Har Mish-Mish: Monthly Educational Programs for Kids Ages 0-5 with Parents and/or Grandparents

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! Please reach out to Daniella Place if interested in joining Har MishMish: daniella@daniella.place.

This program is generously sponsored by PJ Library, a program of JEWISHColorado

Please see the Har Mishpacha Calendar for upcoming events

To sign up for Har MishMish please contact Daniella Place at Daniella@daniella.place

Masa Program
K-5th Grade

In order to accommodate our many families who participate in winter sports, we have three seasons for our religious school. The fall and spring seasons will take place on Sunday mornings (program descriptions below) and the winter season will be all school events on different days and times.

During our fall and spring seasons we will begin with 1/2 hour of all-school interactive tefillah (prayer), followed by snack, and then we will separate into classes (aleph and bet descriptions below.) The winter season will be all-school programs led by Sari Davidson, Education Director.

We do ask that if you sign up for our Masa program, that you make a commitment to attend 80% of our sessions, regardless of season.

Cost for the Masa program is $360 per student suggested donation**. Har Mishpacha membership not required.

To register for Masa, please reach out to Lynn Kaplan and Sari Davidson: lynn@harmishpacha.org and sarijoyd@gmail.com

Fall and Spring Masa Aleph
K-2nd grade

Masa means journey in Hebrew and in so many ways, this class is the beginning of your child’s Jewish journey. This fall and spring Sunday Masa class taught by Sari Davidson provides an introduction to Jewish holidays, traditions, values and stories. We explore the curriculum with an emphasis on hands-on creative learning, projects, and stories.

Masa calendar above.

Fall and Spring Masa Bet
Grades 3-5

This fall and spring Sunday Masa class taught by Cindy Ruzicka is for 3rd-5th grade students and will be based on "A Kid's Mensch Handbook," which provides a wealth of Jewish advice, experience, and wisdom. At an age when students are thinking critically about right and wrong, the importance of the choices they make, and the role that Judaism will play in their lives, students covet this guidance. The book is organized into three sections: Mensch Basics, Be a Mensch to Yourself and Be a Mensch to Others. Together, they help students understand the basics of menschlekeit, how introspection and self-examination lead to self-respect, and how respect for oneself leads to respect for and from others. Real-life examples, midrashic and historical vignettes, as well as lively narratives, make Jewish values tangible, understandable, and applicable to the student's everyday lives.

Masa calendar above.

BBYO Youth Group
Grades 6-12

Stay tuned for more info about Youth Group for the school year!

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.