Adult Education

Pine Brook Jewish Center offers a range of learning opportunities for adults at all levels of skill and knowledge in an informal and friendly setting. 

Adult Education with Rabbi Finkel

Rabbi Finkel offers series of adult education classes throughout the year. Some recent topics include:

• Who Wrote the Bible?
• The Two Sides of King David
• The Golden Land
• Six Classical Prohets - Samuel, Nathan, Hosea, Joel, Zechariah & Malachi

Cooking with Cantor Toren

Cantor Toren offers fun and interactive cooking classes. Join the Cantor and Hadas on a culinary journey as they share Israeli recipies as well as put a new spin on some traditional favorites. 

Adult B'nai Mitzvah Class
Our Adult Bar & Bat Mitzvah classes run in a two-year cycle and are offered every few years, based on interest. Our current group of students will celebrate their B'nai Mitzvah on March 7, 2020.

Could Adult Bat or Bar Mitzvah Be In Your Future?
We tell each Bar and Bat Mitzvah child that they have become an adult in the eyes of the Jewish community; but what about those who study for Bar/Bat Mitzvah as adults?

Our congregation holds classes for adults to come to the Bimah as a Bat or Bar Mitzvah. Rabbi Finkel and Cantor Toren have taught adult Bar/Bat Mitzvah classes to students whose ages have ranged from the 20’s to the 70’s.

Who can join the program?
Any Jew 13 years old or older can become Bar or Bat Mitzvah. In reality, once a Jewish person has reached the age of 13, they are already Bar or Bat Mitzvah. But not everyone has had the opportunity to study and master a text to allow them to do what most 13-year-olds do at PBJC.

Adult students would learn a selection from the Torah or from the Biblical prophets (Haftarah) to chant at the Bar/Bat Mitzvah service. Students would also learn certain basic prayers, Jewish history, customs and ceremonies. Students need to be PBJC members.

Why didn’t someone have a Bar/Bat Mitzvah at 13 years old?

Perhaps one’s family wasn’t connected to a synagogue. Perhaps one grew up in an Orthodox synagogue that didn’t offer Bat Mitzvah. Perhaps it was a case of economics: one’s family could not afford it.

In addition, we are blessed in the contemporary Jewish community with Jews by Choice who have linked their destiny to that of the Jewish people. They joined the Jewish people as adults, but still want to enhance their Jewish lives with what many born Jews experience as teenagers.

Can I study if I have already been Bar/Bat Mitzvah?
Yes! Perhaps your first Bar or Bat Mitzvah was more parent-driven. This time you bring a maturity to the learning process.