Blog

There’s a well-worn joke that every Rabbi knows. A bunch of Rabbis are sitting around, talking about how they each have mice in their synagogues. “I called an exterminator but it didn’t do a thing,” said one. “I bought a big wheel of cheese and tried to lure them out, but it just brought in more,” said another. “We don’t have a problem with mice at our synagogue,” said another. The other rabbis looked at him in amazement — how did he do it?  “Simple,” he said. “We made them all Bar and Bat Mitzvah and they never came back.”

It's one of those jokes that is funny because so often it’s true. We know that now more than ever, so many young people are overwhelmed by all of the activities on their plates. Sports especially take up a tremendous amount of time, far more than when many of us were kids when certain times like Sunday mornings or late evenings were considered family time. It is not easy for families today to know how to prioritize, and Jewish education often falls by the wayside.

So what are Jewish communities to do? What we’ve always done — adapt! Your Rabbis and educators are excited to introduce a new program that will be beginning this fall at TI. The TIYuL program stands for Temple Israel Youth Leadership, and is built on the Hebrew word tiyul, which means journey. Post B’nai Mitzvah, we are helping to create the next leg of your childrens' Jewish journey with a program that we hope will be fun, flexible, engaging, and allow us to meet students where they are.

The TIYuL program will allow students to take mini-mesters with Jewish educators and leaders from our community, who have been invited to teach the students what each of them knows best, whether it’s how to be a Jewish artist, discovering the intersection between science and faith, or taking a deep dive into social justice. Eighth through 12th graders will have the chance to both learn, socialize, and engage Jewishly in new ways. Students will also still be able to serve as Madrichim on Sundays, as well as participate in Confirmation. We’re looking forward to continuing on this Jewish journey with our young leaders.

Find out more!
www.ti-stl.org/TIYuL 

Rabbi Michael Alper
Rabbi Amy Feder
Lesley Goldenberg, Director of Family Education
Sidni Weglarz, Religious & Hebrew School Director