Shabbat Weekly Dvar Torah

On Sunday, May 17, 2026, American Jewish University held its inaugural graduation ceremony at the House of the Book on the Brandeis-Bardin Campus in Los Angeles for the first cohort of Ed.D. candidates in Early Childhood Education through an explicitly Jewish program. I am proud to say I was among the graduates who earned their Doctorate in Early Childhood Educational Leadership that day. This milestone was not only a personal achievement. It was also a meaningful moment for our Miami Jewish early childhood community. I was honored to be asked to give a graduation speech on behalf of the entire class and in it, I reflected on a quote I first heard from a four-year-old child during my early years as a teacher: “Growing is invisible until suddenly, it isn’t.” That simple observation became a powerful lens for my doctoral journey and for the work of early childhood education itself.