What are Shinshinim?
Shinshinim are Israeli high school graduates who have been hand-picked to dedicate a year of “global community service” in Toronto. These exceptional teens become an integral part of our community, and we welcome them into our homes, day schools, synagogues, and summer camps. Their presence helps strengthen our community’s relationship with Israel.
Are you interested in hosting our Shinshinim next year? Now is the time to start planning for our host families for the upcoming year.
Wondering what it’s like to host a Shinshin in your home? Have any questions?
As previous host families will tell you, this is a truly special way for you and your family to connect. The bonds created with these remarkable young individuals continue to impact the lives of the families who host them for years to come
End of Semester Update
Hilli and Alon here! With our winter visit to Israel just around the corner, we thought to take a moment to reflect on the last couple weeks at Shul and at Hebrew school. For Hilli, one really memorable day with the community was Gabi Epstein’s performance of Barbra Streisand classics. Hilli enjoyed seeing many people from the community – and others not connected to Darchei Noam – come together. The audience was super lively, and Gabi blew her away.
At Hebrew school, Hilli and Alon have taken different approaches to their teaching. Hilli has introduced the kids to different Israeli games from her childhood and also taught about History! She introduced different events from Jerusalem’s 5000-year history and challenged the students to organize the events chronologically into a timeline.
Meanwhile, Alon has focused on theatre as a learning tool. Under Alon’s guidance, the younger students wrote and decorated letters of the Hebrew alphabet and proudly marched those letters through a parade. Alon also instructed the B’Mitzvah to act out one scene from different periods in Jewish history, and groups competed for the funniest and most accurate performance.
As usual, we are delighted to be part of Shabbat services. Recently we delivered aD’var Torah about Parashat Vayishlach, in which we each connected the
ancient text to a lived experience from recent years. We were flattered by your kind feedback about the D’var – thank you!!
As for our upcoming visit to Israel, Alon is very excited to hike and see the wildflowers. Hilli is looking forward to meeting up with family and friends and
watching the breathtaking sunsets on the beach in Eilat. They will be back with stories and photos.
We can’t believe we’ve only been at Darchei Noam for three months because we already feel like an integral part of the community. Thank you all for making us feel that way. We look forward to more meaningful months together as soon as we return to Toronto.
Meet Our 2024/2025 Shin Shinim
Hey All! We are Hilli and Alon, this year’s Shinshinim at Darcei Noam. We graduated high school last June in Israel, and chose to embark on a year of service here in Toronto. Throughout the week we work at various Jewish institutions around town, but on Saturdays and Sundays you can commonly find us at Darcei Noam! We strive to connect the congregation – and particularly the Hebrew School students – to Israel’s culture, food, and language as we have grown to love it.
We’re slowly finding our place at the synagogue, and the past few weeks have been particularly fun and memorable.
At Hebrew School, we started the morning strong with our beloved B’nei Mitzvah class. This week in class we led an activity about “roots” within the Hebrew language, and focused on the question: “how do you construct a verb from a three-letter root?” We explained one formula for creating verbs in Hebrew and had the students practice through drawing out the different actions, and through a game of broken telephone. In each game, we used tea bags from Israel as a prize and brought out a competitive edge in the students.
In class with grades four and five, we introduced various Shabbat traditions unique to different denominations, and had each student draw what Shabbat looks like at their house – we were delighted to see many colourful and varied drawings!
And after all the focus on learning – we made things fun with an Israeli music dance party during the break.
Parents of Hebrew School students can always find us at Community Time just before class begins, and the rest of the congregation can find us at the luncheon every other Shabbat.
At a Shabbat service, we recently delivered a D’var Israel to the congregation, which is a short insight or reflection into Israel or Jewish life from our point of view as Israelis. In our first D’var, Hilli introduced her family and her hometown, and Alon shared memories from his time instructing in an outdoor-focused youth group. We’re excited to share more about our passions and our lives back home in the upcoming Divrei Israel!
Thank you to all who have come up to introduce themselves at Hebrew School and on Shabbat services! Just so you know, here are some topics each of us would be happy to chat about.
Thank you to all who have come up to introduce themselves at Hebrew School and on Shabbat services! Just so you know, here are some topics each of us would be happy to chat about:
Hilli: Flute & art
Alon: Hiking & urban planning.
We wish everyone a fulfilling and productive week and can’t wait to see you!
