ANAFIM — A Community Teen Program

ANAFIM, the Hebrew word for branches, was chosen as the name of our community teen program to signify how our teens are rooted in their home communities, while branching out together to form a blossoming tree of life and learning. The program is led in partnership between Ohr Shalom and Temple Sinai, and is open to teens from all three Summit synagogues, joining together to bring teen learning to life! ANAFIM includes dinner, core classes, electives, and travel opportunities.

ANAFIM is designed to broaden teens’ Jewish community by connecting with Jewish teens beyond their home synagogue, and deepen their Jewish identities through dynamic Jewish learning and service and social opportunities.

Flexible Enrollment Options 
ANAFIM runs on a trimester system, which means that students in Grades 8, 9, 11, and 12 can choose to enroll in one, two, or all three trimesters. Each trimester features stand-alone curricula so that students can to complete an entire unit regardless of how they choose to enroll. This offers flexibility for teens with busy or complicated schedules.
**10th graders who wish to participate in Confirmation must register for the full year. Read more about this below.

Weekly programming takes place on Tuesday evenings from 6:00-8:00 p.m., starting with a communal dinner each week.

Fall term:  Sept 9–Dec 2
Winter term: Dec 9–Feb 24
Spring term: March 3–May 12

ANAFIM will be hosted by Congregation Ohr Shalom from September 9 through January 21.
Temple Sinai will take over hosting duties on January 27 through the end of the year.

Click HERE to learn more, view the full-year calendar, and register for 2025-2026.

Classes offered for the 5786 School Year

• Grades 8/9: Jewish cultures around the world; a Jewish lens on housing insecurity (connected with Tivnu travel experience); intergenerational gardening project and Jewish views on sustainability
   
• Grade 10*: 10th Grade Confirmation students learn with the clergy and education directors from Ohr Shalom and Sinai to explore Jewish thought and identity, and increase religious and cultural awareness leading up to Confirmation.
   
• Grades 11/12:  comparative Judaism, Holocaust and antisemitism; world religions (and how they relate to Judaism); Jewish Adulthood: Moving into the “Real World”
   
• Electives: Electives change each trimester, and are chosen based on requests and interests expressed by our teens. Past electives have included: Spirituality and meditation, Israeli art and artists, Jewish children’s literature, Talmud study, Jewish feminism, Kashrut and cooking, tikkun olam projects, Israeli dancing, Jewish folklore, and more!

PAST TRAVEL OFFERINGS:

Gr 8-9   Civil Rights Journey (Alabama & Georgia)
offered: Feb 14-17, 2025; Nov 3-6, 2022

On this trip, teens spend four days learning about the American Civil Rights Movement — and why it is important to us as Jews — meeting individuals who witnessed pivotal events, and visiting historical sites and museums. They will meet with leaders and activists who worked with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as well as individuals who participated in the march from Selma to Montgomery. These are primary sources. Through this immersive experience, the teens are empowered and inspired to get involved by learning about their power to make a difference. We will learn about Jewish involvement in the Movement and how our tradition compels us to engage with civil rights. Sites our teens will visit include the Legacy Museum: From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration, and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, in order to understand that civil rights is not an issue that only affected a specific group of people in the 1950s and 60s, but is an ongoing issue today.

Gr 10   L'Taken Seminar (Washington, D.C.)
offered: 2023, 2024, 2025

Temple Sinai’s 10th graders will join hundreds of teens from Reform synagogues around the country for a social justice seminar in Washington, DC. In partnership with the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism (“the RAC”), our teens will have the opportunity to learn about social justice issues from a Reform Jewish perspective and then advocate for these issues on Capitol Hill. The program is designed to both expose them to a variety of public policy issues and explore the Jewish values that inform the Reform Movement’s advocacy around these issues. We will also visit the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, www.ushmm.org, the Smithsonian National Mall and celebrate Havdalah at the Jefferson Memorial.

See a video of the L'Taken weekend here
Learn more about the RAC and L’Taken here
and see a sample itinerary for the trip here.

Gr 8-9 Tzedek America Immigration Justice trip (Arizona)
February 16-19, 2024

Immigration Justice Trip to the Arizona-Mexico Border
Open to all Temple Sinai, Ohr Shalom, and Beth Hatikvah Members in 8th and 9th Grade

This year’s 8th- and 9th-grade students are invited to travel with us to Arizona, where they will learn about immigration justice firsthand. Run by the team at Tzedek America, experts at Social Justice-themed trips, students will talk to and learn from individuals who have experienced all aspects of the immigration process, from DACA recipients to a retired ICE officer. They also visit the town of Nogales, and go on a hike in that region to leave water for refugees who are crossing the border. Over the course of the weekend, students will celebrate Shabbat, observe Havdalah, and have plenty of time to have fun and decompress with social activities such as an arcade visit and laser tag.

Learn more about Tzedek America's Immigration Justice trip here. 
For a list of Frequently Asked Questions, click here.