“Make G-d a verb, not a noun”

I recently attended the Third Annual Paradigm Project Conference, where about 160 people who are passionate about Jewish early childhood education (ECE) gathered for a three day conference. This is a unique conference, the only one that I am aware of that brings together people from all aspects of Jewish ECE. Everyone from Directors of schools, teachers, education specialists, university researchers and professors, to consultants and artists gather to learn together. Even more unique is that all ranges of Jewish observation are represented. Members of orthodox communities, Chabbad and yeshiva schools, JCCs and Conservative and Reform synagogues share experience and knowledge and work together to create high quality ECE practices and standards.

During the conference, there are a number of sessions to choose from. Whenever I attend any conference, the most stressful part for me is choosing between sessions. If it is a good conference, there are inevitably too many choices and I don’t want to miss out. I try to pick sessions that offer something that I don’t have a lot of expertise with. When I work with schools and educators as a consultant, I offer an experiential approach, such as play based workshops exploring materials, but I’ve rarely used cooking as a tool in teaching. I love using kitchen tools in the classroom and was interested in learning more about the actual process of cooking with children. This led me to choose my first session with Danny Corson of Culinary Kids Academy. His philosophy is to use cooking as a tool to teach “valuable lessons covering a broad array of subjects.” He integrates history, math, science, social/emotional lessons and standards; when teaching a Jewish audience, he bases his lessons around Jewish values and traditions.

One of the most apt statements Danny Corsun related during the session was “Make G-d a verb, not a noun.” I thought that this was a perfect sentiment for the conference and the mission of the Paradigm Project. Essentially this expression is encouraging one to take action and make the changes that one sees as necessary. The story of Nachshon* is often referred to when relating this idea of taking action and not sitting idly by waiting for change. When I heard Danny bring up this reference and the plea to “take action” it resonated even more for me given the setting and the company. I was surrounded by some of the most passionate, dedicated, hard-working educators and ECE activists in the US and Canada who embody this sentiment in real life.

The Paradigm Project community like to say #makeshifthappen. This puts the sometimes onerous task and responsibility directly on the individual. It is up to each person to make the shift and to take responsibility to be a leader that makes the positive and necessary changes. There is no better way to get the strength, knowledge and power to do this than learning with a community who has a shared vision of creating the best Jewish ECE centers possible. The Paradigm Project Conference offers a gathering place for the community to come together and #makeshifthappen. Each community and school represented at the conference is different. The schools and organizations represented vary in terms of their geography, finances, affiliation, educational philosophy, religious observance and so on, but they all have a shared vision of creating their best version of Jewish ECE and #makingshifthappen.

*During the story of the Exodus, Nachshon walked into the sea of Reeds before the sea had split and had faith that G-d would help. After Nachshon took action, G-d sea split the sea when Nachshon was almost fully emerged in the sea.