Am Yisrael offers several programs and prayer services geared towards families with children. All are designed with age appropriate activities and education in mind, within a Jewish context.
Rabbi Newman Kamin meets with each of our Lower Elementary and Middle School classes in our School of Jewish Studies (SJS). Students, Parents, Grandparents and other family members are welcome to join these sessions. These classes with the Rabbi concentrate on topics students are learning in their SJS classes.
Please save the following dates and times on your calendars:
Family Shabbat Services are the most core component of our School of Jewish Studies (SJS) Jewish educational experience. Family Shabbat Services, formerly called Shabbat Family Programming, are an incredibly educational and meaningful vehicle in helping us connect our synagogue families to one another with Jewish life and learning at its center. For this reason, attendance for our Kindergarten through 7th grades is a mandatory component of SJS and strongly recommended for those families who have students in Jewish Day Schools.
Mr. Charlie Sherman and Mr. E. Marc Nevins co-lead a family-friendly, spirited prayer service beginning at 10:15 a.m. on the dates listed below. Rabbi Newman Kamin delivers a D’var Torah. There are opportunities for pre-B’nai Mitzvah students to join Cantor Simon to help lead prayers from the bimah in the main Sanctuary. We have dozens of students and their family members who have chanted verses of Torah at Family Shabbat Services and on Torah-based Jewish holidays over the years. Please click here for more details.
Please save the following dates and times on your calendars:
November 12: 10:15 a.m.-11:30 a.m.
December 10: 10:15 a.m.-11:30 a.m.
January 28: 10:15 a.m.-11:30 a.m.
February 25: 10:15 a.m.-11:30 a.m.
April 8: 10:15 a.m.-11:30 a.m.
May 6: 10:15 a.m.-11:30 a.m.
We love inviting participation of our SJS & Youth Community in our services in the Sanctuary. These services are one of the many ways that our students gain a tremendous comfort level in our Sanctuary and on our bimah. We invite specific portions of our SJS & Youth Community to take English reading honors connected to themes in our prayers and/or help lead specific prayers they have been learning at our main Friday Evening Services throughout the year.
Please save the following dates and times on your calendars:
For the past 12 years we have been giving opportunities for Intergenerational Torah Reading on various Shabbatot and holidays such as Simchat Torah, Pesach and Shavuot. We have had two, three and up to four generations of Torah readers sharing verses of Torah to chant within an Aliyah. Thus far we have had 97 Torah Readers who have earned the opportunity to design a personalized Yad as a part of this program. If you are interested in becoming an “Aliyah Captain” or a member of our “Yad Squad” please be in contact with our Head of School, Mr. Charlie Sherman: 847-708-1805 (mobile) or csherman@amyisrael.org.
Updated 10-20-2022, 25 Tishrei 5783