Our Final Weekday Session

We're in countdown mode now to the last day of the 2017-2018 academic year. Our final day, the Spring Fling, is this coming Sunday, which also happens to be the first day of Shavuot.

This was quite an emotional week for me, since I'm about to retire from teaching my own class (though I will look forward to substituting and perhaps leading the Gold Rush field trip in November, which I've led in past years). When my husband, Peter, and I first decided that it would make sense for me to stop teaching my Edot class at the end of this academic year to allow us to travel more often, I had no idea that Rabbi Shanks was planning to retire this year as well.

During our Edot session on Tuesday and Wednesday, I led a discussion about the many duties of a congregational rabbi. I asked the students for their thoughts about what a rabbi does, and they all agreed that a rabbi is a teacher of Hebrew and Judaism for both children and adults. A rabbi is also the person who leads the congregation in prayers. What they were surprised to hear is that a rabbi is also a social worker of sorts - helping congregation members deal with some very serious issues at times. And there are happy duties - presiding over a brit milah (circumcision) ceremony, or a baby-naming ceremony, and Bar/Bat Mitzvah and weddings as well.They also were surprised to learn that a rabbi is a kind of tour guide of our Jewish world - showing the congregation's members how to lead a "Jewish" life. What is a "Jewish" life? I guess it's most easily described as "balancing on the timeline," a theme that has run through our Edot curriculum. How do we keep our balance? By following the commandments and doing whatever we can as individuals and as a community to bring justice to all living things.

We then talked about what Rabbi Shanks has done for our Temple Isaiah community for the many years she has served as our Rabbi. Then it was time to ask the students to write a thank you note to Rabbi Shanks on a card I brought in.

First, I asked the students to write a first draft of their note on a piece of scrap paper.

Some students had more specific questions to ask about Rabbi Shanks.

Once they felt comfortable with their draft, they copied it onto the card itself. (The photographs on the card are of each student, with his/her name under the photo.)

And while the students were waiting for their turn to write their note in the card, I continued reading from "A Shout in the Sunshine." We have one more chapter to read on Sunday, but already several students shared that they enjoyed listening to me read with my "accents" and enjoyed the story.

Our final weekday tefillah session each day included all the 3rd-6th grade students, so Rabbi Greninger decided to let each track introduce and lead one of the major prayers we chant or sing. Our Edot track was assigned the "Aleinu" prayer, so for 10-15 minutes just prior to tefillah, I asked the students to share with me what they could remember they were taught during the year about this prayer. They all recalled that we bend our knees and bow during it, and that it came near the end of the prayer service. They also recalled that there were several versions of the prayer. We read the English translation of the first paragraph, and it became apparent to them that this is a prayer praising God. We talked a little about the part that praises God for having "set us apart from the other families of the earth, giving us a destiny unique among the nations."One of the students recalled how we had been learning about "balancing on the timeline" to bring justice to the world, and other students then agreed that that's what the phrase was referring to - that we should be role models for other nations.

As you can hear in the video below, this is precisely what the students shared in their introduction to the Aleinu prayer during tefillah:

And immediately after the introduction to the prayer, we turned to the Ark, and led everyone in chanting it:

I'm looking forward to seeing my Edot students in our classroom on Sunday, at 10 a.m. I'll finish reading the story to them, and then we'll play our final Shekel Game of the year until it's time for us to go up to the Sanctuary to join the rest of the school and parents for a special Shavuot service, teacher appreciation, a special goodbye to Rabbi Shanks, and then a barbeque and concert by our own Mighty Kleztones band. Cary Nasatir, the Mighty Kleztones Director, will also be retiring this year!