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for havurah

Havurah is an excellent way to nurture the early years of your child’s Jewish education in a fun, interactive, and meaningful environment that allows children to learn, play, and grow. At Havurah, we help children make even stronger connections with old friends and generate new relationships as they continue to develop their Jewish identity through a wide array of social learning experiences. The Havurah staff is a team of talented, dynamic educators with experience working in both formal and informal teaching environments.

The Havurah program meets weekly on Shabbat afternoons from 3–5 pm for children in Kindergarten through Third Grade. We also offer a monthly Jewish Young Adventurers program for children in Fourth and Fifth grades, alternating community service opportunities and outings to Jewish destinations throughout New York City.

Havurah is now offering a track for the children of native Hebrew speakers. A weekly feast of Hebrew and Israeli culture, this program is geared towards native Hebrew speakers and their families. The goal is to provide the children with a Hebrew-rich environment where they can talk to and play with their peers, in order to deepen and increase the use of the Hebrew language and Alphabet. In addition, the program will explore Israeli Identity with the country's culture, literature, music, geography, history, peoples and flavors as main themes. Starting with sharing a Shabbat snack, each lesson will incorporate games, music, stories, theater and art projects to create a wholesome sense of Israel.

Our curriculum will be made up of three core components:
The Havurah program was developed to deepen the child’s connection to family, Judaism, and the JCC. The class groupings, family programs and weekly program structure have been developed to strengthen the community relationship that is essential to the JCC philosophy. In addition to weekly class times, we have a Havurah Shabbat dinner, Havurah Havdallah and family events throughout the year.

Each group will have music weekly, and whole group family song sessions will end Havurah once a month. The spirit of these sing-alongs is contagious and we are sure that you and your children will come home singing songs the whole family will love!

Each week the Havurah program utilizes the studios and special spaces throughout the JCC building. Your child will experience specialties such as ceramics, multi-media art, yoga and mindfulness, storytelling, film making, and cooking. In addition, trips to special Jewish places of interest take place throughout the year and relate to children’s classroom learning. Some past trips have included a Nosh Food Tour on the Lower East Side, a visit to the Tenement Museum to see a reenactment, a visit to the Metropolitan Museum’s Egyptian wing to tell the Passover story, and trip to the Belzer Matzah Bakery in Borough Park.

Community service projects are a regular part of the Havurah curriculum. Past projects have included cooking for homeless shelters, sending shalach manot (purim packages) to the elderly, cleaning up and planting in Riverside Park, and making pillows and joke books for children in the hospital. Families are often invited to participate in these communal activities.

Tuition for K-3 is $1700/members & $1800/non-members

Tuition for Young Adventurers is $550/members & $600/non-members

If you have any questions please contact Jacqueline Marks at jmarks@jccmanhattan.org.