EACH GRADE LEVEL IS A YOUTH HAVURAH.

"Haver" in Hebrew is a Friend. A "Havurah" is a Fellowship. Every Student is part of a Youth Havurah.

The goal of a Youth Havurah is to create bonds of fellowship, camaraderie, and to foster learning among Jewish students who attend different schools, live in different parts of the Bay Area, and come from diverse families of origin.

As Youth Havurah members progress from Preschool to High School they encounter challenges in our core curriculum. Congregation Emanu-El's Youth and Family Education curriculum employs both formal and informal methods of learning. Play, action, and personal involvement are our preferred methods of learning.

Each year a Havurah is introduced to a new core curriculum and new Hebrew learning objectives. Our ultimate ambition is to enable Reform Jewish youth to create Jewish experiences, enjoy a full Jewish life of their own design, and to develop the skills to transfer that life to the next generation.

Grades 1-12 are each assigned a Havurah name (such as Naphtali) from one of the twelve tribes of Israel. The Preschool and Kindergarten students are members of the Preschool Havurah and Kindergarten Havurah until the First Grade. At that time, the Kindergarten Havurah receives its permanent Havurah name, keeping that name for twelve years.

The whole Youth Havurah meets together for family learning programs, overnights, picnics, Shabbat Dinners, singing, a movie, good and welfare, story telling, or for an action program.



EVERY YOUTH HAVURAH HAS:

A Teaching Team
The teaching team is led by a Lead Teacher who is supported by a team of adult and teenage teachers.

Kitot and Hevrutot
A single Youth Havurah may have many students, but there will be a large enough teaching team to create small learning groups. Each child's Jewish learning will benefit from experiences in a small learning group. Groups for the core curriculum are called Hevrutot, and small learning groups for Hebrew are called Kitot.

Family Education
Programs where parents join with their children to learn occur regularly for each Havurah. Families learn in many ways: there are times when the adults learn separately from the children, when families learn together as a family, and when families learn together as a community.

A Mitzvah Project
This is an activity in which the Youth Havurah members perform acts of loving-kindness.

A Tzedakah Fund
This is a collection of funds used to enable other people and organizations in the community to perform acts of loving-kindness.