By Olga Markus
Tell me and I forget, teach me and I remember, involve me and I learn. – Benjamin Franklin
As a teacher and a member of Temple Emanuel Religious School faculty, I love this quote for it expresses a deep truth: the best education happens when we make it a part of who we are. This year, as we are getting ready to open our doors to our new and returning students and their families, we strive to create meaningful ways to embrace new experiences, to gain valuable lessons, and to acquire new skills and perspectives along the way.
At the end of last year, our faculty decided that in the true spirit of the TE community, ‘Be A Mensch’ would become an overall theme for our 2018-19 school year. “Mensch“ is a Yiddish word meaning “a person of integrity and honor”. Being a “mensch” is not at all related to success, wealth or social status. A mensch is many things and one simple thing. A mensch does what is right – because it is right – towards family, community, towards strangers, at home and in public. When people behave with honesty, integrity, consideration and respect, they themselves prosper, as does society at large. By spreading mensch-like behavior we can make our society happier, healthier and more successful. In the framework of our school this year we are planning to have school-wide and grade-specific programs that will encourage all of us to be respectful of ourselves and each other, of our beautiful building that we all share, and of those who put in numerous hours and much effort to keep it clean, safe and welcoming for all of us. We will continue to engage with our Jewish traditions and wisdom, and to learn from them how to be more aware and respectful of each other’s needs and personal spaces. We hope to become mensches who have courage to do the right thing, to stand up for what’s right, and to admit when we are wrong. We want our students to care about their community, about Am Israel, and about the world.
There are, of course, different recipes for making mensches, but I know together we can come up with a good one!
Ben Zoma (a 2nd century CE Jewish teacher) said: “Who is wise? He who learns from every person.” (Pirkei Avot 4:1). Education comes in all shapes and from all sources. Everyone has something to teach. A key to growth is being open to learning from all different types of people. Our students are blessed to have so many role models among TE members. We call them different names – elves, angels, volunteers – but it all comes down to being true mensches in the deepest meaning of this word.
There is so much to look forward to in the new school year at Temple Emanuel! Our last year’s junior teachers became full members of the faculty, and we are so proud of the four high school seniors serving as true role models. We can’t wait to see all of our students and madrichim, and to welcome new families. Our school year begins on Sunday, September 23rd with a sukkah build at 9:30 am, followed by a community potluck lunch in the sukkah. We will also be celebrating Simchat Torah and welcoming new students to our Hebrew school on September 30th at 6:00 pm – hope to see you all there!
We look forward to new experiences that will involve our students and their families in true learning through doing, being, engaging.
An annual musical weekend in memory of Rabbi Jerry Brieger z”l
Saturday, November 3
Come celebrate Shabbat with Rabbi Michael in the beautiful TE sanctuary with songs and stories! Perfect for children under 5 and their families. Members and non-members welcome!
As I write this column, our nation continues to reel from the pain of another devastating school shooting, this time in Parkland, Florida, that claimed 17 lives. As always happens after such tragic events, we engage in fierce debates and discussions, in person and increasingly online, on how best to prevent such tragedies. As always, there is not much listening going on in these debates – but quite a lot of shouting. The issues are real, the pain is real, and the frustration is real. It is hard to talk about difficult issues, amidst communal and national pain, when we are so divided in our opinions. It is obvious that people are finding it increasingly hard to even acknowledge the humanity of anyone holding an opinion that differs from his own. And yet also we must acknowledge that unless we find a way to listen to each other, and to really hear each other, the solutions to this and many other of our problems, will continue to elude us.
As you will see elsewhere in the Shofar, our Scholar in Residence this year is Rabbi Larry Englander, a wonderful teacher and a colleague, who co-edited the recently published ‘The Fragile Dialogue: New Voices of Liberal Zionism,’ a collection of essays presenting a wide variety of modern liberal Zionist ideas and challenges. While we will have an opportunity to learn so much from Rabbi Englander during his time here (see the full list of events in the Shofar and online), I am particularly looking forward to continuing our conversation on how to have these ‘fragile dialogues,’ addressing some of the most difficult, most challenging questions of our generation. I look forward to this continued journey of learning and listening with all of you and with Rabbi Englander on April 12-14, as well as during a special session on April 8th where we begin to look at the ideas presented in the book. In the meantime, I wish you a Chag Pesach Kasher v’Sameach – Happy Passover, and I look forward to seeing many of you at the TE Seder (first night, March 30) and the Passover Morning Service on March 31st.
As part of TE’s social action program, Nancy Weber and Max Case have organized a group of TE members to serve dinner at the Beth El Center soup kitchen in Milford on the first Tuesday of each month.
Please join the Faith Communities of the Town of Orange for this very special pre-Thanksgiving Interfaith Service. This year we are hosted by Congregation Or Shalom,