blogs/masa

It still feels like summer, but the calendar has made its way to September again, and we’re beginning a new school year!  Masa will be starting soon, and we will also be offering sexuality education workshops for children and parents. And, as always, we will offer holiday programming for children!

I would like to gently remind parents to  please register their children for Masa (or let me know if you’ve decided not to attend this year for any reason).

The first Friday Masa is this Friday, beginning at 4:00. It will be followed by Friday night services at 6:00, and a potluck will begin after services. (This is different from our regular Friday night order!)

The first Mini Minyan will be on Friday, September 13, at 5:30. At 6:00, we will light the Shabbat candles, give parents a chance to bless their children, and then make kiddush and motzi before the potluck. Friday night services will begin at 7:00.

The first Sunday of Masa will be on Sunday, September 15, beginning at 9:30!

I am very excited to let you know that registration is now available for Sexuality and You: Bodies, Communication, and Jewish Values!

Have you wondered how to talk to your children about sexuality, their bodies, and how those intersect with Jewish values? Have you been wondering how to cope with these issues yourself? This year, Elizabeth  Greenblatt will be leading a body-positive, gender-inclusive course to guide children and parents as they navigate these issues. There will be separate courses for children and for parents (whose children may or may not be attending the children’s program). 

There will be two sessions for parents, helping them to find ways to discuss issues of sexuality with their children, and to process through their own experience of sexuality. 

There will be an  eight-session course for children ages 8-11, and a separate  eight-session course for children ages 12-15. These courses will give children age-appropriate tools to understand their own emerging sexual identities, to interact with others appropriately, to set boundaries, and to enter adolescence with healthy viewpoints that include knowledge of their own sexuality.

The holidays are beginning at the end of this month. We will be providing children’s programming on both mornings of Rosh Hashanah, as well as on the morning of Yom Kippur.  Please be sure to register your children, so that we can be certain to have enough materials for all of them! (If your child has particular dietary needs, please send me an email so we can make sure all children have the opportunity to share our snacks.)

I hope that everyone’s school year is off to a good start, and I’m looking forward to seeing all of you soon!