Time

09/16/2022

My “time” perspective on the school year days is one of ebb and flow; from August through the chaggim it’s intense. The hammock months of October to Passover, are usually a smooth uneventful journey. From the day after Passover to June, it’s a race to the finish. And when there are two Adars, like it was last year, all bets are off.

Yet, somehow we make it work!

It’s September and here we are marking the calendar days once again. I was never a fan of working on Sundays; they are delegated as me time.

As for nights, those are mine to recover from the crazy of my long days. It’s no secret to anyone who knows or works with me that I usually begin them at 5:00am.

Shabbos is sacrosanct.

This week ticked off all of the “I don't like” boxes that make the start of school so challenging for me: Sunday, Kindergarten breakfast, Wednesday night, Curriculum Night, a full week of school with all taking the busy taking place before Rosh Hashana.

You really can’t beat this scenario for being the recipe for exhaustion.

And if you want to add being away for a shabbos bat mitzvah in Riverdale, listening to alot of speeches, and not sleeping in your own bed in a stranger’s house, well is there anything else to add about that?

But if you look closely at this week’s events, you will see the wonderful Grow Torah Program where the Kindergarten children got to pickle cucumbers; mine are currently fermenting in my office made possible by Rebecca Nenner.

On Curriculum night, after a long hiatus, parents finally were finally able to come into the building to meet and learn from the teachers who welcomed them prepared to dazzle.

They sure did!

As for the brutality of a very long week, we got to experience kids learning new things everyday, sixth graders making their own shofars (smelly and noisy) that actually work, students painting a magnificent school wide mural depicting HANC’s values, teeth were lost, children cried and laughed, bumped heads, sang and danced.

A typical week at school and I loved it.

Queen Elizabeth has died after a 70 year reign. Somehow, it seems to me, that laying her to rest is taking almost as much time as she governed. My take away from her long life and leadership is that she got to make an impact and a difference during her time on earth.

Watching the British people wait hours to pay their respects, I could not help but notice the real tears and emotions of love expressed by her subjects; they adored her and told us as much in interview after interview, that the Queen was “family”.

How many of us feel that we get to make a difference? Who will miss us or remember our accomplishments? Which child we taught will think to thank us after some great accomplishment of their own?

Do you remember a favorite school/teacher who actually made that difference for you? Who or what motivated you to become a teacher?

On long days and longer weeks, we earn our rest and the time to recharge and do whatever makes us happy. On Mondays, we happily come back for more.

Maybe we are not the Queens and Kings of England, but in our classrooms, we are!

Shabbat Shalom:

We are getting a bonus visit with our Canadian kids at the weekend bat mitzvah so it’s really more than okay that we won’t get the rest.