WHAT AND WHY...

So my name is Alex, I am 45 and I am a practicing Reform Jew in New Orleans, LA.

I love Judaism. I love the Torah. I love Israel.

I love my NOLA community and I love spending time in the Shul and I love doing Jewish things.

This site is my Adult Bar Mitzvah Project...it's a journal showing my pursuit of Jewish Observance...of doing Jewish things over a course of one year...as I make an effort to follow the wisdom of "Na'aseh V'nishma" [Do First and Understand Later]...a verse from  שמות describing the pledge of devotion to Torah that the Jews took upon themselves at Sinai....before they could fully understand it. 

So...I will "do" first...add at least one new Jewish element each day and keep it for a period of one year. On the other side, I will seek to "understand"...learn something about the observance I just added or about the part that has been in my practice for a while or just something Jewish that I thought was interesting.

4/13/2025 is when it begins.

On that day I will define the starting observance point and then will add to it each day. Once done, observed or studied, it's to be done, observed or studied each day for a period of one year [when allowed that is]. Each day is to be recorded as a journal entry on this website detailing what was done, observed and studied, and what was understood.

Notes as the project is progressing: [5/1/2025]

- both pages: "The Doing..." & "The Understanding..." show the most recent entry. To see history, please click on the button with a month name below the entry. I wanted to show all entries on the same page or at least 1 full month but the website builder is somewhat limiting.

- Also...when I list minyan attendance on a given day or Shabbat Services attendance I do not list all the prayers because services are going to include everything...I may list, however, a new component from the minyan that I am incorporating into my personal practice at that time. 

- When I list all the individual prayers for either Arvit, Shacharit or Mincha on a given day, I am reciting all of them by myself. 

- There may be time when I list individual prayers and then minyan attendance...that means I recited some myself and then joined the minyan. 

More Notes: [6-9-2025]

- so almost two months in...it has grown substantially from the first entry...I have learned/understood quite a few new things...my prayer list expanded...daily life incorporated more Jewish things...Hebrew reading is getting a little faster :)...and making my way through Torah and Talmud Berakhot...slowly but I am. But I gotta say...it's only two months in and it is indeed getting more difficult. To recite the daily order of prayers [and it's not all yet] with certain level of required Kavanah is not easy. I would say Shacharit is probably the hardest since it's the longest and right in the morning...and usually one is pressed by time. There was "a day or two" when I woke up too late and could only do the Shema, Havivenu, Tachanun, 1 Ashrei and Aleinu before Zmanim expired. So I think the goal for the next two months is to focus on developing a steady rhythm behind Shacharit as it gains more prayers. 

- Mincha is probably my favorite  and I have made the effort to expand it as much as I could...but the Mincha choices are limited in itself even when using 4 Siddurim. Maariv is usually smooth sailing.

- Goal is also to steady the minyan participation as increased amount of  work threw me off course a little. So 1 on Sunday and 2 between Monday and Friday is still the goal.

- one of the things I learned is to have a Siddur/Torah Commentary close-by wherever I go...it helps particularly with Mincha.

- I found the Zmanim app to be very helpful in keeping things on track and in the right parts of the day.

- The true reward of this project is not only to earn and live the observance but to understand it and be able to adjust it in the daily cycle...and more importantly be able to explain why. That is the final goal.