Nitzanim: Four Integrated Programs of Jewish Learning for Kids & Families
Our year-end Nitzanim gratitude video!
Enrollment for our 2025 - 26 programs is now open!
Register before August 1st and receive $50 each program!
Meeting Your Family’s Learning needs
Ner Shalom’s Nitzanim Program is here to meet your family’s learning needs. We do that through family-wide experiential learning (usually in nature), Hebrew study, and B.Mitzvah preparation. These program components complement and support each other. Under the leadership of Youth & Families Education Director Mia Zimman, and with the involvement of Rabbi Irwin and a skilled faculty, we look forward to helping your family enrich your sense of Jewish values, connection, literacy, and practice.
Click on the buttons above to find out more detail about each of our programs. Click below for enrollment, calendar, and mailing list. Then scroll down to read about our talented Nitzanim faculty.
Click here for the 2025-2026 Nitzanim Tuition Info
Your Trusty Faculty
Mia Zimman
Mia Zimman (she/her) is a Jewish educator and ritual leader who brings heart, creativity, and curiosity to every learning space. With a background rooted in nature, justice, and meaningful ritual, she helps learners connect deeply to Jewish tradition—through stories, song, art, and hands-on experiences.
Mia blends inclusive teaching with spiritual guidance, supporting families and teens as they explore their Jewish journeys. Mia holds a Master’s in Jewish Education from Hebrew Union College and is a certified Jewish Spiritual Director. She was a lead educator in Camp Tawonga’s B’nai Mitzvah Program (2018–2022), writes curriculum for synagogues nationwide, and coaches with the Foundation for Jewish Camp.
Fun facts:
Jewish holiday: Rosh Hashanah—for its beauty, depth, and sense of renewal
Dessert: Flourless chocolate cake—rich, warm, and unforgettable
Animal alter ego: Elephant—wise, strong, and deeply connected
Alice Pennes
Alice Pennes (she/her) is a Jewish Educator and artist who lives at the crossroads of ritual and imagination—where every lesson is a canvas for wonder. As the Creative and Expressive Arts Educator for Nitzanim, she invites children to explore Jewish life through hands-on making, deep listening, and storytelling that honors both tradition and curiosity.
The daughter of a Conservative rabbi, Alice grew up steeped in Jewish practice—and has been bringing together Jewish wisdom and culture with art, play, and spiritual exploration. She’s trained in the Godly Play method of sacred storytelling, and holds a master’s degree in Integrative Health from CIIS, where she focused on the healing power of creative expression.
For Alice, Jewish education is an invitation to co-create: to make meaning, make beauty, and make community. Think: more imagination, fewer worksheets. More questions, more color, more awe.
Rabbi Irwin Keller
Rabbi Irwin Keller (he/she/they=all-okay!) is Ner Shalom’s spiritual leader since 2008 and ordained Rabbi since 2021, a longtime Jewish educator, and a former director of J School. Reb Irwin teaches Midweek Hebrew and Torah Lishmah, and leads parent discussion and tefilah at Nitzanim Family Experiential Learning. He grew up with wonderful Jewish teachers and learning experiences and wants that for the young people of this community. He is also available to talk to families about the B.Mitzvah experience. (Photo: Adam Shemper)
Ma’ayan Pe’er
Ma’ayan Pe’er (they/she) is a Jewish nature educator who comes alive with muddy boots, a backpack full of field guides, and a circle of curious kids. After 2.5 years as a Naturalist at Walker Creek Ranch, they now bring Jewish learning outdoors—exploring the forest through a spiritual lens, asking deep questions about the Earth, the Divine, and our responsibilities to one another (with plenty of song breaks, of course).
Ma’ayan believes Jewish spirituality and the more-than-human world are deeply connected. They’re passionate about weaving age-appropriate social justice learning into outdoor experiences that reflect the real struggles—and joys—of our communities. They’ve organized with JVP Sonoma County, North Bay Organizing Project, and North Bay Jobs with Justice.
Fun facts:
Jewish holiday: Hanukkah—for the music, the light, and the lineage
Dessert: Lava cake—gooey, warm, and dramatic
Animal alter ego: A soaring raptor, with sky-high vision and endless freedom
Gesher Calmenson
Gesher Calmenson is our lead B.Mitzvah prep tutor. He is the Education Director Emeritus of Ner Shalom’s former religious school, Dor Hadash. He is a Jewish Family Education Fellow and was Director of Sonoma County’s Jewish Family Room program. He is the founder of Remember Us: The Holocaust Bnai Mitzvah Project which pairs rising B.Mitzvah students with the name and memory of a young person who perished in the Shoah. Gesher has served as the Chair of the Sonoma County Yom Hashoah Commemoration, and has been named by Ner Shalom Educator of the Year. He has been a favorite B.Mitzvah tutor at Ner Shalom for over 20 years.
America Worden
America Worden (she/her) loves connecting young people with their sense of belonging on this gorgeous planet. Since she was a teen herself, she has worked with three-year-olds right up through high-schoolers in classrooms, in the woods, at the beach, in the mountains and in urban wild spaces. America loves to combine learning deeply about the natural world with creative projects and opportunities for insight about ourselves and others. America is Mama to Avi and Nia and she and her husband Adam have been involved in the Ner Shalom community for the past ten years. She teaches high school biology at Summerfield Waldorf School and is a psychotherapist specialized in work with teen and tween girls. She is excited to be working with Mia as the nature educator for the B Mitzvah program!
America comes to us with BA in Native American Studies from UC Berkeley, and an MSc in Holistic Science from Schumacher college and an MA in Counseling Psychology from CIIS.
And you. We look forward to the volunteership of parents and congregants to help make our programs lively and varied. If you would like to volunteer your time and skills, email us!