Excellence Without Compromise

As 12 California-based educators were flying to Israel to participate in a Jewish and Israel Cultural Ambassador Program, my phone began lighting up with calls, texts, and messages from across the Jewish early childhood education world. Colleagues from Israel’s Ministry of Education, educators, preschool directors, and organizational leaders across the United States were asking the same questions.: What is happening? What do we know? What should we do as a Jewish educational community?

The questions reflected a growing concern about the relationship between global educational frameworks and the Jewish early childhood field that has embraced and learned from them for decades.

For years, international educational approaches have inspired early childhood educators with their emphasis on child-centered learning, curiosity, creativity, and respect for children as capable learners. These principles have enriched our classrooms and strengthened our profession. But recent statements and actions within the broader educational landscape have left many in our community questioning how we can continue to pursue pedagogical excellence while ensuring that Jewish identity, culture, and connection to Israel are respected and meaningfully represented.

We should not have to choose.

Jewish early childhood educators should never have to choose between pedagogical excellence and a meaningful connection to Jewish life and Israel. We can—and must—make room for both.

Rather than allowing this moment to create a void, we should see it as an opportunity to build something stronger: professional learning experiences that bring together the best of early childhood education with a deep understanding of Jewish identity, Israeli society, and the values that shape our community.

At EarlyJ, the organization I lead that invests in building a thriving Jewish early childhood education ecosystem, we believe this approach is not just an aspiration. It is something we can put into practice.

Through our Jewish & Israel Cultural Ambassador Program, we bring early childhood educators to Israel for an intensive 17-day seminar in partnership with Oranim College, a leading Israeli academic institution. Participants learn from Israeli early childhood experts and educators, visit early childhood centers, explore Israeli communities and cities, and engage with the richness and complexity of Jewish and Israeli life.

This is not simply a trip to Israel. It is a professional learning experience that connects pedagogy with identity, knowledge with lived experience, and individual growth with a broader sense of educational responsibility.

Educators have the opportunity to examine their own assumptions, deepen their understanding of Israel and Jewish life, exchange ideas with Israeli colleagues, and consider how these experiences can shape their work with young children and families. They return home with new teaching strategies, new perspectives, stronger connections, and greater confidence in bringing Jewish life and Israel into their classrooms in meaningful, age-appropriate ways.

The impact extends beyond the educators themselves. When teachers feel equipped to share their knowledge and experiences, children benefit from richer learning environments, families encounter more authentic opportunities for connection, and preschools strengthen their role as places where Jewish identity can grow alongside curiosity, creativity, and intellectual exploration.

Of course, learning across cultures and collaborating with educators around the world remain valuable parts of professional growth. We should welcome those opportunities. But our community must also ensure that Jewish educators have access to high-quality professional development that reflects the full breadth of who we are and what we want to pass on to the next generation.

That requires more than good intentions. It requires investment.

Philanthropic leaders, foundations, and Jewish communal organizations have an opportunity to help make these experiences accessible to more educators and preschools. By investing in programs that combine pedagogical excellence with meaningful engagement with Jewish life and Israel, they can help build a stronger, more confident, and better-connected Jewish early childhood education field.

At EarlyJ, we have a model to build on, with extraordinary results. Three cohorts have completed the program, deepening the participants’ connection to Israel and strengthening their ability to bring that connection into their classrooms—with pride in Israel and Judaism, without needing to hide that connection or justify Israel’s existence.  Now we need partners who share the vision and are ready to help expand its reach.

The question is no longer whether we can create professional learning experiences that nurture both excellent teaching and a deep Jewish connection. We can. The question is whether we will invest in making them available to the educators and children who need them.

I invite philanthropic leaders, foundations, and Jewish communal partners to join us in expanding the Jewish & Israel Cultural Ambassador Program. When we send educators abroad for professional learning, Israel should be at the heart of the experience. The knowledge and ability to connect rich Jewish education with Israel and Jewish life can’t be gained in quite the same way elsewhere. Educators need to be on the ground, experiencing Israel with all their senses—walking its streets, hearing its music, and absorbing the rhythm of its language. That lived experience can make their learning even more meaningful and impactful.

Together, we can ensure that more educators have the knowledge, experience, and confidence to nurture the next generation of children who are not only curious and capable learners, but also connected to their Jewish heritage and to Israel.