Oct 1st 2011, 00:00

As I write this column, Rosh Hashanah is little more than a week way. Our Caring Community Committee has just finished packing 35 bags filled with honey, sparkling cider, raisins, and candles along with Rosh Hashanah pictures painted by our ECLC children. These bags will be delivered to our TBT members who are unable to join us on a regular basis for activities due to illness or disability. The Jewish education that we impart here in our school goes well beyond what is contained in textbooks. Interacting with the elderly, visiting the sick, rejoicing during a time of simcha, and volunteering as part of a tikkun olam (social action) project are all important pieces of Jewish education.

A thousand years ago, Bachya Ibn Pekudah wrote Chovot haLevavot, Duties of the Heart, claiming that there are mitzvot that the limbs can perform, and there are mitzvot that the soul can perform. His teaching is as timely as it is timeless. We not only teach bodies; we teach souls.

It is one thing to fill our classrooms with young students who are working their way up the grade levels. We at TBT pride ourselves on the low number of students who leave after Bar/Bat Mitzvah without completing their education through Confirmation. This year for the first time in many years, not only are our teens not dropping out, but they are opting to attend our 9th grade Religious School program here at TBT (perhaps in addition to the BJE’s TALIT Nation program or NFTY). That is a weekly commitment on their part to continue learning about our heritage. Their curriculum needs to be relevant and timely. We have chosen the subjects of comparative Judaism and comparative religions – topics that will serve them well as they expand their Jewish connections and go out into the world as young adults and beyond.

In addition, our teens are an integral part of our teachers-in- training as they work as madrichim (aides) in the classrooms and office. They have helped to make our classrooms welcoming environments for learning as they decorated the walls as only kids can do for each other. They are getting an opportunity to do some teaching as partners with our staff so that after high school they can fulfill the words of our morning prayer in which we are commanded to “learn in order to teach.”

All that we do in our Religious School is with an eye on strengthening the link in the chain of tradition. You, our parents and congregants, are our partners in this task. We see the children for a maximum of five or six hours a week. We give them a taste of the buffet that Judaism has to offer. The rest of the week we rely on you to nurture the seed that we have planted, to provide the sun and the water that will enable us to “grow” proud Jews for the generations to come. It is an awesome task, and we are honored to serve as your teammates.

Wishing you and your loved ones a new year filled with good health and blessings. L’shanah tovah and g’mar chatimah tovah!