Why join the Families with Young Children chavura?
The primary reason to join this chavura is to develop deep and meaningful relationships with a small group of people who have children around the same age. It is difficult to make true friendships by occasionally attending events, or dropping children off for a kid-only program. For many people, joining a chavura is the best way to find “your people” to live a Jewish life with as your family grows.
What makes this chavura with YourJewish unique?
Historically, the chavura movement was entirely lay-led, meaning no paid professional staff were involved. At YourJewish, we embrace a co-creation model where Rabbi Avrin will work together with families to develop the experience they are looking for. This model relieves the pressure of organizing and facilitating from the members, many of whom are already over-committed. It also professionalizes the experience and enables participants to receive the high-quality programming you may find in a synagogue but in a more intimate environment.
I’m really busy. What level of commitment is required?
One benefit of this model is that it is a much lower time commitment than traditional programs. That said, it takes time up front to establish relationships. For this reason, we begin the year with a more intensive schedule and then transition to monthly gatherings after relationships are formed. We’ll start with 8 weekly sessions held on Saturday and Sunday afternoons and ask participants commit to attending a minimum of 4 sessions. From there, we will work with the group to schedule the follow up monthly gatherings, primarily centered around Shabbat and Holidays.
Dates for weekly sessions:
Oct 19
Oct 27
Nov 2
Nov 10
Nov 16
Nov 24
Dec 7
Dec 15
All sessions meet from 4:00-5:30pm
What will we do during the sessions?
These sessions will include age appropriate activities for families to explore Judaism and Jewish tradition in fun ways. There will always be time for open play and exploration, as well as more organized activities, like art projects, games, stories, singing, etc. We'll primarily focus on themes related to Jewish holidays, Torah stories, and significant Jewish rituals and traditions.
Where do we meet?
The location of these programs will rotate. Sometimes we will be in someone's home. Other times we may be in a community center with a play space, park, museum, or other public place. Sometimes the activity will relate to the location and other times the location will simply be a place that can meet the needs of our group. We will do our best to ensure that the locations rotate in a way that meets the needs of all participants.
Is there a cost?
Yes. We operate on a pay what you can model and ask participants to contribute to the professional costs associated with running the chavura. Click on the attached form to see the suggested fees for this chavura. We trust our participants to pay what they can and we do not ask for any additional information from families as they decide what is the best fit for them. There are options to pay all at once or over multiple installments throughout the year.
