TE Youth Group

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Youth Group Calendars

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Knowing that youth group is a significant factor in encouraging life-long Judaism, we highly value youth group participation at TE. Our Youth Groups are a shining example of Enthusiastic Judaism. For some children, Youth Group is their only opportunity to gather informally with other Jewish children. We have two Youth Groups that are based on grade level.

 

Senior Youth Group:

Young people in grades 8 through 12 are welcome members of our Youth Group. Events for Senior Youth Group are varied, and happen at least monthly. Typical activities may include: messy paint night, Temple lock-in, havdallah program, going to a sporting event or a Mitzvah Project.

 

Senior youth group is truly youth driven: our programs and activities are decided upon and implemented by our youth leadership. Board positions are elected at the beginning of each school year. Any high school member of Temple Emanuel is eligible to run for office. 

 

Junior Youth Group (JYG):

Students in 3rd grade through 8th grade are members of our Junior Youth Group. This group has interesting outings and overnights at Temple as well. Examples of programs are swimming, snow tubing, pumpkin patch, hayride, scavenger hunts and attending professional sporting events. While JYG does not have a leadership board, activities are based on student input.

 

Community & Regional Events:

As a member of the Union for Reform Judaism, Temple Emanuel Youth Groups are part of the North American Federation of Temple Youth (NFTY). NFTY is the youth movement representing Reform Judaism. NFTY is broken into regions, and we are members of the Missouri Valley Region. As such, our teens may travel anywhere in our region (MO, KS, NE, WY, CO, KY) for weekend long events. NFTY regional events are based on developing teens’ Jewish identity and building of leadership skills.

 

In the St. Louis metro area, 5 Reform congregations are part of NFTY. As a community, we often hold interesting events for our young people. Temple Emanuel has hosted several of these events.