By Carolyn Linder
‘Joy’, ‘wonder’, ‘belonging’ and ‘connection’ are four words that evoke this summer’s Classrooms Without Borders Israel seminar for Jewish early childhood educators. A group of 24 Jewish early childhood educators, representing ten local programs, were selected to participate in this transformative experience.
While returning to Israel is always emotional, leading this group of Jewish early childhood educators, many of whom were visiting Israel for the very first time, was particularly powerful and meaningful. While the ripple effect of having spent two weeks together fully immersed in a rich and varied Israel experience may never be fully known, the immediate impact is abundantly clear. Each participant felt an immediate connection to Israel, to the land and to its people. They experienced a feeling of belonging in a place that just weeks before had been so foreign and distant. When these Jewish early childhood educators now speak about Israel, be it with the children and the families in their schools and classrooms, or with their colleagues, friends and relatives, the narrative has forever been changed. When these Jewish early childhood educators now prepare to celebrate a Jewish holiday or Shabbat in their schools and in their homes, they will now rejoice in their feelings of belonging and connection to the Land of Israel.
Each day was filled with countless moments of wonder and joy that will long stay in our hearts and in our minds: the amazing hospitality that we were shown throughout our journey, visits to inspiring early childhood classrooms and early childhood enrichment centers in Karmiel and Misgav, hearing the voices of young children in song, seeing etrogim and pomegranates growing in the wild, reciting the shechecheyanu when our tear-filled eyes first glimpsed the Old City from the promenade, welcoming in Shabbat together in Jerusalem, being in dialogue with our Israeli counterparts, celebrating a Bar Mitzvah atop Masada, floating in the Dead Sea and tasting the many local delicacies. These many moments of wonder and joy offered our educators ways of understanding the role of Israel in Jewish life—past, present, and future.
Throughout their entire Israel experience, this passionate, committed and diverse cohort of local Jewish early childhood educators forged an incredibly strong bond with one another. Perhaps an unexpected outcome of the Seminar, or perhaps not so unexpected given the collaborative spirit of our Jewish early childhood community, is the openness and trust that the group has with one another. They have not only seen Israel, but Judaism, through the lens of multiple narratives.
The Seminar provided unparalleled opportunities for engagement and for deepening the educators’ understanding of and connection to Israel. Young children learn with all of their senses, with a natural integration of mind, heart, and hand. For a Jewish early childhood educator to engage children in the reality and vision of Israel, he/she must have the opportunity to construct his/her own understandings of its intricacies, its possibilities, its sacredness, its history, its reality, and its meaning in his/her own life. Drawing from their own personal sense of joy, wonder, belonging and connection and their fuller understanding of Israel, these Jewish early childhood educators will now be able to create a deeper educational experience in ways not previously explored, for the young children and families whom they touch each and every day. Carolyn Linder is the Director of Early Childhood Education at the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh.