Welcome to the premier of Beneath the Surface, Mayyim Hayyim’s new film about deepening mother-daughter relationships during the memorable yet challenging time leading up to a family’s bat mitzvah celebration.
With support from the Boston Jewish Community Women’s Fund, filmmaker Jen Kaplan has created an inspiring and poignant portrait of girls and moms that brings to life Mayyim Hayyim’s Beneath the Surface: A Program for Bat Mitzvah Girls and their Mothers, a series of Sunday-afternoon workshops that infuse preparation for this coming-of-age ritual with emotional and spiritual meaning.
Over the next few weeks we will be sharing others’ impressions of the film. If you want to share what you think of the film, I welcome you to reach out to me at lisab@mayyimhayyim.org. It is our hope that, through this film, other communities will be inspired to be creative with their own b’nai mitzvah programming.
Too often, bat mitzvah preparation is peppered with questions like, “Did you practice your chanting today?”, “You want to invite how many friends?”, “I’m only doing this because you’re making me!”, “I have to have two dresses!”. Watch these mothers and daughters and feel encouraged about the future of Bat Mitzvah in America. I dare you not to get a little misty.
-Lisa Berman
Director of Education