A Celebration of Jewish Education

What a special time it has been in the community for our children. From a beautiful Siddur ceremony of the Nachal first graders, and the Epstein Hillel graduation, to the Aleph Academy preschool graduation, it's clear how strong an emphasis our community places on Jewish education. This Shabbat will top it all off with the Bar Mitzva celebration of our very own Yoni Yakov. His upbringing reflects the cherished Jewish values his parents uphold. The combination of his stellar community day school experience at Epstein Hillel and growing up in the coziness and spiritual warmth of our Chabad community Shul in Swampscott have provided him with a Jewish foundation that will carry him for the rest of his life. The sacred partnership between teachers, rabbis, parents, students, and children is the most indispensable and critical collaboration one could imagine and then some.

The success of these synergetic partnerships plays a significant role in determining whether Bar or Bat Mitzva functions as a launchpad leading to a committed Jewish lifestyle or an elaborate and often high-priced escape hatch.

"When you (Aaron the High Priest in this week's Torah portion) lift up the lights of the Menora..." the commentators are puzzled: why not just say explicitly, "When you KINDLE the Menora"? The classic answer of Rashi sees in this a deep and crucial principle of Jewish education. When you are teaching a child, you must do so as if you are lighting a fire. You must kindle the spark in their souls, in their minds and in their hearts.

But you must do so in a way that is geared to empowering the child to be the custodian of their own fire, so that they can be entrusted with the delicate task of tending to their own fire. That's why the Torah uses this somewhat arcane language: First you must lift up your students with the desire to want to even be "uplifted," and then give them the best tools to do so!

Mazal Tov!