Summer is a time for expansive thinking and creativity. What do we imagine for our learning programs? How can we support teachers in their own learning journeys? What opportunities can we offer families and congregants?

Sometimes an outsider’s perspective yields a beautiful question. Susan Zukrow Mackevich, whose second yahrzeit was April 27, provided that kind of perspective for us at the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ), Early Childhood Educators of Reform Judaism (ECE-RJ), and Chicago-area early childhood Jewish educators.

What if your congregation’s students learn about Jewish values and living online with Shalom LinkED once a week for 18 weeks next year and celebrate, build relationships, and learn Hebrew together during the remaining weeks? How might your congregation’s educators focus and deepen their work if some planning and teaching is taken care of by leaders in the field?

As the STEM educator and director of education, respectively, at Temple Shir Tikva in Wayland, MA, we’re sharing reflections on introducing STEM to Jewish learners in our building pre-COVID and in our online learning community.

Although the pandemic has not altered the overall mission of our sacred work – to engage the next generation of families with young children on their Jewish journey – it has further amplified our sense of urgency and is helping to redefine and clarify our goals and priorities.

Caring for each other, as well as for our children, families, and staff, doesn’t stop when challenges surface. But it is also during these difficult times that we reinvent ourselves and meet the needs of our community more than ever.  

A recent visit to Israel by early childhood educators enriched our ability to engage the next generation of Jews with a rich and meaningful dialogue around Israel.

Here's how one Chicago-land congregation successfully deepened its engagement with families with young children.

Jacqueline and Kevin Haney of North Caldwell wanted to send their children to a Jewish preschool, so last summer they took a look at the Early Childhood Center at nearby Congregation Agudath Israel of West Essex in Caldwell. Because they both work traditional