FLORIDA JEWISH JOURNAL (Palm Beach South)
June 22, 2022
Intergenerational ‘Jewish Family Jams’ offered at New Synagogue
By Linda Chase (Staff Writer)
New at the New Synagogue of Palm Beach:
An intergenerational program called Jewish Family Jams. It’s an interactive, play-based music and movement for families with young children. Led by leading educator and musician Dr. Emily Aronoff, whose work has been featured by PJ Library, Kveller, and numerous other national outlets.
When: Sunday mornings from 10:30 a.m. to noon through July 17.
Where: New Synagogue, 235 Sunrise Avenue, Palm Beach.
Who: The age level is toddler through the early grades.
Parents, children and grandparents are welcome too! Everyone shares a Jewish learning and musical experience together from this program. They grow together as a family spiritually.
Jewish Family Jams sessions invite families with young children to playfully make music and meaningful memories while celebrating their children’s development.
Rabbi Abraham Unger, Ph.D., Executive Director of Programs at New Synagogue said, “Dr. Emily Aronoff is, quite literally, the national expert on Tot Shabbat. Her doctoral dissertation was on the impact of Tot Shabbat on young Jewish families. She has led Jewish learning, both traditional and experiential, especially though song and music, in many institutions, and has been featured by national outlets like PJ Library and Kveller. We are thrilled she has brought her tremendous expertise and passion to intergenerational programs at New Synagogue.”
“Jewish Family Jams is invaluable because it is truly intergenerational and experiential, while offering deep substance and Jewish learning. It is not a drop-off program for toddlers — families stay and learn together. We start with song, we move into Hebrew and Torah, and along the way, families engage in their own spiritual placemaking in our congregation,” Rabbi Unger continued.
“Children will never forget that their parents learned Torah with them when they were young. That is the imprint we need more of to successfully transmit the Jewish tradition, and it is getting done here.”
“New Synagogue is really building out, in this program and many others, a national model of how to meet Jewish families where they are, and then engage them with substance and meaningful Jewish experience and learning. We offer many portals to Jewish life, and are seeing each one resonate deeply,” Rabbi Unger concluded.
According to New Synagogue’s spiritual leader Rabbi Barak Bar-Chaim, “Music, song and dance is perhaps the most powerful way of instilling the love of Judaism in young children. Their minds and hearts open up and absorb our beautiful traditions and values.”
To register go to: https://www.newsynagogue.org/jewish-family-jams/
Call the synagogue directly at (561) 514-4064.
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