Are you looking for a preschool in Berlin where Judaism is part of daily life? A place where Jewish identity is experienced in a way that celebrates Jewish diversity, fosters dialogue, and encourages respect for others? With Hebrew-German and English-German groups, a beautiful garden, and our own kitchen serving vegetarian-pescetarian organic meals? A place where children – and parents – form friendships that last a lifetime? Then you’ve come to the right place!
Our community is enriched by the diversity of our families, living differing Jewish identities, often including a parent coming from a non-Jewish background. In addition to German, Hebrew, and English, you’ll hear Russian, Ukrainian, Spanish, Italian, French, Portuguese, Turkish – and many more languages.
Our preschools in Berlin-Wilmersdorf welcome up to 80 children in four full-day, mixed-age groups. Each group is bilingual either German-Hebrew or German-English. In addition, we have a group for our youngest children (ages 1 – 2).
Our children experience their Jewish tradition through weekly Shabbat celebrations, Jewish holidays, stories from Tanakh and Midrash, and visits with our rabbi and to the synagogue. They learn Jewish terminology, symbols, and values in an age-appropriate and joyful way.
Our Masorti pre-school emphasizes an integrated and holistic approach to Jewish and general learning. In this environment, our children build learning skills, develop social competencies, and practice religious traditions without gender role restrictions.
Our educational approach follows the six learning areas of the Berlin Early Childhood Education Program:
- Health
- Social and Cultural Life
- Communication: Languages, Literacy, and Media
- The Arts: Visual Arts, Music, Theater
- Mathematics
- Nature – Environment – Technology
Our guiding framework is the Seven Masorti Principles, which we translate into everyday preschool life.
Partnership with parents is central to our work. We welcome your engagement, as parents’ representatives, helping prepare celebrations, your feedback and many other ways of contributions – regardless of your cultural or religious background.
Our kitchen is kosher dairy with fish, and we use organic products. Our kashrut guidelines (in German) can be found here [PDF].
The Masorti preschool was founded by Rabbi Gesa S. Ederberg and opened in September 2004 with seven children. Under the leadership of Dr. Rachel Herweg, the preschools grew to their current size.
The Masorti preschools are recognized service sites for:
- the German Freiwilliges Soziales Jahr (FSJ – Voluntary Social Year)
- the European Voluntary Service (EVS)
- the Bundesfreiwilligendienst (BFD – Federal Voluntary Service)
- and other volunteer programs
If you are interested in volunteering with us – reach out via kita (at) masorti.de
For New Families
We take time to get to know each other. That is why it is important to schedule a personal visit. Feel free to contact us at kita (at) masorti.de. During your visit, we will show you our space and give you a glimpse into the daily life of the groups. We will explain our daily routines and educational concept.
We are happy to answer your questions, for example, about:
- your child’s transition period
- mixed age groups
- multilingualism
- religious practice
Our approach to transitions for new children is explained in our Eingewoehnungskonzept – transition concept [PDF] – at the moment just in German.
Our special school readiness program for our oldest children can be found here – at the moment just in German.
To register your child, you will need a Kita-Gutschein (Day care voucher), which you can apply for at your local youth welfare office (Jugendamt) about two months before your preferred starting date.
More information on Day care voucher.
Of course, we are happy to help if you have questions!
A list of youth welfare offices in each Berlin district is available here.
Not living in Berlin? Are you seeking new approaches to early childhood Jewish education – or even considering founding a Jewish preschool yourself? We’d love to hear from you!
Contact
Sabine Witte – Preschool Director
Email: kita (at) masorti.de
Phone: +49 1520 8552694