Dear Members,

The Shaare Tefillah youth committee is excited about its youth program. In this letter, please find important information about the program.

1) Youth Groups

The Shaare Tefillah Shabbat morning youth program is broken down into several parts:

A) Beit Haatid  (0-2)

The Beit Haatid program is for children aged 0-2, and is located in the first floor “den” adjacent to the kitchen. There is no formal structure to the group, but there are age appropriate toys and books for children. There is no paid adult supervision in this room, and parents must stay with their children, or leave them in the company of other parents.

B) Tot Shabbat (2-4)

The Tot Shabbat program is located upstairs in the room on the left. The program begins at 9:45 am with supervised playtime. At 10:15, a structured program, led by a rotation of parents, will take place until 11:00. During this program, children will daven, sing, dance, learn parsha, hear stories, and have Kiddush. After an initial adjustment period, parents are discouraged from staying with their children during the structured part of Tot Shabbat, so that the program can run more smoothly. In addition to a parent, a teenage youth leader and a big brother/sister supervise the group.

C) Beit Yeladeinu (4-7)

The Beit Yeladeinu program begins at 9:45 am and takes place in the upstairs room on the right hand side. There, children will learn and practice tefillah, parsha, and be taught Jewish values and Derech Eretz. A youth leader, and a big sister/brother will supervise the group.

D) Big Brother/Sister

In an effort to involve older children, whose numbers does not warrant its own group, The Shaare Tefillah youth committee is putting together a big brother/big sister program. Through the program, older children become “youth leaders in training”, by helping out in Shabbat groups. If interested, please contact Alon Krausz.

E) Teen Minyan

Not quite yet.

2) Policies

A) The shul policy is that children must be either closely supervised by a parent or in Shabbat morning groups.  Children who are allowed to roam the house unsupervised may present a danger, both to themselves, and to others.

B) Please note that the shul is Peanut Free. This means that all parents need to be very vigilant about not bringing in food that has peanuts as an ingredient, or was even made using the same equipment.  Please check ingredients very carefully, and look to see right after the ingredient list to check if there may be trace amounts of peanuts. With your help, we can make the Bayit a safe environment for all.

C) The youth committee would like to keep the youth rooms, along with the rest of the house looking clean, neat, and undamaged.  To that end, we ask that no outside food be brought upstairs -there will be a Kiddush for the youth at the end of groups. Additionally, please help us by instilling in your children the value of respect for property. With your help, we can keep our new home in tip-top shape.

3) What you can do

The youth committee is always looking for help. Here’s what you can do:

A) Donations

Anyone who is able to donate toys should please do so by dropping them off on Friday and leaving them on the deck in the back. Thank you!

B) Volunteers

Any parent who would like to volunteer to help lead the Tot Shabbat program should let someone on the youth committee know. We would be delighted to have you join the rotation! Not to worry – we will be giving guidelines, and general “training” to help you along.

C) Suggestions

Our youth program is a work in progress, and we would love to hear from you! If you have any thoughts, from big picture items, to specific details, please send them to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

We thank you all for your support!

The S”T Youth Committee

Alon Krausz

David and Shelley Fisher

Michal Kahan

Shira Steinberg

Shira Schiowitz

Adina Milgram