Monday, October 12, 2009

THE HEART OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE

Wow!

We had an awesome time dancing with the Torahs and celebrating Simchat Torah together. Mazel Tov to all of our students, as we had almost 100% attendance. We danced, sang, prayed, ate Hershey's Kisses, and studied together.

It was nice spending some time together in the classroom. In our classroom discussions, we talked about the different ways to read and study Torah, and we learned that we never finishing reading the Torah, we just finish chanting the last chapter, in time to begin all over again, in a never-ending, seamless fashion. There is always something new to learn, and always another way to interpret our ancient law, to make it meaningful to each and everyone of us.

We had the opportunity to meet together as a Kitah Vav Community, and unrolled a Torah Scroll. With the help of many of our students, we stretched the Torah Scroll across the hallway looking for familiar words and passages. We found the last word in the Torah, Yisrael, and then started reading all over again at the beginning, looking for the first word in the Torah, Bereshit.

The last letter of the Torah is a lamed, and the first letter is a vet or bet. When we put those two letters together, we get the word lev. Lev, in Hebrew, means heart. From this, we come to the conclusion that the Torah is the Heart of the Jewish People, and the Jewish People are the Heart of the Torah.

What do you think this means? Take some time to share your answers with your children this week. I am sure they have some wonderful answers.

Our regularly scheduled classes begin on Tuesday. Have a great week, and I look forward to seeing everyone in Southfield on Sunday.

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