Community Torah Corner, September 20, 2024

I think about the beginning of the school year and all the excitement and nerves that come with it. For us, it was a rush back from vacation, hanging on to the very last days of summer, choosing new outfits, sharpening pencils, packing backpacks, and getting haircuts. My children were all excited about beginning their new year at Golda Och Academy, and their excitement was for very different and age-appropriate reasons: to learn more, to grow more, to be in community, and of course, to see their friends! No matter how old our children get, the first day is filled with emotion, and as a parent it is through smiles and tears that I see each of them getting a little bit older, grateful for a new year in this GOA community, where they will end the year more whole and holy than how they began the year.

 

At the beginning of this week’s Torah portion, Parashat Ki Tavo, we are instructed to participate in the ritual of bikkurim, the bringing of first fruits in a basket to the Temple as an expression of gratitude to God. In doing so, our agricultural ancestors were not just thanking God for the harvest, but also linking themselves to God, community, and Jewish peoplehood. Ibn Ezra, the 12th century Spanish commentator, suggests that the reason these first fruits are to be brought in a basket, is because that basket is a receptacle that keeps them safe.

 

Each and every first day of school, as parents we feel a little bit like those farmers bringing our first fruits of the harvest to the Temple. We do so with pride and joy, and with pomp and circumstance, with first day photos for social media, and balloon arches welcoming our children as they walk through the entry doors. But we also do so knowing that being a part of the Golda Och Academy community is about more than just giving our children an education. It is about linking our children to God, Jewish community, Israel, and peoplehood. It is about reminding them that they are – that we are – a part of something larger. And we are grateful for the safe and sacred school setting of GOA that our children get to experience each and everyday. 

 

May the new school year be one of many firsts for all of our children – full of learning and growing, and most importantly, full of a deep love and appreciation of being part of Jewish community and the Jewish people, and may we as parents and grandparents, see that in the faces of our children and grandchildren everyday when they return home from school.

 

Shabbat Shalom!