Kesher 2.0 (Grades 6-8)

Registration for 2025-26 Kesher Middle School program is still open! 
Register by going to the Registration Form (log in to your member portal first and then scroll down the page to find the Start School Enrollment tile) 

Contact Director of Education Hadas Ravé with any questions.

As a reminder, families must have completed membership renewal in order to register for youth education programming, so please renew your membership first! If you have any questions about membership, please contact our Executive Director, Terrie Goren, at terrie@oaklandsinai.org.

Our Middle School program is built to meet the needs of Sinai’s preteens and young teens. Through a blend of meaningful learning, emotional support, and immersive experiences, we’re creating a space where our students can thrive—Jewishly, socially, and personally.

Our four core Middle School program pillars:
    ✨ Complex content for a complex world
    🧠 Support for teen mental and emotional well-being
    🔥 Intense, memorable experiences with clear structure
    🤝 A critical mass of Jewish friends

12 Sunday afternoon sessions: (for 6-8th grade, including family participation sessions)

• 6th grade - Bet Mitzvah track + 27 midweek Hebrew lessons (online or in person)
• 7th grade - Bet Mitzvah track
• 8th grade - Jewish Identity and Israel Exploration

9 Jewsday (Tuesday) afternoon hangouts:

• Madrichol Training Track (8th grade Madrichol REQUIRED)
• CHOOSE YOUR OWN JEWISH ADVENTURE: More details to come! (open to 6-8th graders)

Special Grade level end-of-year adventures:

• West Coast Party Jr./Sinai Retreat @ Camp Newman! (6th-8th grades)
• 6th Grade - Six Flags fun!
• 7th Grade - Shabbaton @ Sinai!
• 8th Grade - Shabbaton in LA! 

A message from your Clergy regarding the Bet Mitzvah year!

Supporting our Students in the Bet Mitzvah Year

We are thrilled that many of our students are preparing to become Bet Mitzvah in the coming years! With this exciting growth, scheduling becomes increasingly tight. Our Bet Mitzvah tutors are part-time and only available on specific days and times, which limits our flexibility. To help ensure each student gets the preparation they need, we kindly ask parents to make accommodation during the six months leading up to their child’s Bet Mitzvah. This may include creating more flexibility in your child’s schedule by scaling back on extracurricular activities and other time commitments and prioritizing their Bet Mitzvah studies during this important period. Your support is essential and greatly appreciated!

The Bet Mitzvah year is a special milestone for each student and for our community. We want every child to feel celebrated both as an individual and as part of their Bet Mitzvah grade cohort.

To help foster this sense of belonging, we ask families to:

• Invite your student’s grade cohort to the Bet Mitzvah service and celebration. (The cohort is typically half of the total class, approximately 20 teens. If it is more manageable, you may invite just the student and not the student’s entire family.)

• Encourage your student to attend when classmates extend invitations.

This helps us create an inclusive environment where no student feels left out or unsupported. To make things easier, we’ll provide a roster for each cohort. If you’d like to extend invitations more broadly, that’s wonderful too.

We understand that space can sometimes be limited, especially with many services in the chapel. Please do what feels manageable for your family while keeping our shared goal of inclusion in mind.

Thank you for helping ensure that all of our students feel confident, supported, and celebrated during this meaningful year.

Rabbi Mates-Muchin

Cantor Keys

Rabbi Bressler