Welcome On Board!
Well I think our first day at Edjewcation Station 2018 was a success! I’m so excited and loved each one of the kids and their participation! We are excited to welcome Boynton Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Coral Springs to our lineup of classes this year, as well as returning Davie students!
Our classes are meant to INCLUDE, not PREACH to. They are introspective, and none moreso than at this time of year, the High Holy Days. But the teaching doesn’t end in the classroom. As parents, you can continue the lesson at home, by ALL members of the family participating in discussion.
As you know, the High Holy Days are approaching, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. We learned the actual meaning of those words, and we learned about the 10 days in between, called the Days of Atonement.
On Rosh Hashanah, we celebrate the birthday of the world. We eat apples & honey for a sweet new year, and we usually have a “Yontif” (yiddish word for holiday) dinner the night before, as all Jewish holidays begin in the evening, and continue until sundown the next day. On this day, we begin to “take inventory” of our behaviors in the past year, and try to identify and acknowledge where we did not “hit our targets” in our behavior in the past year.
During this time – we take 3 key steps in examining and rectifying our behavior.
1. Acknowledge – we look at ourselves, and decide what actions we were not proud of or could have been better.
2. Apologize – we decide who we must apologize to – either to others, G-d, or ourselves, and we approach them with true apologies.
3. “Flip” to the positive! – we set our goals, or our new resolutions, using POSITIVE behavior words – rather than statements with “won’t” or “never”. We say – “I WILL respect the rules of my home”, etc., using those positive behavior statements.
Apologies and change are necessary because we believe that God seals our fate for the coming year, in our ability to make amends and implement positive change. Everyone is always given the opportunity to do things better, but the intention must be good in our hearts.
This is our “Jewish” system of accountability – knowing we have an accountability even when nobody human is watching. And we have the chance to start each year with a clean slate, but there are things we must do to wipe that slate clean.
We talked about the things they were not proud of this year, and how they can make positive changes each year as they get older, taking more responsibility for themselves. Now, let’s be honest – these are all 4 great kids – who NEVER miss their mark intentionally, but – there’s room for growth in everyone, and even if we weren’t bad – we can always get better in some area, and that is what I focused on. (I’ll NEVER focus on bad – only personal improvement and striving to be the best version of ourselves we can be)
All of this being said – I would LOVE for you to consider joining us for High Holiday services. It’s only 2 days out of the year – and I promise you will LOVE these services, and it will really reinforce what your children are learning.
Here is a link to our website and on this page is a link to purchase tickets:
Also, if you didn’t already – please tag yourself and/or share the facebook post on edjewcation station’s facebook page:
Thanks SO much! Looking forward to September 4th!
Deb
