Double lucky’ and deeply dedicated

2026 Pinsky Award winner Galina Kushnirsky. (Photo courtesy of Galina Kushnirsky)

When Galina Kushnirsky moved to Chicago from Haifa, Israel, for her husband’s job, she was homesick. Then, she met someone who told her about “a place in Chicago that is like in Israel” and said not to worry—because there, she would feel at home.  

“I started working in Gan Gani, and it’s been love for 14 years,” Kushnirsky said. 

Kushnirsky began as a teacher’s aide before she became the lead teacher of the 2-year-old (turning 3) class at Gan Gani, a Hebrew immersion preschool, at Moadon Kol Chadash in Lincoln Park. “She’s a model of somebody who makes up their mind to be the best teacher,” said Etty Dolgin, Director of Gan Gani, adding that “something unique, almost magical” happens in Kushnirsky’s classroom. “She takes that classroom and forgets the rest of the world.” 

Described by colleagues and parents alike as engaging, passionate, and attuned to each child as an individual, Kushnirsky was selected to receive the 2026 Sue Pinsky Award for Excellence in Jewish Education. The annual award, presented by the JUF Education Department, honors a teacher in a nonprofit Chicago-area Jewish early childhood center, and includes a $6,000 cash prize (with $500 going towards materials for their classroom) and $1,000 for the school. This prestigious award was endowed in honor of Sue Pinsky Gardner—who taught early childhood education for decades at the Bernard Weinger JCC—by Sue’s son, Mark, and his wife, Lisa, through JUF’s Agency Endowment Program, to ensure that it is given in perpetuity. 

Kushnirsky said she is “double lucky” to have found her calling through teaching at Gan Gani. For her, her professional life is her personal life; that’s her double stroke of luck. “It’s not just that my job is my hobby,” she explained. “My job is my family.”   

Dolgin agreed. In fact, when she asked Kushnirsky what her most important mission is in her classroom, Kushnirsky answered, “To make sure I give the kids that I have in my class in the best possible shape to the next teacher.” 

The award ceremony will be held on May 3. Nominations for the 2027 award will open in December.