The last two-plus years have been jarring for American Jewish communities. With rising antisemitism, people felt unmoored and often under siege. Yet over the last few months, there’s been a sea change within the community about what the future holds–and what we can make it.
Conversations about a Jewish Renaissance are eliciting rallying cries for deeper investments in areas such as day schools, camps, and Israel travel programs. Absent from this conversation, however, is a focus on the critical stage of life where Jewish learning and community actually begin.
If we want stronger Jewish families, vibrant communities, and a thriving Jewish future, we must invest boldly and urgently in the earliest years.
This is where the Renaissance begins.
Investing in Jewish early childhood education (ECE) has powerful ripple effects beyond a preschool or infant/toddler center. The organization I lead, EarlyJ, allocates meaningful resources each year because early childhood Jewish engagement can transform families and an entire community.
One example: our funding recently helped open a preschool in an area of Santa Rosa, CA, where no Jewish preschools previously existed; what we call a “Jewish preschool desert.”
The preschool’s opening sparked a remarkable collaboration among local Jewish organizations. They worked together to create the first Jewish ECE program in the region and, in the process, built more than just a preschool.
They built a stronger, more connected community. The founders’ goal of enrolling seven children in the first year was quickly surpassed. Some parents were so inspired by the preschools that they moved to the area, helping to grow and increase the vibrancy of the Jewish community.
One parent captures well the impact on their family:
When our youngest, Lev, was born, there was no viable Jewish preschool in Santa Rosa, and the other options we toured never felt like the right fit for our family. Thankfully, by the time Lev was two, JCC Sonoma County had opened, and it became a lifeline for us as parents and a joyful, nurturing space for our son.
In the post-October 7 world, parenting young Jewish children has often been filled with fear and darkness, but every day, despite everything, Lev is building his Jewish identity with joy and pride. His foundation is solid, and our community has grown around us.
The preschool has provided us with the support we needed during such a tender time in early parenthood and has helped our son flourish.
Preschools connect Jewish families to the community
For too long, Jewish early childhood education has been under-resourced, with insufficient investment to support its growth and sustainability. This is where families first connect to community, where identity takes shape, and where lifelong relationships with other families, with Jewish values, and with a sense of belonging are formed. High-quality, accessible Jewish early childhood education is not optional for our future. It is the foundation.
That’s why EarlyJ makes investments strategically, on a large scale. We started in the Bay Area, grew to Los Angeles, and helped spur an increase in Jewish preschool enrollment. Our investments address multiple areas of the Jewish ECE ecosystem simultaneously:
We help expand the capacity of Jewish preschools so more families can find their place in a Jewish community–celebrating Shabbat and holidays together, learning about our rich traditions and values, and, most importantly, connecting with one another and experiencing a true sense of belonging and joy.
We enable Jewish preschools to open infant and toddler centers so parents of babies just months old have a childcare option that puts them inside the Jewish community. That infant or toddler center–and the routine those parents develop there–becomes a pipeline for Jewish preschool and ongoing engagement in Jewish life.
As part of our family engagement efforts, we invest in family centers so parents can have meaningful Jewish experiences with their children on a daily basis. While we bring in a variety of programs, the goal is to involve more Jewish preschool parents in nurturing ongoing, meaningful Jewish experiences, helping them feel comfortable and connected to the preschools, staff, and clergy.
Importantly, we also invest in educators. Parents expect educators to offer excellent care and education from the earliest stages of their children’s lives. Our Jewish ECE educators must be committed, talented, and properly compensated. We invest in educators’ professional development, Israel travel seminars, and Master’s Degree programs.
We are equally committed to retaining the educators already in the field doing excellent work. We subsidize higher salaries so educators can afford to stay in the field. Recently, an exceptional educator who is deeply engaged in Jewish life, loves his work, is extremely well-liked by families, and is pursuing his master’s degree in Jewish ECE with EarlyJ’s support shared a story with us.
He called his mother and said, “I’m doing everything right. I’m giving everything I have to this work–and yet the only thing I can afford for the week is a $4.99 chicken from Costco.”
This scenario should be unacceptable to anyone who cares about a Jewish Renaissance. When educators who are thriving professionally cannot afford basic dignity in their lives, it’s a crisis for our community. Educator retention is an urgent part of our work and is vital to positively shaping the Jewish future.
These investments, along with efforts to lower the cost of Jewish ECE, are how we can shape the next generation of Jews and safeguard the continuity of Jewish life. Now is the moment for our community to mobilize around this promise and potential. Let’s make sure we have fewer Jewish ECE deserts and more high-quality Jewish ECE offerings in more locations.
If the Jewish community loses unaffiliated families at this early life stage, we rarely get the chance to engage them again. Instead of losing these families, let’s strengthen children’s Jewish identity and values. Let’s foster deep communal bonds for children and parents, and let’s put families on a path to being active members of our community.
We’re all emerging from the despair of the last two years. Now we look ahead to what we can create together. Strong Jewish ECE and the positive impact it has on children and their parents is the key to unlocking a vibrant Jewish future. For anyone who cares about this outcome–of shaping proud, knowledgeable, and committed Jews that are the foundation of a Jewish Renaissance–Jewish ECE isn’t just a strategic starting point, it’s the only one.
The writer is the founding president and executive director of EarlyJ