By David Britva Beraha, executive director, UJR-AmLat
One of the flagship programmes of the Union for Reform Judaism in Latin America (UJR-AmLat), the Adult BMitzvah course concludes its seventh cohort in the final months of 2025.
Created in 2016 by initiative of UJR founder and WUPJ honorary life member Miriam Vasserman, with support from her home congregation CIP (São Paulo), the programme has now impacted the lives of almost one hundred participants from all over Brazil – and even a few Brazilians abroad!
The yearly programme concludes in one of the international Reform and Progressive Judaism events: either the UJR regional conference or the World Union for Progressive Judaism’s Connections conference.
This year, students from Brasília, Florianópolis, and São Paulo joined the global leadership of the Reform movement and celebrated their Bat and Bar Mitzvah ceremony in Jerusalem, on the terraces of the WUPJ’s headquarters, overlooking the Old City. The service was led by Rabbi Kelita Cohen, an alumna of the programme herself, and Cantor Isidoro Abramowicz, director of the cantorial programme at the Abraham Geiger College.
Currently comprising seven chapters – Jewish Sources, Community, Jewish Calendar, Tefillah, Israel, Cantillation, and Ceremony – the course includes about 30 weekly classes taught by rabbis and professors, as well as a 10-class module on chanting Torah verses. The collective approach fosters debate, questioning, reflection, and connection.
This year, we also partnered with CIP’s Jewish Academy, an educational start-up developing a broad library and community of online Jewish learning. Beyond the live classes, students have access to courses on Jewish history, literature, culture, traditions, and sources.
In the words of Nina Pencak, from Brasília’s ACIB congregation:
“The opportunity to study and do my Bat Mitzvah ceremony at age 36 was amazing! Learning with different rabbis and teachers about diverse themes related to Judaism and Zionism made me a better person, a more spiritual Jew, more connected to our religion and our traditions.
As a Jewish woman, I felt well represented by the inclusive vision of the course and by the diversity of the teachers.
The Bat Mitzvah, for me, was a process that strengthened my connection to the spiritual side of Judaism. I learned I can be progressive and religious at the same time.
I’m deeply thankful to UJR-AmLat and CIP for the opportunity!”
UJR-AmLat is proud to partner with the Women of Reform Judaism, whose continued support has allowed this programme to thrive for nearly a decade.
