Friday Letter - November 21, 2012

Each year that I have taken groups to Israel, we encourage the students to experience the trip through all of their chumshim (senses): sight, taste, touch, smell, and hearing. As we walk the land, we want them to experience the trip at this basic level and then begin to process the more complex thoughts and emotions churned up by a trip to Israel.

This week, I’ve been thinking a lot about using my senses as I’ve walked the halls of the Upper School. Close your eyes for just a moment and concentrate with me as I walk you through my sensory experience at school.

Touch - The feel of a diligently built bridge being taken apart in Sci-Tech to figure out why it failed. It is just as important to understand why something did not work as it is to get it working as these students learn the principles of engineering.

Taste - We shared cookies, donuts, and juice with our neighbors at St. Aidan’s at our second annual Thanksgiving celebration. We gathered the middle schools of both institutions together for an opportunity to reflect and appreciate all that we are thankful for this holiday. Students heard Father Kevin and Rabbi Josh talk about the things that they have taken for granted and now realize how important they are. Mrs. Joan Friedman Cohen organized a group of 6th and 7th graders on drums and recorders to teach the students a song and the St. Aidan’s choir performed.

Sight - The image of a coalition of Muslim and Jewish schools, synagogues and mosques
gathering together  at Hempstead Town Hall to present Hempstead Town Supervisor Kate Murray with blankets, warm coats and non-perishable food items that they have collected to donate to Hurricane Sandy victims. These items will be distributed by the Town of Hempstead to families in hard-hit communities throughout the Town, whose lives have been devastated by Hurricane Sandy, and many of whom are still unable to return to their homes.       

Hearing - Take an audio tour of many of the classes and other experiences that the Upper School students have had through Sounds of Schechter.

Of course, I have not left off the important sense of smell. Naturally, this week brings with it the smell of turkey roasting in the oven and all of the delicious smells of Thanksgiving. In these post-Sandy days, we have heightened our sense of gratitude towards our blessings. Take a look at what the 10th grade minyan thought about gratitude through the bracha מודים אנחנו לך in the עמידה. Here is a visual representation of their responses.

I wish you and your families a Happy Thanksgiving.

Shabbat Shalom!

Thank You, Sandy

With the start of this week, I have officially entered my post-Sandy life. A little more than a week ago, I was beginning think that the end of days was approaching or at least a recreation of the 10 plagues. After all, between the hurricane, the snow storm, the blackout, and then the gas shortage, life was feeling sort of bleak.

Or was it?

Yes, as a school principal, I was filled with anxiety over the lost instructional time and worrying about my students, their families, and the faculty. Could we open school? Should we open school?

Yes, we had been hit with a major disruption to learning and, in many ways, this week has felt like the first week of school all over again.

Yes, my kids' lives got turned upside down once more. As a father and a husband, I was worried about the potential damage to our home and concerned about when my daughters would experience normal life again.

When I look back, though, I have a different sort of feeling that seems to override the anxiety of the moment. It is a feeling of contentment and satisfaction with my lot in life. I've just had the opportunity to spend significant quality time with my daughters while we waited for the lights to turn back on. We read stories, played games, and generally enjoyed each other's company. We drew closer with new friends who truly demonstrated what it meant to engage in hachnasat orchim (welcoming guests) when they took us into their home during the hurricane. I learned about the power that our community has as I worked to facilitate a charging and respite center at our synagogue. I enjoyed sharing communal responsibility for meals, cleaning, and even child rearing with four families who had blended together during the storm and its aftermath as well as with the others who joined us for a meal or two. I gained a new found appreciation for the power that electricity has in my life and how for granted we take so many of the luxuries in our lives that's had previously thought of as necessities.

So, I'm going to say something that in the midst of the last two weeks that I thought I would never say, thank you Sandy. Thank you for pulling me closer to friends and family, thank you for showing me the beauty of  hachnasat orchim and the importance of community, and thank you for teaching me that things that I have taken for granted are really luxuries.