We offer comprehensive and FUN Jewish education for all of our students age 0-18 through five main programs at Har Mishpacha:
HAR MISH-MISH: Monthly educational programs for ages 0-5 with parents and/or grandparents
MASA (Journey): Jewish Education Journey for grades Pre-K-4
Hebrew Class: Learn hebrew & explore jewish identity for grades 5-8
Family class: explore jewish values with rabbi kolby & your family for grades 5-7
BE MITZVAH: meets to prepare for a Bar or Bat Mitzvah one year before the ceremony
bbyo YOUTH GROUP: social teen led youth group for jewish middle/high schoolers
Questions about Youth Programs?
Reach out to Sari Davidson, Har Mishpacha Education Director:
sarijoyd@gmail.com
Shalom Har Mishpacha community! We want to let everyone know about our exciting Youth Programs at Har Mish.
To families: Welcome back to the new school year! We hope you had an adventurous summer and we definitely missed you here at your Mountain Family! We are writing to share some exciting updates about our upcoming year with Har Mishpacha Youth Programs. We have lots amazing opportunities to connect with our community, with other Jewish families, and to deepen and explore your students' connections with Judaism.
Please review the below programs (listed in order by age of program) and look out for when Registration for all of our Youth Programs opens on Tuesday September 10th.
The cost to attend any of our youth programs between the ages of PreK and 7th Grade is $360 per student / $180 for a sibling / and 15% off for Har Mishpacha Members*. With this tuition you can sign your student/s up for more than one age appropriate program. There is no charge for Har Mish-Mish. There is an additional $360 officiant fee for Be Mitzvah students. The one time registration fee for the BBYO Youth Group is paid through BBYO directly.
*Cost should never be prohibitive for participation, please talk to us about specific financial considerations.
Please note, most of our Youth Programs don't start until after the High Holidays. Until then, we hope to see you at one of our many family friendly Har Mishpacha programs. Please check our calendar at www.harmishpacha.org/calendar to find out what's going on.
Please let me (Sari) know if you have any questions in the meantime and we look forward to an incredible school year with Har Mishpacha Youth Programs!
Sari Davidson, Education Director, sarijoyd@gmail.com
Education Team: Cindy Ruzicka, Rabbi Kolby, Bella Davidson
PJ Library Parent Connectors: Daniella Place, Evie Cooper
BBYO Youth Group Board: Bella Davidson, Eliana Merage, and Tesher Feinberg
OUR PROGRAMS:
Har Mish-Mish: Monthly Jewish Educational Programs for Kids Ages 0-Preschool
Mish-mish means apricot in Hebrew and isn’t it a fun word to say?!! This program is for our littles ages 0-5 with parents and/or grandparents. Together with Rabbi Kolby we will sing songs, read a PJ Library book, and learn about Jewish holidays and values!
Update: Daniella Place, who has been leading Har MishMish for two amazing years, will be transitioning her leadership as our PJ Library Parent Connector to Evie Cooper. We welcome Evie Cooper and look forward to another great year with Har MishMish!
This program is generously sponsored by PJ Library, a program of JEWISHColorado
Dates: Sunday September 22 at 10 am RSVP by Sept 18 here: https://forms.gle/bHefQxxuDYFcfwjm6
Masa: Jewish Religious Education for
Pre K - 4th graders
Masa means journey and we are excited to walk with your student/s on their Jewish Journey at Har Mishpacha! Our educators this year are Bella Davidson (Pre K-1st graders) and Sari Davidson (2nd-4th graders)
Learn Hebrew with the amazing
Cindy Ruzicka!
CLASSES BEGIN FOR THE WINTER SESSION ON JANUARY 27TH
Moving Traditions: Family Jewish Journey
For students in grades 5-7 with one or both parents
Join us for some family Jewish learning with Rabbi Kolby guided by the Moving Traditions Family Curriculum.
We will have 4-5 sessions throughout the school year rotating the location at homes of families who are willing to host. These sessions of learning together with parent/s are incredibly meaningful and connects our Jewish families to each other during these formative years for our pre-teens.
Sundays @ 5:30 -7:30 pm
Dates: November 3, January 12, March 2, May 4
Har Mishpacha Bar/Bat Mitzvah Program
For our students who wish to have a Bar or Bat Mitzvah ceremony, you will begin meeting one year before your ceremony with the cohort on zoom. In these sessions we will learn about prayers, Torah engagement, write speeches, develop a meaningful Mitzvah (service) project, and practice with others who are preparing for their own big day. If you would like to read from the Torah at your Be Mitzvah ceremony, outside private Hebrew tutoring can be recommended.
You must be a member of Har Mishpacha in order to have a Be Mitzvah at Har Mishpacha.
As a part of the Be Mitzvah Program with Rabbi Kolby, we will learn together 10 times over zoom throughout the school year. We will learn about each section of prayers, write and lab our speeches together, and do some shared learning related to each of your Be Mitzvah ceremonies. These zoom classes are required for all students having a Bar/Bat/Be Mitzvah ceremony with Rabbi Kolby unless you speak with us about extenuating circumstances.
These ten sessions will be on Thursday evenings from 7-8pm.
Dates:
November 7 & 21, December 5 & 19, January 16 & 30, February 6 & 27, March 13 & 27, April 10, May 8 & 22, June 5
In addition to this class, we also recommend your student working with a private Hebrew tutor at least 1 year prior to the Bar/Bat Mitzvah. Please reach out to Rabbikolby@harmishpacha.org for recommendations of tutors.
If you have questions about the Bar/Bat Mitzvah Program at Har Mishpacha, please reach out to Glen Weinberg, parent of two previous students who completed the program. He is happy to talk to you about our program!
glen@fairviewlending.com
BBYO Youth Group
For Students Grades 8-12
We are so excited to bring BBYO Youth Group, a completely student-led and student empowered Jewish Youth group, to Har Mishpacha! BBYO will meet about 2x per month and also have the opportunity to participate in regional, national, and international BBYO events.
If you have a student in 8th-12th grade, please register for BBYO youth group. You do this by going to bbyo.org/become-a-member. Then you will click on the link to join, fill out all the information—select Rocky Mountain Region as the Region and Steamboat Springs as the chapter. There is a one-time registration fee to join BBYO, and if this is an issue for your family please reach out to us and Har Mishpacha can help cover this expense for you.
Save the Dates!
BBYO Youth Group w/ the Heart of Steamboat Youth Group: Sunday December 15th @ 6:30-8 pm. Location: Heart of Steamboat. We will be creating care bags for first responders. Dinner is included.
BBYO Youth Group Escape Room:
Saturday January 11th @ 7-9pm Location: Crooked Key Escape Room
BBYO Youth Group Israeli Masterchef :
Saturday March 1st @ 7-9pm Location: Heart of Steamboat
Har Mishpacha BBYO Youth Board:
Bella Davidson
Elianna Merage
Tesher Feinberg
** Cost should never be prohibitive for participation.
All of our fees are suggested donations, pay what you can.
OUR jewish education team:
CINDY RUZICKA (she/her), Masa Educator
I have been an active member of Har Mishpacha since I moved to Steamboat Springs in 1992. Having grown up in a reformed synagogue, I instantly felt a connection to the thoughtful and open-minded people who launched this congregation. Within a few years, I began teaching an introduction to Jewish studies to elementary-aged Jewish youth in town. The class sizes were always small but the sense of community, identity, and connection to heritage was strong. As a certified and practicing elementary and middle school teacher, my Jewish studies lessons focus on engagement and construction of personal meaning of Jewish holidays, customs, foods, and history. As the demand for classes for students in Kindergarten through Bar/Bat Mitzvah age increased, I now share the teaching responsibilities with Sari Davidson, with Sari teaching the K-2 students and myself teaching the 3-5 group. I studied Hebrew in college and completed a semester abroad at Tel Aviv University so I feel very comfortable and capable of teaching studies Hebrew language acquisition. In addition to teaching "Sunday School", I have led Jewish outreach programs at Casey's Pond senior living center as well as The Foundry addiction rehabilitation facility. Teaching my own daughters as well as many Jewish children in the community has been a weekly mitzvah for me for decades.
SARI DAVIDSON (she/her), Education Director and Masa Educator
I have been an active member of Har Mishpacha since 2012 when I enrolled my then kindergarten-aged daughter in Cindy Ruzicka’s Introduction to Jewish Studies Class. I have been a board member of Har Mishpacha since 2016. Our family loved the sense of community that we felt once we joined Har Mishpacha’s Religious School. I began teaching the Introduction to Jewish Studies class in 2016 when the demand for classes in the Kindergarten through Bar/ Bat Mitzvah age increased and Cindy Ruzicka was no longer able to meet the demand by herself. I have a MA in Expressive Arts Therapy, a MA in Counseling Psychology and I am a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. My Expressive Arts background helps me to bring a creative approach to teaching the students about their Jewish heritage, culture, holidays, and torah stories. I studied Hebrew in college and led a six week tour to Israel for American and newly immigrated Russian teens after I graduated college. I also spent four months training with the Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company on Kibbutz Ga'aton in Israel. In addition to teaching religious school, I am the director of Music Together Steamboat which provides music education for children 0-5 and their caregivers. I love teaching the Introduction to Jewish Studies class and am grateful to have the opportunity to work with your children.
Bella Davidson
I have been an active member of Har Mishpacha since 2012 when I was enrolled in Har Mishpacha's Jewish Education program. I have been an assistant in the K-2 classroom for five years and have assisted at the Steamboat Creates Young at Art printmaking camp for two summers. I love interacting with the young students and seeing them learn and grow. I completed the American Jewish Committee’s Leaders For Tomorrow program in June of 2024. I was accepted into the Hartman Teen Fellowship for the 2024/2025 school year. I am on the BBYO Youth Group Board and I am the student representative for STAND. I am a Junior at Steamboat Springs High School, where I interact with the community through the National Honor Society, Students for Social Justice, theatre and choir.
“Much have I learned from my teachers, more from my colleagues, but most from my students.”