Vision for Conservative Early Childhood Programs: A Journey Guide

Shabbat and Holidays
Teaching about and celebrating Shabbat and other Jewish holidays allows children to
grow in their understanding of what it means to be Jewish and part of the Jewish
community. In order to be comfortable teaching Shabbat and Jewish holidays, staff must
have a combination of personal experience on an adult level and basic knowledge of the
rituals and customs associated with Shabbat and holidays.
Low-impact strategies:
• Provide literature and discussion of the holiday at faculty meetings.
• Offer workshops with hands-on activities to familiarize the staff with the rituals
and symbols of Shabbat and Jewish holidays.
High-impact strategies:
• Celebrate a holiday with the staff several weeks before the holiday occurs so the
staff will live the experience, gaining and understanding of the laws and
minhagim (customs) of each holiday.
• Encourage attendance at specific events, such as megillah reading or Simchat
Torah services.
• Ask the director, rabbi and observant families to invite teachers to join them for
Shabbat and holiday celebrations in a real home setting. Encourage staff to
observe and celebrate the holidays, because the way to understand them is to live
them. The goal is that staff members will become empowered to create their own
meaningful experience in their homes and classrooms.
Torah
Jewish texts, including the Torah (the Five Books of Moses) as well as Jewish folklore,
have much to add to the Jewish early childhood classroom. Teachers who are familiar
with these texts are able to enrich their classrooms and strengthen the foundations of their
children’s Jewish identities. In his opening address in September 2006, Arnold Eisen, the
chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary, said:
…solid, critical scholarship is an integral part of the teaching and learning of
Torah. We simply cannot know what it might mean to follow the Torah's
teachings or walk in its paths or serve God or help one another unless we have so
deeply explored the variety and complexity of meanings and paths generated over
the years that we can knowingly carry them forward, keep them alive, in radically
new circumstances. …. We let down the tradition if we do not pass it on
enlivened by this effort: rendered live to others because it has come to life in us.
http://www.jtsa.edu/x1987.xml
Vision for Conservative Early Childhood Programs: A Journey Guide
USCJ Department of Education
Maxine Handelman
Handelman@uscj.org
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