In just a few weeks 11 of our finest students, some of our best and brightest young people, will confirm their Jewish identity at a special Shabbat morning service.

The Confirmation service is not a private event.  It is not only for the members of the class and their families, but for our entire congregation.  This is our annual opportunity to kvell with our young people, to support their achievements, and to celebrate as a congregational family with them.  I encourage everyone to attend, and with their children.  Our Confirmation students are great Jewish role models for our younger students.

We have few opportunities for Shabbat morning worship during the year.   This is a chance for all of us to come together and celebrate the Sabbath in a very meaningful way.

Our students are anxious for Confirmation, not only because it marks a transition for them, but also because they are proud of who they are as Jews.  They might have kvetched over the years about attending Sunday school, or given me a hard time about attending services, but they are truly committed to their faith.  Each of our students is writing a short essay that they will present at the service.   These are the true highlights of the service.

Preparing for Confirmation includes teaching our students about the history of Reform Judaism,  and how our movement envisioned contemporary Jewish life,  in an ever changing world.  We talk about wisdom of the prophets, their belief in social justice, and our obligation to work toward the pursuit of tikkun olam.

Over the past few years the Confirmation Class has spent a Sunday morning at our Temple cemetery, picking up debris, cleaning off stones,   but more importantly understanding their place in the continuity of Jewish life.  We will be doing the same thing this month.

One of the Confirmation Class traditions is to have a photograph taken of the class.  This picture becomes a permanent reminder of this class and this milestone as it is placed on the wall of the Barbara Padnos Family Religious School Wing.   Without a doubt these are the most viewed photographs in our Temple.  Over the years I have been directed (with much pride) to parents and grandparents of our students.

Confirmation was envisioned by the early Reform leaders as a substitute for Bar Mitzvah.  They believed the communal nature of Confirmation, and the egalitarian nature of it,  better served young people.   Reform Judaism has long since made peace with the importance of both Bar and Bat Mitzvah for our students, and yet Confirmation endures.   It survives because a 16 year old student can affirm his Judaism in a very different and much more meaningful way, than can a 13 year old student.

Confirmation affords us the chance to listen to and to learn from the young people of our congregation.   It gives us the chance to tell these students how proud we are of them,  and why they matter to our congregation.

I hope that when each of us receives our invitation to Confirmation this year,  an invitation created by the members of the class,  we will call the office and say that we will be in attendance.   We are a family of families at Temple Emanuel.   Come and celebrate the simcha of 11 of our children.

I extend a Mazel Tov to Jacob Belfer, Jordan Esterman, Andrew Hammond, Eric Katz, Emily Levitt, JJ Kaufman, Ben Kogelschatz, Carl Powsner, Kyle Rinzler, Abbey Rhodes, and Austin Zheutlin,  and their families.

I look forward to seeing everyone on the 21^st.