Confirmation

Our 11^th graders are confirmed at the end of their junior year of high school. In addition to participation in our High School Program, which includes four Sunday afternoon class sessions taught by Rabbi Elder and four hands-on social action projects, our confirmation students are required to attend two additional classes to prepare for the Confirmation Service and a parent/student meeting to plan for Confirmation.

The expectation is full participation throughout the year as a requisite for Confirmation.

The 11th Grade/Confirmation Class Curriculum focuses on The Jew and the Greater Community. It is no mistake that Jewish prayer is in the plural, for community has always been the backbone of Jewish existence.  For Judaism to thrive, it must have an active, committed community that comes together to experience and express its unique Jewish perspective. The 11th grade year asks the question: “What is a Jew in the eyes of the greater Jewish community and beyond?”  We learn about other streams of Judaism and our relationship to them. And, we explore other faith traditions and compare them with our own.

Confirmation is a Reform-originated ceremony tied to the holiday of Shavuot. It constitues an individual and group affirmation of commitment as adults to our Jewish community and to the Jewish people. It is one of the "youngest" Jewish life cycle ceremonies, beginning less than 200 years ago when becoming b'nai mitzvah was less popular among Reform Jews.

The first recorded confirmation in North America was held at New York's Anshe Chesed Congregation in 1846. Two years later, New York's Congregation Emanu-El adopted confirmation. The ceremony grew in popularity, and in 1927, the Central Conference of American Rabbis recommended confirmation as a Movement-wide practice.

At its inception, the Confirmation ceremony had more of a graduation-model motif. As confirmation moved into the synagogue and its ties to Shavuot strengthened, the ceremony became more elaborate, sometimes taking on an air of great pageantry. Today, wide variations exist in congregational practice with regard to the Confirmation ceremony. At Hakafa, our confirmation students lead the Shabbat service closest to Shavuot. During the service they each take a turn speaking about their own Jewish story.