Life Cycles
Life cycle rituals help us honor and celebrate some of life’s most meaningful moments, including baby namings, b’nai mitzvah, weddings, conversions, and funerals.
Below, we’ve provided a glimpse into how we approach some of these life cycles at Kavana. If you are interested in actively working towards one of these life cycle moments, we invite you to reach out to us for an exploratory conversation.
For Kavana partners, access to Kavana’s rabbis for life cycle support is one of the many benefits of formally joining a community; for non-partners, our rabbis try to say yes to life-cycle support as often as possible (and when they don’t have the capacity, they will refer you to other local rabbis who can help).
Baby Naming
B’sha’ah tovah, congratulations on expecting a baby! There are numerous customs and rituals around welcoming a Jewish baby into their heritage; we regularly craft bris (circumcision for a baby boy) and Hebrew naming ceremonies (for all genders) with a mix of traditional and creative elements. If you have a baby on the way, please reach out to one of our rabbis at least a month in advance to begin planning a ceremony.
B’nai Mitzvah
Since 2011, scores of young adults have celebrated the bar/bat/b’nai mitzvah milestone within the Kavana community. Students are encouraged to personalize this ritual, and the resulting ceremonies have been beautiful and varied. Some b'nai mitzvah ceremonies have featured the traditional elements you'd see in a typical synagogue setting: leading sections of the Shabbat service and/or key prayers, delivering a d'var torah (speech), and reading from the Torah. Others have been home-based and incorporated creative elements like art, music or food to demonstrate a meaningful connection with Jewish content.
Kavana strongly encourages our 6th-8th graders to enroll in our Middle School Program. While these Tuesday night classes are not a b'nai mitzvah prep program per se, they provide students with a strong foundation in Jewish history and core Jewish texts.
B’nai mitzvah celebrations under the auspices of Kavana are open to Kavana partners and regular participants in our community. If you are interested in learning more about Kavana's b’nai mitzvah process, our Middle School program, or any other aspect of the Kavana community, please be in touch.
Conversion
There are many ways to be Jewish, and many ways to be part of Jewish community even if you are not (yet) Jewish. If you are drawn to formalize your Jewish identity through a conversion process, typically you will take at least a year-long introduction to Judaism class. We highly recommend the virtual class offered through the Washington Coalition of Rabbis. In addition to learning, we strongly recommend experiencing Jewish community through regular participation in Shabbat services, holiday programming, and other community connection points of your choosing. Finally, you will connect with Rabbi Jay LeVine for periodic meetings throughout the process for deeper learning, and exploring and reflecting on your journey. After going through the full preparations, the conversion ceremony itself involves talking with a beit din (a panel of three rabbis) to formally recognize your process, mikvah (ritual immersion in water, either at Seattle’s community mikvah or in a natural body of water), choosing a Hebrew name, and some additional prayers and blessings to mark the moment of adopting Judaism as your spiritual or religious path. To begin exploring conversion, please contact Rabbi Jay.
Wedding
Mazal tov, congratulations on your upcoming wedding! As you prepare for the wedding ceremony, you are also preparing for marriage, and tending to the relationship is just as important as tending to the logistics of the big day.
You can expect to meet with your officiating rabbi regularly, both to plan the ceremony and to do pre-marital counseling (note: most rabbis are not therapists, and if you’d prefer you can do pre-marital counseling through a therapist as well). We recommend reaching out to us at least a year in advance of your wedding date. If we are not available to officiate your wedding, we are also happy to make referrals to other wonderful Seattle-area officiants.