Shalom! I am so thrilled to have begun what I hope will be, with apologies to the screenwriter of “Casablanca”, the beginning of a beautiful relationship with this wonderful congregation. In last month’s Temple Talk article, Debbie Sosman shared a bit about my background and experience. Today, I want to share a bit of what’s in my heart.
Becoming the Education Director of a religious school has been a dream of mine for some time. Why? Because I love children, I love Judaism and I believe fervently in the importance of Jewish education and synagogue life. I will be forever grateful to the Search Committee for making this dream come true.
During my interview, I was asked what my dream school would look like (again with the dreams!), and I want to share my response with you. In my dream school, students love coming to Hebrew School. A special sense of community permeates each classroom. Students are actively engaged in class and take great pride in their learning. They stop me to tell me joyfully that they’ve mastered, for example, V’Ahavta, and unless I have an emergency to which to attend, I stop whatever I am doing and ask them if they will chant it for me…and they do, with such pride…pride I will share. When I walk through the school, I see all kinds of learning happening, consistent with the fact that people learn in different ways (e.g., by hearing, seeing, doing, bodily movement, music). Students will be engaged in group work, reading at their desks, writing or drawing on the board, putting on skits, playing games, dancing, singing, wearing costumes, composing their own prayers or poems, and some may even be working as a team to create Hebrew letters with their bodies! The teachers and I are role models, embodying Jewish values and demonstrating by example how to treat others. We really know, and care deeply for, our students. Students are respectful to their teachers and to each other, as they understand the concept that everyone is created b’tzelem Elohim- in the image of G-d. The school is a living, breathing piece of Torah, and truly a Kehillah Kedoshah, a sacred community.
I believe that this is not a pipe dream, and that if we work together as a team, the synagogue and school on the one hand, and parents, siblings and extended family, on the other, we can create the beautiful picture I’ve painted above.
I want to thank Rabbi Yaffe, Cantor Shron, Steve Aronowitz, Debbie Sosman, Charlene Milun, David Penner, Harriet Joseph, Edith Schatz, Audina Acevedo and Ellen Marcus for their invaluable assistance in helping to ease my transition, as well as those of you who I’ve already met for the warm welcome you’ve given me into the LNJC mishpachah. I look forward to meeting and getting to know all of you during the coming months and wish you and your loved ones a shanah tovah u’metukah, a sweet and happy New Year filled with blessings.