Ready for Takeoff: KYY’s Maftir Yonah Annual Campaign

For 25 years, Kol Yakov Yehuda in Los Angeles has given children a shul of their own, where they lead, daven and grow. Its annual Maftir Yonah Campaign helps fund a new year of programs for them.

For 25 years, Kol Yakov Yehuda, the Rebbe’s Diamond Daveners of Los Angeles, has worked from a simple idea: a children’s minyan should not be a place where children merely wait for their parents to finish davening. It should be their shul, a place where they lead, participate, grow and feel that davening belongs to them.

That is why KYY calls itself “The Shul for the kids, by the Kids.”

On a KYY Shabbos, children take a siddur with confidence, serve as junior rabbis, join full davening and leining, earn recognition for their effort and build friendships across grades. Younger children have their own Mini Minyan, Bainany and Bainaniya divisions. Older boys and girls take on leadership roles and become part of a community built around Torah, tefillah and Chassidishe chayus.

The same approach carries through the year. KYY runs rallies and mivtzoyim, learning programs, Yom Tov celebrations, weekly Kiddushim, incentives, prizes and experiences that help children associate Yiddishkeit with responsibility, belonging and joy.

This Rosh Hashana, KYY again showed what that can look like. Children came to a full minyan with companion booklets, Machzorim and a structured program that kept them involved through each part of davening. Rather than simply watching adults daven, the children were active participants in crowning Hashem as King.

But a shul whose members are mostly children faces an obvious challenge: its congregants cannot fund it.

KYY’s annual Maftir Yonah Campaign is one of its most important fundraisers of the year, says its founder Rabbi Mendel Duchman. “It helps pay for the programs, staff, Kiddushim, learning, prizes and countless details that turn a children’s program into a children’s shul.”

This year’s campaign carries a flight theme: the Diamond Daveners are ready for takeoff, but the flight needs fuel. The children will bring the energy, the davening and even a little “Chassidishe chayus turbulence.” The community is being asked to help them soar.

Maftir Yonah, read at Mincha on Yom Kippur, carries a special place in the hearts of Yidden. Through this campaign, donors can participate in that zechus while supporting the tefillos, Torah and growth of Unzere Kinder throughout the coming year.

Donations may be made in honor or in memory of a loved one. Donors can include their family’s Hebrew names in the donation notes, or email them to therebbesdiamonddaveners@gmail.com, so the names can be mentioned at the Torah.

Help fuel the next year of KYY. Sponsor a Diamond Davener, invest in a child’s connection to davening and help give the next generation a shul they can truly call their own.

Join the Maftir Yonah Campaign:
https://www.kolyakovyehuda.​com/maftir-yonah
Credit-card donations may also be made directly at:
https://thedonorsfund.org/​donate/kyy-junior-cong-la/​933328749
Zelle: therebbesdiamonddaveners@​gmail.com

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