We are excited to share some wonderful news about the future of youth programming in our community.
Beginning this year, The Jewish Center and Beth El Synagogue of East Windsor are bringing our youth programs together to create a collaborative program: Mercer County Youth, affiliated with USCJ.
We are incredibly excited about this new partnership and what it means for the future of Jewish youth in Mercer County. We look forward to welcoming your children to Mercer County Youth and creating an experience that they will be excited to be part of. We can’t wait to begin this exciting new chapter together!
Shanah Tovah and best wishes for the New Year.
Rabbi Andrea Merow
Lew Gantwerk, President
Judy Kutin, VP Education
Joel Berger, Executive Director
About Sarah Donsky
Sarah is a young professional with a strong background in Educational Leadership, including over 10 years of experience in the educational field. She is meticulous and organized and dedicated to setting our youth up for success. Sarah has been working as a Youth Director at Beth El East Windsor for three years and is excited to begin her fourth year in partnership with us. Currently Sarah is a Registered Behavioral Technician while working on pursuing her Masters Degree in Applied Behavioral Analysis. Sarah is excited to be part of building and growing Mercer County (Beth El East Windsor & The Jewish Center of Princeton) Youth Programs into exciting experiences for our children and teens.
Welcome to Mercer County Youth Programming 2026-2027 |
Good Afternoon Families, My name is Sarah Donsky and I am the Youth Director & USY Advisor for Mercer County Youth Programming. We have an outstanding year planned so far and I cannot wait to see everyone in just a few weeks! In this email we will cover a few announcements, announce the 26-27 Youth Calendar and Kick-Off Events, and upcoming Family & Community Events including our Annual Community Challah Bake! New This Year! As we announced earlier this week, The Jewish Center and Beth El Synagogue of East Windsor are bringing our youth programs together to create a collaborative program: Mercer County Youth, affiliated with USCJ. We are all excited for this opportunity to to build our Youth Programming bigger and better together. Please also note that this year we have new names for our Youth Groups: Chaverim for 3rd-5th Graders. Gesher for 6th and 7th Graders. USY Chapter for Grades 8-12. As we did last year we will be utilizing WhatsApp throughout the year. Below are our New 2026-2027 WhatsApp Groups. Please be sure to join them so you can stay up-to-date with Events and Programs Throughout the year! USY (Parents & Teens): https://chat.whatsapp.com/DK33uarFEIzAj0OSExbYu4 Gesher (Parents Only): https://chat.whatsapp.com/KFXu3XHOy535fYAVD73RJh Chaverim (Parents Only): https://chat.whatsapp.com/DGogwAfRlFF3AngIBmed8p Parent Volunteers: https://chat.whatsapp.com/Gz376UoOF0yAvGQlvuEvR6
Please be sure to save my contact information below if you should have any questions or have any ideas or suggestions. Looking forward to a wonderful year together! -Sarah Donsky 609-233-2236 |
Youth culture and family programming are important priorities for us here at The Jewish Center. We provide a broad range of age-appropriate programs and family events to build the Jewish identity and communal connection for our teens and families with young children.
Before attending your first event, please fill out a TJC Youth Programming Activity Form
Click here for our calendar of youth activities.
Nitzanim (3rd and 4th Graders)
Our 3rd and 4th graders, known as Nitzanim (meaning “sprouts” in Hebrew), have the opportunity to engage in some light-hearted games and activities, with the main goal of Nitzanim being to have fun and get to know each other.
Some of our past and future events and programs include:
• Escape rooms
• Scavenger hunts
• Board games in real life
• Carnival games and attractions
Kadima (5th, 6th, 7th Grade)
Our middle school Kadima-nicks (kadima meaning “forward” in Hebrew) have so much happening in their lives as it is, from schoolwork and extracurriculars to just growing up. Our goal is to create a space for these soon-to-be young adults to grow, be themselves, and blow off some steam.
Some of our past and future events and programs include:
• Escape rooms
• Scavenger hunts
• Board games in real life
• Movie nights
• Bowling
• Ice skating
• Game nights
TJC Teens (8th, 9th,10, 11th, 12th Graders)
Our 8th through 12th graders enjoy a variety of awesome opportunities. TJC’s programming for our young adults is a combination of many different things, ranging from leadership opportunities and teamwork skill-building to social opportunities to just hanging out and having a good time. Some of our past and future events and programs include:
• Escape rooms
• The Princeton ice cream walking tour
• Movie nights
• Bowling
• Ice skating
• Game nights
• Kayaking on the Princeton Canal
Find us on Facebook and Instagram
To sign up for our programming text updates click on the appropriate link below:
Parents of 3rd & 4th graders
Parents of 5th – 7th graders
Parents of 8th – 12th graders
5th – 7th grade participants
8th – 12th grade participants
If you have any questions or thoughts please contact Sharon Diamondstein, director of congregational learning. She can be reached at 609-921-7207 ext. 220 or sdiamondstein@thejewishcenter.org
