A programme primarily for students in Years 9 & 10 at school, Kabbalat Torah is open be for members of our own community and those from outside. The programme is open be for members of our own community and those from outside, and includes the following:
- Monthly learning sessions on a Friday evening from 5:00-7:00pm (away from the BM groups). A chance for the group to get together, catch up and further their Jewish education together. Our Rabbis and Yael also work with this group.
- One hour of the Friday evening sessions will be devoted to training in teaching, and one hour will be devoted to Jewish knowledge. Students who attend the training sessions will be eligible to help-teach at Or Shabbat and B’nei Mitzvah. Current help teachers at OS and BM can use these sessions as “top ups” to improve as educators.
- Visits to places of Jewish interest
- A volunteering opportunity in the community
- We plan to have a Teen Residential in Summer 2023
- The chance to develop the skills to lead a Friday night service and to develop further service leading skills for the Shabbat morning service
- The chance to develop become an MST Museum guide
The programme culminates in the leading of a Friday night Kabbalat Shabbat service followed by a celebratory dinner to which all families are invited to join.
For more information on our Kabbalat Torah programme, please contact Yael at yael@westminstersynagogue.org. To find out other ways to get involved after your Bar/Bat Mitzvah, click here.
This year we will meet on the following dates:
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Chanukah Term |
Pesach Term |
Shavuot Term |
Social Activities, European Residential Trip and Jewish Youth Groups
Together with our youth leaders, our young people create a social programme in which we also connect them to other central London communities. Recent activities have included ice skating and pizza, sushi making and even a guided tour of the Houses of Parliament.
We also hold biennial European Residential trips such as our last one, to Budapest, Hungary in November 2018 which saw our teenagers join up with young people from another London Synagogue to learn about the Jewish history of the city, to meet up with a Jewish community in another part of Europe, and to have great fun and an unforgettable experience.
We encourage our teenagers to become involved with the RSY or LJY Netzer youth movements. These movements offer our teens the chance to connect with their peers across the UK either on holiday camps, events throughout the year or on residential trips.
The highlight tends to be Israel Tour for 16 year olds at the end of Year 11. Each year a number of Westminster students participate in these tours and they report back as having had a wonderful time and made great friendships. In Summer 2019 we had our largest participation ever.
Many of our Synagogue Staff have been part of youth movements (even taken tours) and still talk about the lifelong friendships they’ve made through them!
