FAQ’s

What do you charge?
Where are you located?
Can you come to my house?
How old does my child have to be to begin preparing for a Bar/Bat Mitzvah?
Am I too old to become a Bar/Bat Mitzvah?
What is your cancelation policy?

What do you charge? Fees are based on an individual basis as student’s needs vary. Please contact us for more information regarding lesson fees and Bar Mitzvah day expenses.

Where are you located? Mitzvah Shirah is based in Ventura County, CA however, we are able to teach lessons to students online wherever they may be throughout the United States and abroad. Vehicles for online teaching include Zoom and FaceTime. All of these are free applications available for download on the internet.

Can you come to my house? Lessons are only scheduled to take place primarily online or occasionally in the instructor’s home office. It is simply too challenging to create a daily schedule of lessons that includes travel time (for local students) which can vary greatly on time of day, traffic, etc. However, first lessons are ideally arranged in person as are Family Meetings and week-of simcha on-site or in-home rehearsals.

How old does my child have to be to begin preparing for a Bar/Bat Mitzvah? For a student that comes to Mitzvah Shirah for their Bar/Bat Mitzvah preparation without any background in Jewish education or knowledge of the Hebrew language, a two-year curriculum of weekly lessons is strongly recommended. If a student comes to Mitzvah Shirah already possessing a mastery of the Hebrew language and other skills, then we will customize a program length for them based on their needs. Generally, 6 months is required at a minimum.

Am I too old to become a Bar/Bat Mitzvah? No. There is absolutely no age limit on becoming a Bar or Bat Mitzvah! All you need is the desire to want to study and learn and prepare yourself for the honor and privilege of being called to the Torah to take your place as an active participant in the world-wide Jewish community. Many adult students have found their Bar/Bat Mitzvah experience to have been one of the most fulfilling and meaningful of their lives.

What is your cancelation policy? Mitzvah Shirah enforces a 24-hr cancelation policy. The 30-45 minutes of the lesson time represents only a small portion of the time that instructors devote to teaching. There is time devoted to creating lesson plans, preparing worksheets and other materials for lessons, setting up physically for lessons, time following up with parents via email after each lesson, responding to inquiries, cancelations and rescheduling requests, and often the time spent following up on no-shows takes up at least as much time as the actual teaching. With true advance notice (24-hours or greater), the instructor can sometimes plan ahead to use the lesson time for some of the aforementioned activities. However, if an instructor begins the day anticipating a certain lesson, it is rarely possible to use that time in a way that is useful. In order for the instructor to provide better lessons and an overall commitment to excellence, Mitzvah Shirah must be strict regarding the 24-hour cancellation policy.