Services with a twist engage tots, teens and parents

In the Bay Area Jewish community, like hundreds around the country, there are young children and older children, rambunctious children and calm children, inquisitive children and shy children.

But no matter who the child is, there is one thing they always have in common. It's nearly impossible to keep them seated throughout Shabbat services.

When they are young, kids run up and down the aisles of the synagogue, or ask to go the bathroom every five minutes. When they grow older, approaching their teen years, they leave and sit with the other bored kids outside the synagogue walls.

So from toddlers to teens, Bay Area congregations have developed service styles that their leaders hope will get their children to show some interest, begin to tap their feet to the music, stay in their seats during services — and maybe even begin a life-long commitment to Judaism.

Rabbi Chai Levy of Congregation Kol Shofar in Tiburon said that above all, the children's services have a family education and community goal.

"Parents may not be comfortable in the main service," Levy said. "[In the kids services], parents are learning alongside their children. That is what is bringing them into the synagogue. If they didn't have kids, they might not be coming to the synagogue."

Rabbi George Schlesinger of Congregation Beth Ami in Santa Rosa said it is important for small children to pray early on to get them into the routine for the future.

"Our Tot Shabbat opens the children up to spirituality, religion and Judaism," Schlesinger said. "Sacred places, sacred words, I don't think they can come too early. As they grow and look back at these experiences, they will become the kind of individuals we want."

At both Kol Shofar and Congregation Beth David in Saratoga, the monthly children's service and the main service are concurrent, letting children join the rest of the congregation for the Torah processional. Kol Shofar has an ark full of stuffed Torahs for the children to carry behind the real Torahs. When they reach the bimah, the kids get a piece of candy from the rabbi.

"It creates a sense, from a real young age, the sweetness and closeness of Torah," said Levy.

In kids services, the atmosphere is pure fun. To get children to understand often-complex Torah concepts, the kids act them out, said Iris Bendahan, religious school principal at Beth David. Stories, songs and movement put the parashah at a level that a child can understand and enjoy.

Physical activity also invigorates the spirit at Congregation Beth Sholom in San Francisco, as the children stand up and dance for a good part of the service.

Several synagogues have worship programming geared toward older children as well, who put their own creative juices into the planning and implementation of the service. Beth David's Youth Congregation is led by the kids themselves.

Emily Isaacs, 16, a leader of Youth Congregation, remembers starting out as a child at Beth David, sitting on the laps of other children during services and eventually getting old enough to lead them herself.

Isaacs considers Youth Congregation to be a focal point in Jewish education at her synagogue.

"Youth services in general are, in my opinion, one of the necessities for students preparing for bar and bat mitzvahs and Jewish life beyond," she said.

"From experience with my classmates, those students who attended Youth Congregation were more likely to become more active members in the Jewish community both in high school and college."

Beth Sholom has an energetic service for its younger children, but hopes to create as engaging a service for its older children one day. Rabbi Kenneth Leitner said there is more work to be done to make its main service welcoming for young people who have outgrown the children's services, but who lack the stamina and contemplation needed to pray with the adults.

"When I was a young teen I was an outstanding young Jew ... out standing (on the steps] of the synagogue," Leitner said.

His interest in Judaism came later, when he and his peers participated in a service of their own.

Leitner said that he has two parallel hopes for his congregation as he nears his one-year anniversary as a rabbi at Beth Sholom. The first is that kids will find some sense of comfort in the adult services, and will come back to participate and read Torah. And for those who do not, Leitner hopes they will come up with something of their own creation.

"There is always going to be some level of creative tension between integration and separation," Leitner said. "The tension is always there, and that's a good thing."