The 2010 Harold Reingold Yavneh Award for Jewish Educators was presented to Rina Mesarwi, the Director of Temple Sinai ‘s Religious School, at the 74^th annual meeting of the Jewish Federation of Greater Houston’s Annual Meeting on June 3, 2010 at Seven Acres.  The Harold Reingold Yavneh Award for Jewish Educators is presented to a professional for outstanding contributions to the field of Jewish education in Greater Houston.  Nominations for the Yavneh Award are solicited from the community-at-large.  “Being an educator for many years…you get awarded daily by the lives you touch and the changes you make to improve Jewish education.  Being recognized by the community just validates the idea that I should continue trying hard to bring the best education as possible to our students.  The Yavneh award is a great honor for me to receive, as it puts me in the company of great Jewish educators who won before me and who will receive the award in the future” expresses Rina.

Rina Mesarwi has been engaged with Jewish Education for over 30 years and has been the director of the Temple Sinai Religious school for 10 years.  Rina’s goal is to create a loving, safe environment to which kids want to return, to have happy kids, to prepare them for life, and have them be proud and love to be Jewish.  The Temple Sinai Religious school has programs for 3 years old to grade 12.  Rina has developed innovative and creative programs like the Ktantanim (trans: Little Ones) program for 3 year olds.  This is the only 3 year old program in Houston.  Also, she developed the very successful Post-confirmation program for 11^th and 12^th graders.  This program keeps kids involved with Temple and Judaism. It prepares students for college and beyond. Sessions are every other Wednesday night and features visiting speakers, both Jewish (Conservative and Orthodox Rabbis) and secular (e.g. MADD, Interfaith Ministries, Planned Parenthood) who present to the students.  This program has been a great success in keeping students involved in Judaism and aiding the move from High School to adulthood.

Mazel Tov to Rina on the occasion of receiving the Harold Reingold Yavneh Award!