• Examine Photo 5 class
  • Discuss. What is similar or different about this picture and the other Confirmation photos that we have examined?
  • Explain.  This is a church Confirmation photograph. The Confirmands in the picture were German–Russian immigrants who settled in Portland, Oregon. Explain that the photograph shows how closely Jewish Confirmation customs matched their Christian neighbors
  • Discuss. What do the similarities between Jewish and Christian Confirmation customs tell us about the liberal European and American Jewish community in the early years of Confirmation?

• Present the Program from Henrietta Szold’s religious Confirmation at Oheb Shalom Congregation, Baltimore, 1875
  • Explain. Give the students a brief summary of Henrietta Szold’s life and contributions
  • Discuss. What do the students find interesting about this document? What might it tell us about Confirmation, its rituals and history?
  • Ask the one or two students to record any relevant historic customs on the worksheet entitled Confirmation: Yesterday and Today
  • Explain: For additional information about Szold’s Confirmation program, refer to “Introductory Essays”
  • Share Photo 6 with the students
  • Explain. Pforzheim is a small city in southwestern Germany. This picture was taken in 1936 at Pforzheim’s synagogue. In 1938, on Kristallnacht, the synagogue was destroyed (Photo 6). By 1940, all the girls in the picture had immigrated to the United States, and their Cantor was able to immigrate to India. That year, all remaining Jews of Pforzheim were deported to the concentration camp in Gurs (France). Only 55 of the 195 deported persons survived the Holocaust
  • Explain. As we prepare for Confirmation, we bring with us a rich history. We will be adding to the legacy set by these earlier Confirmation classes and adding our own individuality to it
• Ask one of the students to read the list of historic customs listed on the worksheet Confirmation: Yesterday and Today
  • Explain. Based on the customs listed on Confirmation: Yesterday and Today, the class will be making decisions about their own Confirmation ceremony
  • Discuss. Discuss each custom listed. Is it something that we should include today? Why or why not? How might we reinterpret it for today?
• Discuss. Develop a class plan for their upcoming Confirmation. What will they wear? How will they decorate the space? What about flowers and kippot? How do their decisions connect them to past Confirmation classes? How are they uniquely their own?
• Assignment. Ask the students to bring one or more pictures to the next class that represents an important moment in their Jewish journey

Email the parents explaining the class decisions concerning Confirmation customs and the process for reaching these decisions