Et Tu, Reggio Emilia?
Dread and despair. There is no other way to wake up on October 7. But this, the third year, my feelings are compounded. This year’s calendar landed my Mother’s Yahrzeit, of 21 Tishrei, on this intense painful secular date.
That was not all – a late-night phone call with my daughter had left me totally bereft. Our eldest, Dr. Pesha Kletenik, is the Head of School of Manhattan Day School. In her role she was to have traveled to Italy this Sunday with a colleague to participate in the Reggio Emilia Study Tour led by the Paradigm Project focusing on early childhood education. Now that trip was off the table.
They had received the news that day that they were no longer welcome to participate in the Reggio Emilia Early Childhood Conference unless they would sign a document disavowing their connection to Israel and Israel’s policies. It seems that the folks back in Italy had been scouring participants’ social media. They figured it out. My daughter and her school? Both Zionists. The Israeli flags and photos from trips to Israel were a not-so-subtle indication. Identified, vilified, isolated and scapegoated – labeled, objectified and deemed undesirable. They are not welcome at the table. This, the table of Reggio Emilia, open-minded, child affirming, curiosity embracing, inquiry encouraging, open-ended exploration – but not for Israel supporting educators. The irony is choking.
I am so deeply hurt for my daughter. Of the kindest most sensitive people – who has given her life and her being to working on behalf of children and their rights to a thoughtful, intentional, kind and inclusive Jewish education. My daughter a granddaughter of a brave young woman who road in a cattle car train compartment from Satmar, Romania to Auschwitz, saw her mother and sisters murdered before her eyes during the selection process, survived being treated as a less than human slave worker – was now experiencing a taste of dehumanization eighty-two years later in America.
Dr. Kletenik shared this with her community:
Unfortunately, the town has opposed our group’s visit to the center and its preschools because of our identities as Zionists. A town meeting was convened with several hundred people in attendance, along with a large protest outside the center. Our identities were made public, and our personal and institutional social media profiles were reviewed and characterized as demonstrating our support for Israel and the IDF.
A conference months in the making. And they picked quite the day to notify participants. Accident? I think not. October 7 seems to be the day that narratives are flipped and victim’s pain is erased. There is space made for all suffering – except for Jewish suffering.
I am a Jewish educator forever changed by Reggio Emilia. Just the mention of it catapults me back to a world of conferences, workshops, school visits, and books. I wholeheartedly embraced this enlightened, thrilling approach for our youngest learners. It was a sweet journey.
Now what? How are we to navigate rejection by the very experts we collectively idealized—the gatekeepers of the sensitive worldviews and teachings we trusted to nurture our most tender children? Whose approaches – we have espoused, adopted and implemented? Slapped in the face – do we beg for understanding and acceptance?
Instead of traveling to Italy, my daughter will be participating in a Yad Vashem Conference in Jerusalem instead this winter – maybe she will find the answers to these questions there.
