Youth

The mission of the Rinat Youth Department is to provide a positive Shul experience in a fun and educational environment that encourages a commitment to davening, learning Torah, and contributing to the community, while also nurturing friendships.

Rinat’s Shabbat morning groups provide a warm and age-appropriate introduction to Shul.  The program includes davening (with a focus on learning Shabbat davening), free play and games, and Parashat Hashavua.  Our group leaders and youth directors spend time getting to know participants and work to ensure that each child feels comfortable in groups and has the opportunity to socialize and develop friendships.

Our Shadow Program enables us to include youth with special needs in our Shabbat morning programming, allows us to integrate each participant into groups to the appropriate extent, and demonstrates to all of our children the importance of inclusion.

The Youth Department also runs a variety of fun and meaningful programs throughout the year including holiday celebrations that generate a sense of excitement and provide a venue for children to celebrate as part of the Shul community.

We welcome your feedback.  Please contact our Youth Directors, Divsha and Martin Tollinsky, at youth@rinat.org or our Youth Committee at youthcommitee@rinat.org with any comments or suggestions or if you’d like to get involved.

Child Safety Policy: Rinat recently adopted a Child Protection policy, an innovative policy designed to help ensure the safety of our children in shul and during shul activities.  The policy establishes a Child Safety Committee (currently co-chaired by Elke Stein and Divsha Tollinsky) to implement and administer the policy. It establishes guidelines for interacting with children in shul and at shul activities, and mandates training on interacting with children and recognizing signs of abuse for group leaders and others who work with children at shul activities.  Training in these areas will also be offered to all shul members, and all are encouraged to participate.

Youth Committee Members:
Leah Adler, Chair
Chaim Birman
Shari Bursztyn
Yafit Cohn
Howie Forman
Caren Graber
Jen Hooper
Elana Lefkovitz
Erica Markovitz
Ronit Mershon