April’s Family Shabbat was a full circle moment for me. When we joined TE, Maddy, our oldest daughter, was entering kindergarten and Abby was in pre-school. We joined TE for our girls. Not because we felt a need for them to go to Hebrew School or have a Jewish education, but because they really loved the Jewish traditions and songs they learned in pre-school at Gan Hayeled. (Thank goodness for catchy Jewish kid songs!)
Scott and I enjoyed learning along with our girls at Asepha and then participating in the TE parent ritual of going to Costco and Trader Joe’s from 10:00-12:00 every Sunday morning.
I know everyone says that kids grow up quickly and the young years go by in a blink. I can now say from experience it’s true! In just a moment we went from sitting at Asepha and Family Shabbat with cute little girls on our laps, to sitting as a pair while our girls are on the side of the sanctuary with their friends, in their roles as teachers and madrachim.
Family Shabbat is my favorite service at TE. I love the songs and the visual t’filah, and I also really love the beautiful chaotic energy. For our April Family Shabbat we had 1st and 2nd graders lead the service, and Maddy was one of their teachers. During the service, the young kids were fully engaged. One child even corrected Maddy when she misread a line from “The Little Red Hen and The Passover Matzah”, the evening’s story- “you meant prickly prickly prickly not quickly quickly quickly.” Another child made a fantastic quick comment “he didn’t know the answer!” when an adult joked that they knew what Rabbi was talking about when he clearly didn’t. Everyone couldn’t help but laugh. All evening, there were kids being kids- moving around, talking, playing – so full of energy and a beautiful reminder of the vitality of our community.
Now my baby is graduating high school, and I’m excited to watch the next group of young teens become teachers. Last month I watched the little kids at Family Shabbat and knew that before long, they too would become the cool teenage teachers. We are so fortunate to be part of TE, where you can really see change happen and watch the community evolve. The baby at Asepha has their bat mitzvah, becomes the teacher, and then graduates, right in front of our eyes.
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Coming Soon.. EasyShul
This summer, we are launching a new community database for TE. EasyShul will be our new platform for the office to manage membership information. It will also be where we post events, register for school, check invoices and make donations. EasyShul is very user friendly and will be a great resource for all of us. More information will be shared soon! Contact Lindsey with any questions.