Youth & Family life at Shir tikvah
Jewish life grows through relationships, questions, celebration, prayer, and practice. At Shir Tikvah, children and teens are not simply preparing for some future moment when they will become full participants in Jewish community. They are part of that community now, bringing their own questions, voices, experiences, and ideas to the life we create together.
Shir Tikvah offers children, teens, and the adults who care for them opportunities to learn, worship, build friendships, celebrate Jewish time, and grow into deeper relationship with Jewish tradition and one another. Whether your family is just beginning to explore Shir Tikvah or has been part of our community for years, we hope you will find places here to learn, connect, and belong.
Upcoming Youth & Family Events
Exploring
Shir Tikvah
“Joining Shir Tikvah was a way to give my kids a voice.”
-Mother of a 7th grader and 4th grader
Families come to Shir Tikvah for many reasons: to give their children a Jewish education, to celebrate holidays, to find community, to ask questions, to pray, to make friends, or simply to explore what Jewish life might mean for their family. There is no single way a family needs to look or practice in order to begin building a relationship with Shir Tikvah.
Many of our services, celebrations, and community events are open to visitors and prospective members. Shir Tikvah membership is required for ongoing education programs, B’Mitzvah, and youth groups, and we are always glad to talk with families about what membership and participation might look like.
To learn more about becoming a member and officially joining, visit our Membership webpage.
Welcoming a Child
Expecting a child, growing your family through adoption, or preparing to welcome a new child into your life? We are delighted to celebrate with you and to surround your family with blessings, care, and support during this important transition.
Please be in touch so we can welcome your newest family member into the Shir Tikvah community, introduce them to the congregation and their someday classmates, and support your family in practical ways, including organizing a meal train. We are also glad to work with you to plan a brit milah, baby naming, or another welcoming ritual that reflects your family.
Families with Young Children | K’tanimot
The early years are full of beginnings, and we want families with babies, toddlers, preschoolers, and young children to have places where Jewish life can be experienced with the whole body: through songs and stories, movement and food, prayer and play, holidays and relationships.
Tot Shabbat ordinarily gathers on the third Saturday of the month, often alongside Community Shabbat. These mornings offer an accessible and playful way for young children and the adults who care for them to experience Shabbat together. Throughout the year, families can also find seasonal celebrations, holiday programs, and other opportunities to gather with one another and the wider Shir Tikvah community.
View or Print the 5787 Tot Shabbat Calendar
View Upcoming K’tanimot Events
JAMI
The Jewish Academy for Moral Imagination
The Jewish Academy for Moral Imagination (JAMI) is Shir Tikvah’s learning community for students in pre-kindergarten through 11th grade and their families. Students encounter Torah, Hebrew, prayer, Jewish history, holidays, music, contemporary Jewish life, and the questions they themselves bring into the classroom.
At the heart of JAMI is the conviction that Jewish learning shapes how we understand ourselves and how we live in the world. Students deepen their knowledge of Jewish tradition while developing relationships, learning to participate in Jewish communal life, and practicing the work of imagining and helping to create a better world.
JAMI includes Sunday and Wednesday learning, communal T’filah, Shabbat experiences, holiday celebrations, family learning, and opportunities for students to grow into increasing responsibility and leadership.
Becoming B’mitzvah
At Shir Tikvah, we speak of becoming B’Mitzvah rather than simply “having” a B’Mitzvah. B’Mitzvah marks a threshold into Jewish adulthood and greater responsibility for Jewish learning, practice, community, and ethical life.
The journey begins well before the service itself. Through JAMI, family learning, individual tutoring, Torah study, prayer, Shabbat, and participation in one another’s celebrations, students and families prepare together. Every student brings different gifts, questions, identities, learning needs, and interests to this process, and our goal is to help each young person grow into meaningful Jewish participation in a way that is authentically their own.
The B’Mitzvah service is an important moment in that journey, but it is not the destination. Becoming B’Mitzvah opens into continued learning, community, leadership, and Jewish life.
Explore Becoming B’Mitzvah
Learn About B’Mitzvah Tutoring
“When I first met you, I knew you would fill this new, scary experience with laughter and happiness.”
-A B’Mitzvah student to their tutor
Teen community
Jewish life at Shir Tikvah continues well beyond B’Mitzvah. Our teens learn together, work together, care for younger members of the community, build friendships, and help imagine what teen Jewish life at Shir Tikvah can become.
Wednesday JAMI offers continued Jewish learning for students in 8th through 11th grade. Students explore Jewish history, identity, contemporary questions, and the challenges of living Jewishly in the world today. Our 9th–11th-grade Tzadiot and Confirmation cohort also creates space for teens to think more deeply about the kind of Jewish adults they are becoming.
Teens can also take on paid roles in the life of Shir Tikvah. Madrichim serve as classroom aides and guides during Sunday JAMI, working alongside faculty and younger students while developing their own skills as educators and leaders. Teens also provide paid childcare during the High Holidays and selected congregational programs.
And sometimes Jewish community should simply be fun. STiFTY creates space for teen-led social programming, friendship, leadership, learning, and whatever wonderfully strange ideas Shir Tikvah teens decide they want to make happen together. For more information about Teen Programming, email Emma Nicosia, JAMI Principal.
Parent(s) & Caregiver(s)
Children and teens are not the only people being formed through family Jewish life. Parents and caregivers are partners in JAMI and in the wider Shir Tikvah community, and we want adults to have opportunities to ask their own questions, build their own relationships, and deepen their own Jewish lives.
Family learning, parent conversations, holiday celebrations, Shabbat, informal gatherings, and the ordinary work of showing up together all create opportunities for adults to grow alongside their children. Parents and caregivers of every religious background, identity, and family structure are welcome.
We also hope that adults will find places at Shir Tikvah that belong to them beyond their roles as parents: through worship, learning, justice work, volunteering, friendship, music, and the many other ways people participate in communal life.
Parents and caregivers who are not Jewish are welcome and deeply valued at Shir Tikvah. Half of our JAMI students are being raised by at least one parent or caregiver who is not Jewish, and we are grateful for the many ways Jewish and non-Jewish adults together nurture Jewish life in their families.
We honor our Jewish+ families and recognize that every family brings its own traditions, questions, relationships, and needs to the work of raising children. One of Shir Tikvah’s superpowers is that no two families here look exactly alike. We want parents and caregivers of every background to have the support, relationships, and resources they need to help their families learn, celebrate, and grow.
To learn more about Adult Education at Shir Tikvah, visit our Adult Ed webpage and email Rabbi Joey Glick, Associate Rabbi for Lifelong Learning.
Find Your Place at Shir Tikvah
There is no single path into Jewish community, and families enter Shir Tikvah at many different ages and stages of life. You do not need to know exactly where you fit before reaching out.
If you have questions about JAMI, B’Mitzvah, teen opportunities, family programs, accessibility, or simply where to begin, our Youth and Family Education team would be glad to help you find a next step.
