On Tuesday, June 3, at 7:00 at the Franklin Federated Church, six of our students will mark their Confirma-tion as part of our Shavuot celebration. For these six young people, Confirmation will mark the end of their formal Religious School training. In other words, it will be their graduation ceremony. But Confirmation is so much more.

Would it surprise you to learn that Confirmation was once the most highly attended service in the Reform calendar after the High Holy Days? Synagogues would be packed as Confirmands paraded down the aisle and pledged to confirm their Jewish identity.

Confirmation is a contribution that the Reform Movement has made to the Jewish world. It is a statement of affirmation of joining the adult Jewish community. It take place after 10th grade because the early Reformers believed that students should have a greater level of maturity to make this affirmation. I can say after teaching this class of Confirmands that they have approached their task with a wonderful mix of seriousness and fun.

Shavuot is the holiday that marks our receiving the Torah on Mount Sinai. Confirmation takes place on Shavuot because it symbolizes a community of students publicly receiving and accepting Torah, much as the Torah itself tells us the Israelite people did in the wilderness. There, they responded to God’s call with the words na’aseh v’nishma, “we will do and we will listen.”

It is in that symbolism that the wider appeal of Confirmation lay in the past, and can again. For more than just a graduation ceremony, Confirmation is our statement to ourselves that our Jewish community goes forward. Our Confirmands repre-sent us when they say that together as a class, they confirm their Judaism. So, too, do we as a community come together to welcome them as our future.

Confirmation may not draw the numbers it once did, but it remains a vital part of our Reform Jewish experience. I hope that you can join our Confirmands this Shavuot.