Vision for Conservative Early Childhood Programs: A Journey Guide

Informal Ways to Invite God into the Classroom
Through each day, and over the course of the year, the Jewish early childhood educator
can create an environment that nurtures and supports the growth of Jewish identity and
spirituality of children and their parents. Children express their ideas and theories about
the world around them using many different languages, including art, painting, dancing,
and singing. They use those same languages when they express their spirituality and their
ideas about God.
By helping the children develop healthy relationships with one another and at the same
time develop a growing concept of God, the teacher can informally invite God into the
classroom as a part of everyday life. Some ways to accomplish this include:
• Greetings – greet each child with a warm “boker tov” or hearty “shalom!” each
morning, and use Hebrew instead of English names, to set the tone for the day.
• Mezuzah - You can model the minhag (custom) of reaching out and touching or
kissing the mezuzah, as a real connection to God and to our belief in God’s
presence in our lives.
• Sacred space – Use Jewish books, pictures, and ritual objects to create a sense of
sacred space within the classroom. As children interact with Jewish stories and
objects, these ideas and items become a part of their everyday world. Their
experiences can be documented with photos and a brief dictation or description,
which makes the sacredness of the classroom life visible to all and allows the
children to reflect and expand on their own experiences.
• Classroom jobs and daily routines – Jewish values abound in the activities already
going on in the early childhood classroom. Through their everyday routines and
jobs, children can learn mitzvot (commandments) and middot (virtues) – taking
care of pets (tza’ar ba’aly cha’yim), watering plants (tikkun olam), being careful
of wasting supplies (ba’al tash-chit), sharing food (ma’achil r’ay-vim),
welcoming guests (hachnasat orchim), returning lost articles (hashavat avaydah)
and so on. Stories about Jewish values can be found in the Ethical Behavior
section of the vision.
• Making the ordinary holy – when we wash our hands before snack and learn and
recite the blessing al netilat yada’yim, we connect the everyday act to God.
Similarly, blessings recited appropriately before lunch, when we eat a new food or
see a rainbow, or in thankfulness for a special event all elevate ordinary times to
holy moments in the children’s lives. Even when there is not an official blessing,
or we do not know what it is, we can bring God into any moment by offering a
prayer of the heart (bracha she’b’lev) such as, “Isn’t it wonderful that God
brought you such a good friend!”
Vision for Conservative Early Childhood Programs: A Journey Guide
USCJ Department of Education
Maxine Handelman
Handelman@uscj.org
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