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The Charlotte Jewish News - October 2012 - Page 15 The High Holidays Through Our Children’s Eyes By Meg McClendon There’s a story Elka Bernstein, Exeeutive Direetor of Charlotte Jewish Presehool, tells about my daughter Tess that I will never tire of hearing. It’s the story of how in the inaugural elass of J-Tots, Tess might have been the youngest stu dent during that first year - but she was first to eover her eyes for Shabbat. Elka delights in this story, eovering her own eyes and smiling as she tells it. I smile as I hear it too beeause that was the year that Tess’s foundation into Judaism was established. Her next three years at Charlotte Jewish Presehool built upon that founda tion. And, it is her exeitement for the high holidays, learned and nur tured at sueh a young age, that onee again gets me exeited for this time of year. I will be the first to tell you that I am not the most religious of peo ple. And in this day of war, tough politieal eampaigns, and eeonom- ie hardship, it is easy to feel a bit jaded - a bit weary. However, there is also something sweet about this time of year. It’s some thing sweeter than the apples and honey that eome home with our kids from Charlotte Jewish Presehool for Rosh Hashanah. It’s the ehanee we, as parents, have to experienee the high holidays through our ehildren’s eyes. For Rosh Hashanah, our ehildren bring home more than their self made shofars and plaeemats. They bring home an energy and happi ness about the Jewish New Year. They also bring home a strong sense of soeial responsibility. Tzedakah is stressed this time of year both at Charlotte Jewish pre sehool and at home. With the start of this New Year, there is a renewed sense to give what we ean to others in need. The faet that our ehildren reeeive this message at sueh an early age is sweet indeed. Yom Kippur brings a sense of refieetion and the eritieal lesson that no matter what age you are, you will always have the ability to beeome a better person. What a powerful message this time of year and throughout our lives. I will never forget Tess’s Charlotte Jewish Presehool newsletter the week before Yom Kippur when she was in the 4s. Her teaeher, Ms. Nadine, sent home a list of what she and her elassmates wanted forgiveness for this year. Tess said she was sorry for squeezing her younger brother’s arm. It was a small ineident that happened weeks earlier. I was surprised she had done it at the time but pleas antly surprised when I reeeived the newsletter that she remem bered it, refieeted on it, and was sorry for it. I was proud of her. And, I was reminded to make my apologies for the things that I was sorry about that year - both big and small. It is Tess’s passion for the high holidays and Judaism as a whole that solidified my eommitment to eontinuing her Jewish edueation. It has also made me feel seeure in the knowledge that my little boy Jaek, who is just starting the 2s, will have a similar experienee and grounding spiritual eonneetion. Now that Tess has graduated from Charlotte Jewish Presehool, she is in religious sehool at Temple Beth El. My hope is that she eontinues on her religious path and also on the path to beeoming the absolute best person she ean be and the best eitizen she ean be. I hope she will eontinue to delight in the big tradi tions of the holidays and the weekly traditions of Shabbat. And, my hope remains that she will always eover her eyes when the eandles are lit for Shabbat and # Charlotte Jewish Preschool LtARN • CrtU'A ■ CONNECT eontinue to make her happiness for the season rub off on all those around her. For more information about having your ehild Learn, Grow, and Conneet with us, please eon- taet Alyson Kalik, CJP registrar, at 704-944-6776 or akalik@shalom- eharlotte.org. Half day enrollment for the 2012/2013 sehool year for ehildren ages 1 to 5 is eurrently underway. ^ A CJDS Graduate Speaks (from College) When measuring sueeess, we are told to eolleet data that evalu ates the progress and growth of the projeet, effort or organization. At sehools, we administer tests and assessments to gauge the aehieve- ments that have been reaehed. However, there is a measure of sueeess that eannot be quantified by a graph, a pie ehart, or a spread sheet. And, that is the whole assessment of a human being, and speeifieally a Jewish human being. At a Jewish day sehool we are preparing our students for more than sueeessful aeademie students. While that is important beeause it sets the foundation for future stud ies that enable our ehildren to move forward in their endeavors and earn a livelihood, there is so mueh more than that. Graduating ehildren that demonstrate the true meaning of a “menseh” is not quantifiable. There really is no published eur- rieulum that one ean use to aeeom- plish this goal. But, on the other hand, it is probably the most important lesson and behavior we ean impart. Everybody looks to us to set the tone for kindness, earing, giving. It is disappointing to the general eommunity and espeeially disappointing to the Jewish eom munity when a Jewish business man, a Jewish professor, or a Jewish leader makes a bad ehoiee. We set a very high bar for our selves, as do others. In addition, from all of the reeent studies and surveys, it is elear that we are losing Jewish people every day. We must ask why. We must put all of our efforts into sustaining our people. No one ean argue that the first group to address is our ehildren. We must give them reason to be proud to be Jewish. It is no longer suffieient to expeet this pride to eome natural ly. There are too many distraetions in our world to expeet them to piek it up by osmosis. We must respeet their intelligenee and teaeh them “why” we are Jewish, “what” makes us, and “what” it means to be Jewish. We need to teaeh them the faets, delve into the text, ask questions, seeking until we find the answers that satisfy us. We must tell our ehildren that they ean also teaeh and that they ean pass on this love of Judaism, this belief that we were to be a light unto the nations. I reeeived a draft of a testimoni al from one of our alumni that illustrates the importanee of what a day sehool teaehes and imparts: / have always been a curious, speculative, and skeptical person, and in hindsight, CJDS was a great atmosphere for a child with such characteristics to thrive. As the classes were always small, it was never difficult to approach the teachers with all of the questions I would have. One lesson I learned throughout my time there, is that it is okay to question Judaism - or rather, it is encouraged. To this day I struggle with aspects of Judaism all of the time, but I believe that my conviction is that much stronger because of it. I am now comfortable enough and have the confidence to pursue the issues that come up in my mind, whether on my own via meticulous scrutiny of texts, or via seeking advice and insight from one who is more knowledgeable than I. This has carried on into my sec ular studies in college as well - especially in philosophy, where the same kind of attention to detail and active challenging of the texts is necessary to succeed. One does not merely go to school to “learn philosophy, ” but to develop the skills to “philosophize" alone. Similarly, CJDS taught me not to passively accept everything with out question, but to constantly question both the material and one’s own beliefs, with the final goal being of improving one's con duct in everyday life. I am currently majoring in Philosophy and Psychology, and have realized that the two are in balance. On the one hand, I enjoy pondering the big questions in life such as freewill v.s determinism, the meaning of life, and the rela tionship of right and wrong, just to name a few. On the other hand, studying the science of psychology has equipped me with the capabilities to have positive relationships with all kinds of people. One never knows when he will find himself in the position to help someone just by giving honest feedback and good advice. The practice of psy chology is not limited to a clinic or a guidance counselor’s office, but can be applied every day as one makes personal decisions and interacts with family, colleagues, and professors. While a back ground in psychology is obviously not a requirement for one to be good with people, I have personal ly noticed a positive change in my relationships as I broaden my awareness of how people feel, act, or perceive different situations in life. This past year, we were given the opportunity to have “out siders” tell us what a gift we give our students. Our aeereditation team whieh was made up of vari ous edueators from the Southeast, some Jewish and some not, visited us in February 2012 and met with various groups of our eonstituents. One of the groups were made up of our alumni students in high sehool. They were blown away. They eould not get over their intel ligenee, understanding, and empa thy for others. They were able to feel the Jewish pride, the gratitude they had to the day sehool, and their willingness to give to others and pay it forward. From their reaetion, it was elear we do not suffieiently appreeiate the effeet we have on these kids. They eon- tinued to reprimand us beeause we were not sharing the faet that our alumni eharaeterize all that is good and right about the sehool. Therefore, during this year 2012-2013, we will be sharing tes timonials in the CJN and through the mail from various alumni who are now in eollege. It was heart warming when we reaehed out to our alumni regarding this ad eam- paign, they expressed sueh joy in helping the sehool, shouting to the world how appreeiative they are and sharing their amazing sueeess- es with the eommunity. ^ WORK WITH A LEADER IN CHARLOTTE REAL ESTATE f rAbove,, ■^(^rowd!,™ Executive Realty 704-926-2544 office 704-975-8500 cell www.Lepo wRealtors. com ; 'O Steve r Lepow LEADING TH E WAY TO YOUR SUCCESS WADDELL Fincmcia! Acfvisors™ Providing Personal Financial Planning Investing, With a plan* For more than 70 years Jennifer Sperry, CFP FINANCIAL ADVISOR 5950 Fairview Rd. Suite 200 Charlotte, NC 28210 704-553-7220 x127 jsperry@wradvisors.com Waddell & Reed, Inc. Member SIPC
The Charlotte Jewish News (Charlotte, N.C.)
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Oct. 1, 2012, edition 1
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