Young Adults

The Congregation B’nai Torah Young Adults Group (YAG) was established in 2005 and has been expanding in both membership and programs over the past 4 years. YAG was founded by a group of young adult members who volunteered to plan programs for other young adults, members and non-members alike, in their 20s and 30s.

The objective of the group is to provide social, religious, social action and educational programs for young singles and couples so that they feel they have a connection to the synagogue and an opportunity to meet each other and form lasting relationships. YAG works with synagogue leadership with the hopes that the types of programs and the people that attend the events begin to get involved with the synagogue at an earlier age and then stay involved, rather than the growing trend around the country of only getting involved once a young couple has children and starts utilizing more of the synagogue’s services.

In addition to programming for Young Adults, due to the changing needs of the synagogue’s members, a Young Families Group was started as an extension of YAG to provide programs for young parents with children under the age of 2. These events provide opportunities for all young adults, no matter their stage in life (right out of college, single and working, engaged, recently married, expecting and young families) to feel connected to B’nai Torah and to meet other members. In fact, over the years, based on the structure, programming, and camaraderie, YAG has driven membership of B’nai Torah more than any other single outreach group in the synagogue.

During the 2008-2009 year, YAG had a total of 14 events where we have had 333 people attend.  YAG had 6 Happy Hours at places such as Mellow Mushroom for trivia, Eclipse De Luna, the Atlanta Botanical Gardens, Café Intermezzo, and El Azteca, where we have averaged 18 people per event.  YAG also had events at the IMAX theater at Fernbank, a game night in the Sukkah, Movie Night with the Rabbi, Bowling event, Hawks game, and Shabbat Dinner.

Additionally, during the same time, the Young Families Group had 3 events with 98 kids and parents in attendance.  The events included an Itsy Bitsy Yoga party, an afternoon at the Park, and a PJ and Havdalah party.

CBT Young Adults Group develops programming for singles and couples (parents are always welcome --CBT Young Families manages programming that is child-safe and friendly)--ranging from early 20s to mid-30s. The goal of Young Adults is not membership recruitment. However, the goal is to create programming that brings Jews in the community, in our age group, together. If a by-product is that shul membership grows, all the better. You do not need to be a member of CBT to participate in Young Adult functions. We have targeted five key programming areas: (1) Social, (2) Religious, (3) Educational, (4) Athletic, and (5) Social Action. We are committed to planning the types of events that you are interested in--so feel free to offer your great ideas!