My Acceptance Speech of the Lainer Outstanding Jewish Educator Award by the BJE and Lainer Family Foundation:
My commitment to Jewish education began with my own children when I was determined to create a Jewish home environment where we observed Shabbat and the holidays. Over 30 years ago, about this same time of year, as a young wife and mother, I won the Hamentashen bake off at Temple Akiba in Culver City. It is the same recipe, I use each year at Purim when I bake with the children in my class. Today before coming here, I left a platter of those prize winning hamentashen for the teachers at my school who could not be here to share this moment with me. I feel privileged to be able to work with such a dedicated group of professionals who have taken responsibility for educating the next generation of Jews. I thank them and my colleagues, who were able to join me today, for inspiring me along with the children that I teach. Getting an award for doing something that you love is especially gratifying. I want to thank my family for their love and support and the administrators from Stephen S. Wise ECC and those at the BJE for selecting me for this honor. I also want to thank the Lainer family for recognizing the importance of Jewish Early Childhood education by validating teachers with this very special award. 