So Few School Days, So Much Learning!

Conventional wisdom in the field of elementary school education advises schools to spend the first six weeks establishing and settling into routines. In Jewish day schools, on the other hand, we observe all our holidays during the first six weeks of school.  You'd be hard-pressed to find anyone in a Jewish day school right now who can even identify the day of the week with certainty. In the midst of the beautiful chaos of the Jewish holiday season, we pack our short weeks with deep learning. The High Holidays — focused on reflection, atonement, and intention setting — demand this depth every September and October. Although our students may not yet know their teachers' names yet, they have had some great learning.

Our class journals this week were filled with thoughtful reflections. Class journals are written by teachers in younger grades, often sharing quotes from students. In middle school, students write the class journal each week. One middle school student remarked in their class journal that, as part of their Yom Kippur learning they "watched a video about the difference between guilt and shame," and that "Brene Brown has a very interesting opinion to share on this." Many of the class journals described the students' tashlich learning and practice this week. Here's the description from one of our preschool classes:

"This morning we did Gan Tashlich together. We started by congregating on the roof and asking whether anyone knew what tashlich is. After a few guesses, a teacher explained that Tashlich is a Jewish tradition between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, where we think about mistakes we've made or what we've done wrong in the past year and release them before the upcoming year. A teacher gave an example of something she did that wasn’t okay - getting frustrated and yelling at her kids - and that she felt bad and apologized to them. Then she explained that in the future she will be more aware of her tone, because part of apologizing is committing to changing her future actions. Then it was time for us to do our tashlich and think about what we wanted to apologize for from the past year. The Gan Tashlich is a little different from traditional tashlich. Each student gets a coffee filter and washable markers to draw the thing that they want to apologize for before using a dropper to wet the coffee filter and wash away the image that they drew. Here are some of the things that we decided to apologize for:

A silly face that I want to say sorry about.

I put Maria in a timeout in my room because she did something I didn’t like.

When I wanted to go to the fire station my mom said no and I wanted to go back so I threw a tantrum.

I accidentally yelled at my papa.

I hit a friend and I’m going to say I’m sorry.

I went on a rocking chair too hard and it banged the wall.

I hit my brother and I’m drawing that. I made a heart because I hit my brother.

I got mad at my daddy and I screamed.

A big mistake on the airplane I made funny with mommy.

 I’m saying sorry for my sister.

I yelled at my sister for taking a barbie.

My daddy didn’t want me to eat the candy and I tried to eat it anyway, so he sent me to my room and I said sorry.

I barked at a friend very loudly. 

 Kicking my brother in the face.

I said sorry for when I got mad at daddy and screamed at him.

Tashlich is a Jewish tradition that takes place between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, when people symbolically cast away their mistakes from the past year, often by throwing breadcrumbs into a body of water. It is a way of reflecting on times we may not have acted as our best selves and then letting go of those actions so we can enter the new year with a fresh start. For young children, Tashlich offers a meaningful opportunity to practice self-reflection in a developmentally appropriate way. It helps them learn that making mistakes is a natural part of growing, but that it is just as important to acknowledge those mistakes, apologize, and think about how to do better in the future. Equally powerful is the idea of release and understanding that once we say sorry and commit to trying again, we don’t need to hold on to guilt. Instead, we can move forward with kindness, awareness, and a sense of renewal."

Older students focused on the High Holiday liturgy. Here's another class journal entry from an older elementary class:

"Inspired by our Aseret Yemei Teshuvah recitation of Avinu Malkeinu, we discussed the different types of “asks” included in this High Holiday tefillah. We also considered alternative formulations for how to address God, including Imenu Malkateinu (our Mother, our Queen) and non-gendered English names. Students then wrote their own personal and communal additions to the tefillah–thinking about the “asks” and adding some thanks as well:

Avinu Malkeinu, stop the war in Israel.

Avinu Malkeinu, please bring kindness.

Avinu Malkeinu, thank you for family and friends.

Avinu Malkeinu, thank you for food.

Avinu Malkeinu, thank you for life.

Avinu Malkeinu, bring peace.

Avinu Malkeinu, thank you for life.

Avinu Malkeinu, bring hope.

Avinu Malkeinu, I want a Playstation with Madden.

Avinu Malkeinu, please try to help Israel win the war and for there to be peace in the world.

Avinu Malkeinu, help people have happy and long lives and for families to stay together.

Avinu Malkeinu, please raise money for hospitals so they can help people feel better.

Avinu Malkeinu, help people get food, water, a home, and enough stuff for them to have long and healthy lives.

Avinu Malkeinu, for the Yankees to have amazing seasons and for them to win every game they play.

Avinu Malkeinu, for kindness and giving in the world, for singing and having fun.

Avinu Malkeinu, try to help families grow, make them bigger and stronger, and have them work together.

Avinu Malkeinu, thank you for everything the world has given us.

Avinu Malkeinu, make the sick healthy.

Avinu Malkeinu, make it so that kindness is used in place of money.

Avinu Malkeinu, have world peace.

Avinu Malkeinu, thank you for letting us live.

Avinu Malkeinu, give people what they need.

Avinu Malkeinu, thank you for giving us food.

Avinu Malkeinu, thank you for giving us fun.

Our Hero, please give us peace.

Our Creator, please help the homeless and please give them a good life.

Our Father, please give us hope.

Avinu Malkeinu, please help to heal the sick, the blind, the deaf, and the mute.

Our God, our King, thank you for everything you’ve given us.

Our King, Ruler, Guardian God, thank you for giving us the ability to heal ourselves after we get hurt.

Avinu Malkeinu, thank you for giving us powers and superpowers.

Our Father, please give my friends a good life.

Our Savior, thank you for giving us all the things we have and for giving my family the money for what we need.

Avinu Malkeinu, please give everyone equal rights! Please!

Our Savior, please give everyone a family and a warm bed to sleep in.

Avinu Malkeinu, our King, our God, please, please, please grant us world peace.

Avinu Malkeinu, please let my parents find a new dog soon-ish.

Imenu Malkateinu, thank you for all that we have now and for what we will have in the future.

Avinu Malkeinu, please let my entire family live long and happy lives.

Avinu Malkeinu, please forgive us for whenever we neglect this amazing world which you have given to us; most of us do not mean to neglect.

Imenu Malkateinu, please save us from global warming.

Imenu Malkateinu, please let me be successful in life and please let me create things which make a big difference for the better.

Avinu Malkeinu, please let there be health and peace throughout the world.

Avinu Malkeinu, please grant me the power to carry out your orders in the form of superhuman feats.

Avinu Malkeinu, please let me make the biggest difference I can.

Imenu Malkateinu, please spread kindness throughout the world.

Avinu Malkeinu, please help with getting rid of sickness.

Avinu Malkeinu, please make peace in the world.

Avinu Malkeinu, please help us learn.

Our Guardian, grant hope to all.

God, make good grow in the roots of the world.

Avinu Malkeinu, please let people have good lives.

Avinu Malkeinu, raze the world of evil.

Imenu Malkateinu, make litter of bad vanish.

Imenu Malkateinu, help us get through hard times.

Avinu Malkeinu, please write us in the book of life.

God, our Ruler, make it so that good outwits bad.

Imenu Malkateinu, help me get another dog.

Imenu Malkateinu, keep me and ALL of my siblings happy and healthy.

Imenu Malkateinu, help me get better in Hebrew.

Imenu Malkateinu, help me get a phone.

Imenu Malkateinu, make the world healthy.

Imenu Malkateinu, let me and my brother stop fighting.

Imenu Malkateinu, make peace in the world.

Imenu Malkateinu, let people have long and good lives.

הורנו

בוראנו

אנו מודים לך על חסד

הורנו

בוראנו

אנו מודים לך על נסיונותך לעצור התחממות גלובלית

הורנו

בוראנו

אנא תעשה יותר שלום

Our Father, the Holy One, may I be pardoned and forgiven.

Our Father, the Holy One, may You stop poverty.

Our Father, the Holy One, may You end world hunger.

Our Father, the Holy One, may You punish me for when I have sinned.

Our Father, the Holy One, may You bless my family with love and kindness.

Our Father, the Holy One, may You write my mitzvot and seal them over.

Our Father, the Holy One, may You cure all sicknesses.

Our Father, the Holy One, may You be loved by the ones you saved.

Our Father, the Holy One, may You end world wars.

Our Father, the Holy One, may You bless me to love You.

Our Father, the Holy One, bless me to be loved.

God the One and Only, bless me for Torah and mitzvot."

Our students and their teachers are going deep even as they are just starting to get to know each other. Despite the fits and starts of the High Holidays, I wouldn't trade this learning for anything... not even for a perfectly routinized first six weeks of school.