One of our priorities at Temple Emanuel is to offer opportunities for our young people to meaningfully connect with each other, the synagogue, and with the broader community. We provide West Michigan Jewish teens the opportunity to explore and affirm their own Jewish beliefs and practices, and we aim to create enthusiasm around the breadth of Jewish culture and around living a Jewish life.

Each month, we facilitate a fun social event for teens to gather and build Jewish community together in an organic, low-stakes way. Each month is different: recent events include pool parties, river tubing trips, dinners out in the city, outdoor movie nights, sports at local parks, and more.

Teens also have the options to enroll in the United Jewish School through 12th grade and participate in the Madrichim Program.

Our teen leaders are involved as equal decisionmakers in shaping what our offered programming and UJS experience is like.

To learn more about our options for youth engagement, please email our Engagement Associate Shelby Denhof at shelby@grtemple.org.