Hello all and Happy New Year! We had a
wonderful 3rd day of the Sunday edition of religious ed. This Sunday we
began with our usual framing: we said our bracha over Torah study and
recited our: Hillel's Rule, Chazak!Chazak!, Wrestler's Mantra, and Torah
Strong. Please ask your child what each of these is. We then headed
outside to get our Torah on.
We are going to be studying the text of the
parsha Vayeira for the next few months. Yesterday, we began in the very
beginning. The text starts with poor, old Abraham, who is ailing. You
see, he just had his bris, and poor Abe was NOT a bouncing baby boy of 8.
He was quite a few years older. So needless to say, Abe was not
feeling so well. And as he was reclining in his tent, he saw 3 guests walking
in the distance. Abraham JUMPS up, greets them, washes their feet (and we
think that modern people have no sense of hospitality :)) and feeds them.
Later, he will learn that they are angels, and they will bring him news
of his impending fatherhood. But for now, Abraham is just hurting, and then
running, washing and feeding. I use this short passage to teach the kids
the importance of hospitality, or in Hebrew, Hachnasat Orchim.
And Abraham does not go about being the hostest
with the mostest casually. He literally puts his own pain and needs aside and
HASTENS, the Torah tells us, to meet his guests' every needs. I love this
passage, because it so beautifully and literally displays that Judaism is a
religion of ACTION. We can't just sit around and wait or sit around and pray,
we NEED TO DO. Kids have a hard time getting this. Us adults have
had fevers, been weeks on end sleep deprived, so sick and tired that we can't
see straight, and somehow we get up and feed our kids and care for them and
even though every bone in our body is aching, we don't get a day off.
Remember the first time your infant had the stomach flu and then you got
it and somehow your child had the gall to get better first and need to eat and
stuff? Remember how you thought "wait a minute… I don't feel well.
What do you mean you need something?!" Well the kids have not had to
put their own needs aside to help others in the same way that us parents had to
do.
So we learned. We experienced.
We had an "Abraham," the fabulous
Estee Moss and we had a Doctor Adam (an insert to the story), we had some
guests, we had some others who helped the whole mishigas run smoothly. In
order to have a handicap, as Abraham would clearly have had, Estee could only
use one hand and one eye. Doctor Adam made sure she followed these rules
and was safe. Our Abraham had to RUN across the pavilion and greet our guests.
She had to converse with them in Hebrew (we had a Hebrew cheat sheet on
hand) and tell them a joke. Then she had to RUN across the pavilion and
build her tents and welcome her guests into the tents. Then she had to
RUN across the pavilion and get wet wipes and hand sanitizer and the RUN back
to the guests to clean their hands (no feet.) Then she had to RUN across the
pavilion to get food and RUN back to hand feed them. She had to do all of this
with a smile on her face.
And she did. That is, until Mother Nature
decided to roll a ginormous storm cloud right on top of the pavilion. Perhaps
God was displeased about the hand vs feet thing?! Can't win em all.
The kids were pretty freaked out about the storm, but we did take 5
minutes before stormageddon rolled in and we went over the text.
We discussed how Abraham was in a hurry to help
his guests. He put his own needs aside to do it.
we RAN (Jews are, after all, people of action
:)) back to the classroom to avoid the storm. We talked about how we
cannot necessarily invite strangers into our homes, but how can we learn from
this story and make it work in modern life. THe kids decided they can
give to Yad Ezra. We also talked about other "homes." For
instance at school, when a new kid comes in, we can save them a seat at the
lunch table. And when we see someone in need, instead of waiting to do
something, we can do it immediately.
I told them the story of the Lubavitcher RAbbi,
Schneerson. I read a biography about him this summer by Tulushkin ( I recommend
it). So one of his minions came in and told the Rebbe that he had found a girl
who wanted Shabbat Candles and he was going to mail them to her, so she could
light them next week. The man thought that the Rebbe was going to be super
excited. Instead, the Rebbe said "why must she wait a week to perform this
mitzvah?" The man looked at his watch and said, "but Rebbe.
Shabbas starts in 12 minutes and we are in Crown Heights and she lives in
Maryland!" The Rebbe said "I'm sure you will figure something
out." (I love this) So the man called the home, asked the girl
if she had birthday candles, told her the prayer and had her transliterate it
in note form, and then told her he would mail the candles the next week, but in
the meantime, she could perform the mitzvah." He made it happen in
under 12 minutes, ran back to the rabbi, and the Rebbe said "Good. Why
must one wait a second longer than they need to to perform a mitzvah?"
And with that note. HASTEN all of you to
live a good life, to prepare for a wonderful New Year. May you and your
families not have to wait a second longer to live meaningful, happy, peaceful
lives and may God bless you with a sweet and wonderful new year.
And remember, your kid now knows that he/she
must put his/her own needs aside to help others. So next time you feel
sick, scream for little Samuel to take care of things!
- Morah Leah
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