Today we had a very powerful lesson. After the students arrived this morning, several asked why the Skokie Police were outside our building, had there been another shooting? I answered their questions to the best of my ability, and we had a brief discussion about the shooting at the Poway Chabad yesterday. We talked about how we can take our emotions and place them on paper, that we can turn our anger and sorrow into words of prayer.
First, I read to them the words of Rabbi Ari Hart, who wrote this on Facebook last night in response to the shooting:
Attention White Supremacists
Your fears are correct:
We will replace you. We will absolutely, without a doubt, replace you.
We will replace every act of hate you commit with ten thousand acts of love.
We will flood every dark corner of bigotry and lies where you lurk with truth and reason that burns like the light of ten thousand suns.
We will drown your hatred with love.
A mixed, rainbow multitude of good, kind, decent people, Black and White, Jewish and Christian, Muslim and Hindu, Buddhist and Atheist, Gay and Straight, Left and Right, will stand up to you, again and again, and again and again, and we shall overcome you.
Love,
All of Us
I then asked the students to write a prayer. There were no perimeters – the prayer could be a poem, a free-write, a letter. It could be on any subject. They wrote for 15 minutes, and then several students shared their writing. Their prayers were magnificent – heartfelt, bold, inspired, angry, hopeful, questioning. The other students were so supportive of the classmate who was reading. I was blown away by their thoughts. A few students agreed that their work could be published for you to read as well. Here is the work of three students, Ruby Rosenberg, Stephen Hersh, and Rosie Witt:
Prayer to the Bystanders by Ruby Rosenberg
The World I See by Stephen Hersh
Why Hate If You Can Love? by Rosie Witt
I am so proud of the work our students did today! We will continue writing prayers over the next few weeks.
After our writing session today, we were honored to have storyteller, Nancy Pikelny, speak to the 6th and 7th grade classes. Nancy told us the story called “A Window of Beauty” based on real events about a student and her teacher, during the Holocaust. You can read more about it here: http://storytellernancy.com/a-window-of-beauty/. Afterward, Rabbi showed the students our newest art installation at TBI, a memorial for the Shoah. There was a lot to ‘unpack’ about today’s lessons, ask your student to tell you more about what they learned/felt/experienced.
Lastly, during our Hebrew hour, we prepared for the Haftarah Trope Challenge, which takes place next Sunday, May 5. We reviewed the Blessings Before and After Haftarah, and we chanted verses 1-3 from our Isaiah example in trope. Please encourage your student to continue to practice at least 5 minutes a day for the next week.
There are just 3 more Wednesdays and Sundays, this year has flown by!