading |
Learn Blessings Before and After Torah Reading (PDF | MP3 – Before | MP3 – After), using the homework technique in the box above this one. |
| Tu, Aug 13
5:10-5:30pm |
Review Torah Blessings
Prepare Torah Trope first half |
Learn Torah Trope first half |
| Tu, Aug 20 | NO LESSON – MAX ON VACATION | Keep learning Torah Trope first half |
| Tu, Aug 27
5:10-5:30pm |
Review Torah Trope first half
Review Torah blessings |
Spend more time on the Torah Trope, first half. Make sure you listen about 20 times before singing along — let the notes (in particular) really sink in! Then sing along a whole bunch of times until smooth. Then sing it on your own, with just the sheet in front of you. |
| Tu, Sep 3
5:10-5:30pm |
Review Torah trope 1st half
Prepare Torah Trope 2nd half |
Learn Torah Trope, 2nd half, from Pazeir. (About 36 seconds into the audio file). Use the audio file to do “start and stop” / “repeat after me” |
| Tu, Sep 10
5:10-5:30pm |
Review Torah trope
Prepare Maftir 12:14 up to b’faneha |
Learn Maftir 12:14 up to b’faneha (which is at the 0:12 mark) Use the homework technique above! The audio file is below, in the downloads section. |
| Tu, Sep 17
5:10-5:30pm |
Review Maftir to date
Work on material from last week — it didn’t really happen because of travel to Toronto. |
Finish learning Maftir 12:14 up to b’faneha (which is at the 0:12 mark). Use the homework technique above! The audio file is below, in the downloads section. |
| Tu, Sep 24
5:10-5:30pm |
Review Maftir to date
Prepare Maftir 12:14 from halo tikaleim to the end of the verse. |
Learn Maftir 12:14 from halo tikaleim to the end of the verse. If you get overwhelmed with that amount of material (which I don’t think you will!), you can stop at yamim which is the last word on printed line 2.
Once you’ve learned that material well, go back to the beginning of the maftir and make sure you can do it smoothly from the top. |
| Tu, Oct 1
5:10-5:30pm |
Review Maftir to date
Prepare Maftir 12:15 up to lo nasa |
Learn Maftir 12:15 up to lo nasa |
| Tu, Oct 8
5:10-5:30pm |
Prepare Maftir 12:15 from Ad hei-aseif to the end | Learn Maftir 12:15 from Ad hei-aseif to the end
Smooth out the beginning of verse 15. |
| Tu, Oct 15
5:10-5:30pm |
Review Maftir to date (ie., the whole thing)
Plan: keep spending a few more weeks practicing all of the Maftir while we learn other material. Then we’ll try the maftir from the STA”M side (the left-hand side). |
Sing along to the audio file of you maftir. This week, the goal is to be singing it fluently and confidently from your transliteration sheet. |
| Tu, Oct 22
5:10-5:30pm |
Review maftir from transliteration sheet
Practice maftir from STA”M side of Tikkun page |
Set a reminder on your phone to bring your Bar Mitzvah folder, including the transliteration sheet.
Sing along to the audio file of you maftir at least 20 times this week. This week, the goal is to be singing it fluently and confidently from the transliterations on the original maftir Tikkun sheet (the red ink!) |
| Tu, Oct 29
5:10-5:30pm |
Review Maftir from the Tikkun transliteration page
Prepare Blessing before haftara, 1st half |
Learn Blessing before Haftara, 1st half, up to be-emet. Use the recommended study technique as in the box at the top of this column. You did great with that over the last week! (PDF | MP3)
IF AND ONLY IF you master this amount, you CAN go further (it’s in the audio file). But the goal is QUALITY not QUANTITY! As a reminder, please keep reviewing your Torah blessings and maftir at least once a week to keep them fresh and polished! |
| Tu, Nov 5
5:10-5:30pm |
Review Blessing before Haftara, 1st half
Prepare Blessing before Haftara, 2nd half (if needed) Review Maftir aliya |
Touch up the first half of the blessing before the Haftara, using 2 new techniques:
(1) make sure you can hear yourself as you’re singing along – turn OFF noise cancellation (2) remember that just because the word or syllable ends doesn’t always mean the notes end. You may have an extra note to sing at the end of many words. |
| Tu, Nov 12
5:10-5:30pm |
Review Blessing before Haftara first half
Prepare 2nd half of blessing before Haftara Review Maftir |
Learn 2nd half of Blessing before Haftara
AND make sure to practice the WHOLE blessing before the Haftara so that the first half flows into the second half. |
| Tu, Nov 19
5:10-5:30pm |
Review Torah Blessings
Review Maftir Review blessing before Haftara (entire) Prepare Haftara 2:14 |
Learn Haftara 2:14
Continue to smooth out blessing before haftara, making sure to sing the haftara trope, not your Torah blessing melody! |
| Tu, Nov 26
5:10-5:30pm |
Review Blessing before Haftara and Haftara to date
Prepare Haftara 2:15 up to l’am Review 2 Torah blessings |
1. Learn the new material – Haftara 2:15 up to l’am
2. Go back and get good at replicating the melody (as in the audio file) of haftara 2:14. Really copy Cantor Green’s note patterns. |
| Tu, Dec. 3
5:10-5:30pm |
Review Haftara to date with Blessing Before Haftara
Prepare Haftara rest-of-2:15 |
Learn Haftara rest-of-2:15.
Please use the homework technique diligently so that you are actually learning the tune as you go. We’d like to not just have you reading the transliterated words without their melody, and the only way to do that is to learn to reproduce the audio file’s melody. This should take you about an hour in three homework sittings each week. You can do this! |
| Tu, Dec. 10
5:10-5:30pm |
Review Haftara to date
Prepare Haftara 2:16 |
|
| _____________ | ____________________ |
Torah/Haftara Trope Sheet (PDF | Torah Trope | Haftara Trope)
Blessings Before and After Torah Reading (PDF | MP3 – Before | MP3 – After)
Maggie – Rishon Aliya (split = 1st weekday aliya)
Maftir B’ha’alot’cha – All in Num. Ch 12 (PDF | MP3)
| 14 – 0:00 | 15 – 0:32 | 16 – 0:54 |
Blessing before Haftara (PDF | MP3)
Haftara B’ha’alot’cha – Zecharia, Chapters 2, 3, and 4 (PDF | MP3) – Max will do 2:14-3:7. Maggie will do 3:8-4:7
| 2:14 – 0:00 | 2:15 – 0:17 | 2:16 – 0:49 | 2:17 – 1:07 | 3:1 – 1:20 | 3:2 – 1:47 | 3:3 – 2:20 |
| 3:4 – 2:35 | 3:5 – 3:11 | 3:6 – 3:42 | 3:7 – 3:53 | 3:8 – 4:31 | 3:9 – 5:03 | 3:10 – 5:44 |
| 4:1 – 6:07 | 4:2 – 6:25 | 4:3 – 7:07 | 4:4 – 7:24 | 4:5 – 7:41 | 4:6 – 8:08 | 4:7 – 8:39 |
Blessings after Haftara (PDF | Audio: Blessing 1 | 2 | 3 | 4)
Torah Service (PDF)
Blessings before and after Torah reading – DONE
Torah trope – DONE
Maggie – Rishon Aliya (split = 1st weekday aliya)
Maftir aliya – IN PROGRESS
Blessing before Haftara – IN PROGRESS
Haftara – IN PROGRESS
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