|
The Incredible Expanding Peanut Butter put me in mind of a recent
experience I had at our Hebrew School. I had the pleasure and privilege
of visiting David Fink’s fifth grade class. David has made
lovely teaching siddurs for each student, and as the dusk fell outside
the parlor, the students practiced: the Barchu, the Shema, the Amidah,
the Aleinu. While I was impressed with the students’ ongoing
accomplishments and David’s wonderful teaching, I was also
struck by what we might call the Peanut Butter Principle: a little
bit can take you much further than is immediately apparent. The
children in David’s class are not only learning a few prayers
and a few blessings, and they are not only laying the groundwork
for their bar and bat mitzvah preparation. In learning the basic
liturgy, they will be able to walk into any synagogue in the world
and feel at home. And the liturgy will take them not only through
space, but also through time. The prayers they learn form the basic
vocabulary that will serve them for Shabbat and for holidays, and
for, if they choose, the blessings of chuppah, and who knows, perhaps
a brit or baby naming. The prayers will be there for them in times
of bereavement and loss.
Wherever we are in our Jewish learning, the Peanut Butter Principle
can work for us. If you don’t feel at home in a synagogue
– if the prayer book is a closed book for you – consider
taking one of Jim’s Intro to Judaism classes, or Faith’s
basic Hebrew class. If there are other topics that you would like
to explore, talk to me or contact our wonderful Adult Education
chair, Johnny Lenhart.
Wishing you all the very best in 2004, and lots of happy experiences
with peanut butter,
B’shalom,
- Rachel
|
