When I first sat down with Kreinie Tiefenbrun, early childhood educator of Mequon Jewish Preschool, I immediately felt her warm, comforting presence. It’s no wonder that connection is one of the most important values to her as a person and an educator.
Tiefenbrun’s family is originally from New York, where her grandparents studied under the Rebbe. He sent them to Milwaukee in 1982 to connect with Jewish people and create community. Soon to follow were Tiefenbrun’s parents, Rabbi Motty and Rivkie Spalter in 1987.
Tiefenbrun was born in Mequon and was about 12 years old when her mother, Rivkie Spalter, founded Mequon Jewish Preschool. Just before the preschool opened, Tiefenbrun moved to Iowa to live with her aunt and attend a Jewish school in Iowa. After middle school, she moved to New York to attend Beth Rivkah High School in Brooklyn. Upon graduation, she was off to seminary in Australia for a year. She was then ready to come home and help out in her own community. Her plan was to come home for a year and get involved in community outreach. Before starting a formal job, Rivkie asked if she could help out in the preschool for just a few hours a day while she was home. Tiefenbrun obliged even though it wasn’t exactly where she saw herself at the time. Today, she couldn’t imagine herself anywhere else!
This will be Tiefenbrun’s 14th year at the school. She explained that she herself has grown while being at Mequon Jewish Preschool, “working with the children on their confidence and their competency, and seeing each child for who they are, reflected on me. I have gained confidence and learned about myself, who I am, my strengths. It’s something I never thought I would have found working with children.”
Tiefenbrun has worked with all age groups at Mequon Jewish Preschool but will be working with the 4- and 5-year-olds this year. Throughout the years, she has had the opportunity to follow some of her students as they age, which she said has helped her build strong connections with students and their families.
“There’s something really special about pushing yourself to really see the child. There is a deep connection that happens with you, the child and the family,” she said. “We push ourselves to see the children in a very deep way here.”
What others might see as a challenging behavior or challenging conflict among the students, Tiefenbrun sees as an opportunity to think deeper, really see the children, and figure out what they need at that moment. Her favorite moments are when she is able to help a child overcome hardship. “When you give a child a challenge, you are giving them an opportunity to grow,” she said.
Tiefenbrun’s inspiration to become a teacher came from a lot of places, but she ultimately credits her desire to inspire and teach others to the Rebbe. “The way my parents raised me with his lessons, I always knew that I was meant to inspire and teach others,” she said. Tiefenbrun explained that teaching was entrenched in her upbringing. She and her siblings were always taught to teach about blessings and their heritage. Tiefenbrun said she feels she was born to be an educator.
Tiefenbrun resides in Mequon with her husband, Yossi, five children and one more on the way in just one month. “I’m so busy, but this is what I want to be busy with. I get to be busy with blessings,” she said.
Tiefenbrun feels fortunate to have some of her own children at Mequon Jewish Preschool but tries not to have them in her class. She doesn’t like to be both teacher and mom;, she believes it’s confusing and blurs lines for her children. In her free time, she loves to tap into her artistic ability and sketch or create with her hands. She also loves to explore Milwaukee’s waterfront and take trips with her family.
Her favorite Jewish food is challah — and not because it’s extremely delicious or because it completes the Shabbat table. Tiefenbrun loves challah because of the connection she associates with the food: “It’s something I’ve always made with my mom, and she made with her mom, and it’s unique to our history. In Judaism, we don’t just do, it’s not just food, we do everything with a spirituality piece ingrained in it.”
She brings this special time for connection into her classroom each week by making challah with her students every Friday.
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Writer Nicole Boico is the associate director of the Coalition for Jewish Learning of Milwaukee Jewish Federation. This regular feature, from the Coalition for Jewish Learning, is to celebrate local educators. To suggest someone for coverage, contact Boico at NicoleB@MilwaukeeJewish.org.
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