Hello all! And so begins the "slog" from Pesach to
the end of the school year. In the 11 years I have taught religious
school, this frame of time has always stood out in my head as the final mile of
the marathon. Now I have no experience running marathons, but I can tell you
that I get VERY tired watching them run that last mile. :) It requires
hydration, sugar and some mental clarity that often requires digging into one's
mental reserves for strength. I don't know if it is the sunshine (pretend
there is sun and warm weather out your window now), a toxic build up of
matzoh? or just the siren song of summer calling, but the kids seem to go
haywire.. and the teachers.. truth be told, are a few steps behind.
So, this year, I have decided to mix it up a bit. What does that
mean? No idea yet... but I promise by Sunday, I will have something fun,
exciting, new... that makes this SLOG into a JOG and we will have a great end
of the year. No longing eyes looking OUTSIDE, because we will be out there..
.learning our Torah.
This week we had a non-traditional class. We were lucky enough to
participate in the tefillin project and we listened to a sofer and to Chazan
Propis explain how tefillin are made and how to wear them. It is a
process putting them on ! BUT BUT, with practice, it gets easier. I urge
you to have your child check out some of the youtube videos on how to put them
on, or.. even better... to come to tefillah on Sunday morning before Hebrew
school, and one of "The Fellas" (the older guys who daven every
morning) will help your child put on tefillin. The synagogue has tefillin for
people to use, and they are a WONDERFUL present to give prior to a bar/bat
mitzvah! The kids will be called to Torah in the morning, the week before
"the big day," and the boys wear tefillin, and we would LOVE for the
girls to too.
My daughter lays tefillin. She did NOT when she had her bat
mitzvah, but she began this year and she LOVES it. It really makes her connect
more while she is praying. My son began wearing them the Thursday before his
bar mitzvah. He was given my father's pair to wear and as he was going up
to Torah, I was literally pulling bobby pins out of my hair and using them to
secure the tefillin to his head. Lesson learned: TRY THEM ON BEFORE THE BIG DAY
:) But now he has the hang of it, and hence.. my hair can still look great when
he wears them :)
Personally, I don not wear them, but I am going to begin to.
Watching the kids put them on this Sunday, it made me think "Hey! I
should try that."
Some of the kids were a bit discouraged, because it is a skill
putting them on. Please remind your kids that practice makes perfect- AND that
they will be PROS before the big day!
I hope you have a spectacular week!
Morah LEah
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