How do you Shalom if you are a teenager?

There are many ways to access Congregation Shalom after becoming a B’Mitzvah. This past week, we gathered together with 15 of our teenagers (people in grades 8 – 12) for a fun evening at Pressed Café in Chelmsford. The teens enjoyed spending some time talking and reconnecting.  They engaged in some ice breaker games, ate good food and played group games. The energy was high. The atmosphere was joyful. Connections across grades were made. A huge list of possible future events was brainstormed and a fun time was had by all! Be on the lookout for more events and programs being offered to any teenager in our Congregation Shalom community.

One of the wonderful things about this event was that it gathered teens together from all different teen groups at Congregation Shalom. We had some teens from The Shalomites, our teen youth group. We had teens from our group of madrichim, teenagers who help in the school and the classes. We had teens from our Chai School. We had teens from our Kesher program. (We have renamed our formally called Post Confirmation class to Kesher, meaning a bridge or connection to future independence.) We had teens from Shabbat ShaBand, our teen music group. Any we had a teenager who is not part of any group but wanted to attend this event!

There is a place for each and every teenager at Congregation Shalom.  We are open to hearing about new ideas and opportunities to offer to this important population of our community.  Reach out to Rabbi Perry or Deborah if you have ideas!