Friday Letter

On Wednesday evening, June 3^rd, the families of the 1^st graders gathered to create beautiful cloth covers for the Siddurim that the children will receive today at the annual 1^st Grade Siddur Ceremony.  The program was coordinated by Sheri Balsam and Lori Kantorowitz, who happen to both have children in the 1^st grade, and who have co-chaired all of the grade-wide family education programs this year.  Special thanks to 4 parents in the grade who are members of the clergy and who led small group discussions about the meaning of prayer and the contents of the Siddur that the children are about to receive.  Todah Rabbah to Rabbis Klayman, Stanger and Chesler and to Cantor Gitlin!   And Mazal Tov to our delicious first graders, who have worked so hard all year and who have truly earned the Siddurim they will receive this morning.  With special thanks to their wonderful teachers, Ms. Myra Wolozin and Mrs. Ronit Barr, as well as to the other teachers and assistants who work so closely with the first graders.  I know the first graders are also so excited about their upcoming Frog and Toad Tea on Wednesday morning, June 17^th. 

As we move toward the end of the school year, I can’t help but begin to reflect.  When this school year was just beginning, back in September of 2008, I received a call from an alumni of our school named Michael Rubin, a young man studying at the University of Vermont who had a few weeks on his hands before heading off for junior year abroad at the London School of Economics.  “Do we need any volunteer work done at Schechter?” he asked?  So for three weeks, literally until the day before he left for a year in London, Michael Rubin came and volunteered at Schechter, tutoring children, laminating posters for classrooms, and helping out a teacher who had a broken arm.

Fast forward to end of May, 2009.  Leah Stern, another Schechter graduate, surfaces with three free weeks on her hands before beginning her summer job, wondering if we have any volunteer work that needs to be done at Schechter. So this week, Leah began the first of three weeks volunteering her time at the elementary school where her Schechter life began and her worldview was formed.  Now a rising Junior at the University of Maryland, Leah spent her spring break volunteering in Uruguay. 

You might think it strange for me to be reflecting on these 2 alumni when there is a whole K-5 elementary year to process.  However, Michael Rubin and Leah Stern are like bookends of this academic year.  They are alumni who are college age, stepping forward and saying, “I have a little time on my hands and I want to use that time for good.  And I want to do it at Schechter.  As a Schechter graduate, I value time and don’t like to waste it. I am good at math and writing and I am fluent in Hebrew, and I am committed to the betterment of the world, and no menial task is below my dignity, so put me to work.”  To Michael and Leah, I want to say, “Todah Rabbah.”  To their parents, I want to say, “You did a great job raising wonderful children.”  And to the rest of the parents of the Schechter community, I want you to know about Michael and Leah and thousands of young men and women out there in the world, whose minds, hands, hearts and spirits have been educated at Schechter and are making a difference in the world.

In just two weeks, there will be a whole new crop of Schechter graduates heading out into the big world.  Our high school seniors are soon heading home from three weeks in Israel and are prepared to move on to the finest colleges in the country.  Quite a few are first taking a gap year to study in Israel. Our eighth graders are moving up to high school, our fifth graders are moving up to the middle school, and our little kindergarteners are moving up to Kitah Aleph.  Each of these events gives us a moment to pause and reflect.  Though at this time of year, my days are just so chock full of micro-details, it gives me great pleasure to stop to ponder the power of the experience of a Schechter education.  I know that the vast majority of seniors who are heading off to college will find volunteer opportunities while away at college.  When they are home for breaks, I hope that like Michael and Leah, they will give me a call and ask if they can come and volunteer their time.  They will always have a place at Schechter.
 

Shabbat Shalom,