Through Jewish Eyes
It’s no secret that as a religious school director I see the world through “Jewish eyes.” As any of my family, friends, and colleagues will tell you, this is often how I define myself and the world about me. For example, several years ago I had the pleasure of working in a local Jewish day camp. It was a wonderful experience in all respects. I’ll never forget the time I worked on an art activity with my first grade girls and the wooden box they were painting for their “stuff” suddenly became a Torah Ark!
My own kids will tell you about the day, during the brief period of time we were waiting for our Broadway show to begin, I insisted that we speedily cram in a trip to the Jewish Museum. They still laugh about it, but as they develop and grow, their understanding of this concept increases. Now they are able to find Jewish humor in certain situations, such as when my 16-year-old jokingly implores me to sit on Santa’s lap in the mall, and I heartily reply: “How many times do I need to tell you: we can’t because we’re Jewish.”
So it wasn’t remarkable at all that during the lunar eclipse last month we all had a true Jewish moment. We said the bracha applicable to such the wondrous events, and showed our gratitude for what God has given us.
Subsequently, I never expected, and was completely overwhelmed, by the influx of positive e-mail replies I received from the parents in my religious school who received my message about the eclipse and the blessing. Parents told me that when they connected the bracha with the event, it was a truly soul-deep experience. It was a “stellar moment” when parents could reach out to their children in the middle of the night and together they could see the cosmic world through “Jewish eyes.”
May we all continue to take time to share our “Jewish eyes” with our precious children.
Stacey David
Education Director
Summit JCC Synagogue
Livingston
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