Our Team

Molina Butler was born and raised in Oakland, and grew up the daughter of a Chilean mama who was a teacher at Temple Beth Abraham’s Gan Avraham preschool (where she eventually became the co-director, the first Latina and non-Jewish member of the school’s leadership). Since childhood, Molina has been immersed in learning about Jewish Early Childhood Education and as a teen started serving children and families at Temple Beth Avraham’s childcare programs. She holds a passion for exploring the power of language as part of heritage, identity, and spirituality.

Molina is a preschool teacher and serves enthusiastically as Family Engagement Coordinator at Gan Avraham Preschool in Oakland, and leads a monthly Shabbat service for families with young children at Temple Beth Abraham in Oakland. She followed in her mama’s footsteps as an educator in the most interpersonal moment of teaching: young childhood, when a child and their family are a unit and holistic connection is key. Molina’s passion is setting up spaces in which children feel a sense of belonging and comfort to engage in play-based experiential learning, independently and with their families, and in guiding children in discovering Jewish spirituality and the wonders of the world.  She lives in her beloved hometown of Oakland and in true multi generational fashion, raises her nephew James, alongside her parents. They are proud owners of a small white dog, Luna.