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Early Childhood Education and United Synagogue - The Gateway to Jewish Life

by Maxine Handelman

"What is learned in early childhood is absorbed in the blood." (Avot de Rabbi Natan 24)

There is little that compares to the joy of very young voices singing David Melech Yisrael as they make their way to the sanctuary for their weekly Shabbat celebration. The potential for Jewish life soars when a family forms a relationship with the rabbi through their child's preschool experience.. Many of us think it's cute to have an early childhood program within a synagogue; it seems like so much fun. Young children bring life to a building that otherwise might be fairly empty during the day. And an early childhood program brings young families to the attention of the synagogue's membership director.

As important as those things are, though, they are not the main reason why a synagogue hosts an early childhood program. Early childhood programs exist first and foremost to create Jewish life and insure the future of the Jewish people.

Brain research has taught us that the first three to five years of life are a time of extraordinary brain development. Jewish early childhood scholars tell us that during this period of amazing growth, Jewish experiences lay the groundwork for a lifelong Jewish identity and create the basis upon which all future learning is built. Jewish early childhood education is about building the foundation of a strong, vibrant, joyful Jewish identity for each child. A child who lights the candles and makes challah in his classroom each week in preparation for Shabbat begins to understand the rhythm of Jewish time. A child who sings the Shema with her classmates at morning circle and recites brachot before snack each day begins to build her own relationship with God. Children who act out the story of Abraham and Sarah receiving guests at the entrance of their tent begin to take ownership of the most important of all Jewish books, the Torah. A child who listens to the rabbi tells a story of her recent trip to Jerusalem begins to grow a connection to the land of Israel.

An integrated early childhood program, where the Jewish and general curriculum are woven together through the day and throughout the week, takes a "whole child" approach to addressing each child's development. Young children are just beginning the journey of figuring out who they are. Being Jewish is as critical to that discovery as being a boy or being the second child in a family or living in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. An excellent synagogue early childhood program addresses all aspects of the young child's development, combining a child's need to run and sing and build with blocks and paint and read and learn to use scissors and make friends and celebrate life and become part of a community.

An excellent synagogue early childhood program begins laying the foundations of Jewish identities in a most sacred and central space. Children who visit the sanctuary as a matter of course, who feel comfortable visiting the rabbi in his study to ask a question about God or visiting the cantor in her office to try out a new tune for Adon Olam, who bake challah and cook chicken soup in the synagogue kitchen, are taking the first confident steps on the lifelong Jewish journey.

While the education of the young child is essential, the education of the young family is critical. Informal studies have shown that the rate of synagogue membership increases dramatically from before families enroll their children in a synagogue preschool to the end of the preschool experience. But attracting new synagogue members from the early childhood program is only the first step of a loftier vision. The ultimate goal is not to attract young families to synagogue membership, but to attract them to Jewish life.

For many young parents, entering their child into a Jewish preschool is their first connection to a Jewish institution since they became a bar or bat mitzvah. It can be a connection they approach with trepidation. Parents are their children's first teachers, but Judaism may be something parents feel ill-equipped to teach. Synagogues must open their doors wide for parents in the early childhood programs. Through the early childhood program, synagogues must offer parents ample opportunities to build rich Jewish lives for their families, and to become active Jewish learners in their own right. Synagogues are places that provide for a continuum of lifelong Jewish learning.

It is expected that a synagogue provide a Jewish education for its children. The synagogue's religious school is not expected to make money for the congregation; at best it will break even. Our synagogues must make the same commitment to our youngest children and our youngest families as they begin their journeys.

Of course, not every synagogue has a large number of young children. Approximately one third of the synagogues affiliated with United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism has an early childhood program. Every synagogue that has a population of young families, though, has a responsibility to provide for the Jewish education of those children and families. It is the early childhood program, reflecting the values and messages inherent in synagogue life, that has the potential to shape the Jewish identities of children and families, as well as to sustain the Jewish future of the synagogue and the larger community.

Sustaining an excellent Jewish early childhood program requires many critical relationships and an atmosphere of respect and trust. The early childhood program must be integrated into the life and culture of the synagogue, which calls for the intentional partnership of all the synagogue professionals: rabbis and cantors, education director and early childhood director, as well as lay leaders. United Synagogue recently took part in a think tank on synagogue/early childhood relationships sponsored by the Jewish Theological Seminary's William Davidson Graduate School of Education , Hebrew Union College, and CAJE. Teams from four schools that are models of excellent synagogue/early childhood relationships delivered presentations. Each team consisted of the synagogue's rabbi, its early childhood director, and a lay leader. Two of the schools making presentations -- Congregation B'nai Torah of Boca Raton, Fla., and Temple Israel, Charlotte, N.C. -- are members of United Synagogue.

The think tank brought to light many features of a successful synagogue/early childhood relationship, including:

• The rabbi values the early childhood program enough to be involved. He or she spends time with children, teaches teachers and the early childhood director, and is available to all parents of young children.
• The early childhood director is a member of the synagogue's executive staff and attends executive staff meetings.
• When there is more than rabbi or cantor, one ofthem has a significant relationship with the early childhood program as part of his or her portfolio.
• All clergy members interact with the children, families, and staff in the early childhood program.
• Early childhood families are invited to take part in synagogue events, whether or not they are aimed specifically at young families.
• Early childhood staff are employees of the synagogue. They are paid accordingly, and given the same benefits offered to other synagogue staff.
• Clear connections between the early childhood program and the religious school are created.

An excellent, integrated Jewish early childhood program lays the foundation for a strong, joyful Jewish identity for each child, and paves a welcoming path into Jewish life for each family. Synagogues with populations of young families have a responsibility to create an atmosphere of lifelong Jewish learning, beginning with the youngest children and their families. Many new relationships and skills will need to be built along the way, beginning with the training our clergy receive in seminary and extending to the ways each synagogue values its early childhood program. The reward a synagogue reaps from investing in the education of its youngest children is limitless. The reward is Jewish life.