Early Childhood

We believe it’s never too early to feel good about being Jewish and make Jewish memories that will last a lifetime. We offer a range of programs to engage the littlest members of our community, along with their older siblings, parents, and grandparents. Many of these programs are free and open to the public, so please invite your friends and family to join in.

Tot Shabbat (ages 2-5)

This monthly Saturday morning miniservice for tots and their parents brings the joy of Shabbat to young ones through stories, songs, and of course, grape juice and challah. After we’re done, we join the rest of the congregation for kiddush, where parents and their children can meet other young Jewish families over lunch. Tot Shabbat runs from 11:00 to 11:45 am once a month. Please check our online calendar for listings.

Family High Holy Day Services

Children through seventh grade and their families are invited to attend our family high holiday services for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. These are real services, shortened to about two hours, incorporating interactive activities and participation by adults and kids of all ages. Designed by Temple Israel families to be meaningful and fun, we think our family High Holy Day services are pretty special. Free with high holiday tickets.

Sunday Morning Enrichment and Religious School

Younger children ages 1-4 can enroll in our monthly Torah Tots program that introduces Jewish themes through hands-on fun. Kids in prekindergarten through grade 4 and older can enroll in the consortium religious school hosted at Temple Israel.  More information can be found on our website here: Northern New Jersey Jewish Academy.

Social and holiday events

Don’t miss our lively Hanukkah party, Purim carnival, and other fun events throughout the year. Most are free and open to the community. Follow Temple Israel on Facebook or Instagram to stay in the loop about all our fun programming and upcoming events.

Thank you, volunteers!

We thank our Early Childhood Committee volunteers who work so hard to plan and run so many of our family event

Questions? Please email earlychildhood@synagogue.org.