Remember the 2009 episode of “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” when, as part of a plot to coax Michael Richards to go along with a “Seinfeld” reunion, Larry David’s black housemate, Leon, pretends to be the Jewish accountant Danny Duberstein?
To sell the story, Leon says he was adopted by a nice Jewish couple and has been a bar mitzvah three times, most recently just a few months ago in Atlantic City.
Understandably confused, Richards says he thought the milestone happens just once, at the age of 13.
“No, no, no, no. You misunderstood,” Leon insists. “It’s once every 13 years. You’ve got to recharge the mitzvah.”
“Curb” was playing for laughs, but Scott Shay is serious.
In his 2006 book “Getting Our Groove Back: How to Energize American Jewry,” which was published before the “Curb” episode aired (maybe that’s where Larry got the idea?), the Signature Bank chairman called for the creation of a new custom — the cyclical 18-year bar/bat mitzvah.
It was this idea, Shay says, that seemed to capture people’s attention during his book tour.
“I’d get emails and questions from people who wanted to do it, from rabbis and educators who asked me for a curriculum,” he says.
Not a professional educator, Shay brought the idea to Audrey Lichter, a veteran in Jewish education, to help develop a curriculum and launch a program. It was Lichter who gave Shay a key piece of advice.
“You have to do this community by community,” she told him. “Otherwise it won’t really catch on.”
Chai Mitzvah, the program that Lichter ended up creating two years ago, currently is being offered in three U.S. communities, Manhattan and Long Island, N.Y., and Hartford, Conn. — as well as in Israel. It is also being launched in Denver, where a coordinator was recently hired.
Moreover, at last week’s Jewish Federations of North America’s General Assembly in Denver, Chai Mitzvah received inquiries from federations in eight communities and Birthright Israel Next (a program for alumni of Birthright Israel trips).
Although Lichter says none of the inquiries came from Bay Area federations, she nevertheless is very excited about the prospect of expanding the program in 2012 to places such as San Diego; Austin, Texas; Boca Raton, Fla.; and Milwaukee.
“The Lion of Judah [the federations’ women’s philanthropy arm] was extremely interested”at the G.A., Lichter says. “Also, there was a lot of discussion there about Baby Boomers — not just meeting their social and health needs, but also about how to spark people 65 and older spiritually, and get them and their manpower involved in the community. Chai Mitzvah is one of the number of programs that can help do that.”
Chai Mitzvah relies heavily on the support of synagogues, local rabbis and teachers and JCCs, which refer participants.
Since its inception, the program has attracted about 200 participants from across the religious spectrum — from Jewish Renewal to Orthodox to the unaffiliated.
The program is composed of four elements: monthly group study sessions, a new ritual undertaking, social action and celebration. Participants are divided into four age cohorts (26 to 33, 46 to 52, 64 to 70 and 80-plus). People not in those brackets are encouraged to become mentors.
The eight-month program typically starts after the conclusion of the High Holy Days and ends in the spring with a celebration.
“We pick these ages because they capture certain stages in one’s life,” Lichter says. “Everybody notices their 50th birthday, yet we don’t mark it Jewishly.”
Most significant for many of the participants is the adoption of a new ritual, which can vary widely according to education and observance level. Often it is something a person has long intended to take up — perhaps chanting the haftarah, lighting the Sabbath candles or reading the fifth aliyah of every Torah portion —but needed a push and support to accomplish.
“What we’ve heard from people is that it was a spark for them to do something meaningful,” Lichter says.
Donna Lippman had been encouraged to sign up by her rabbi at Kehilath Jeshurun, a Modern Orthodox synagogue on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. She first came to K.J. a decade ago, attending the shul’s beginners’ service, but then began to feel as if her Jewish learning had hit a plateau.
“I have always loved Jewish learning,” Lippman says. “[Chai Mitzvah] was a way to integrate that into my life by taking on some rituals and social actions.”
For her new ritual observance, she decided to adopt the recitation of the morning blessings.
“I had never really looked at them,” explains Lippman, who joined Chai Mitzvah’s middle-aged cohort. But with the help of the program, she incorporated them into her daily routine.
“It got me oriented to carry out my day the right way,” she says. “I really made an effort to be kinder and more patient.”
Though there is a group study component to the program when all of the cohorts come together, Chai Mitzvah is highly personalized, tailored to the individual. Once a participant decides what he or she wants to study or how to volunteer, the Chai Mitzvah support staff helps find programs and opportunities within the person’s community.
“There’s a lot going on in communities,” Lichter says. “The biggest challenge is engagement, not creating another program. Chai Mitzvah provides the reason to engage.”
One of the most popular aspects of the program is that it gives the 80-plus crowd an opportunity to learn and celebrate.
“People are always offering [seniors] services, but not a chance to learn and grow,” says Galya Greenberg, an educator who leads monthly text study sessions for Chai Mitzvah. “Someone in her 80s decided to say Modeh Ani every morning. That was the ritual she added to her life.”
Attracting participants in the 26-to-33-year-old age group has been more challenging — a fact well known by many Jewish institutions.
To reach this group, Lichter says that Chai Mitzvah may have to change some of the program parameters, such as scaling back the four-month commitment, and perhaps partner with organizations that have greater appeal among young Jews.
The challenges notwithstanding, Shay is optimistic that the 18-year bar/bat mitzvah cycle can take root in the Jewish community. After all, as he noted in his book, the bat mitzvah wasn’t widely accepted when it was introduced more than 50 years ago, yet is now a near-universal staple in most corners of the Jewish community.
Maybe 50 years from now, if Shay has his way, we’ll all be doing the electric slide attending our grandparents’ Chai Mitzvah parties.
J. staff contributed to this report.
For more information about Chai Mitzvah, visit www.chaimitzvah.org or call (860) 206-8363.