Shannah Tovah Gesher!!!

I am so excited to be working with the Gesher class students this year. As the eldest students in the Temple Israel Religious School, they are role models and potential leaders.  Unlike other classes which are named for their grade (aleph, bet, gimmel,…), Gesher is called a bridge.  Like a bridge, the Gesher class is connected to both the school and the adult congregation, as they themselves bridge the divide between childhood and approaching adulthood. Most will celebrate their b’nai mitzvah during this school year and the community will celebrate their transition into Jewish young adults.  They will attend a morning minyan each week and, as their bar or bat mitzvah approaches, they will be counted in the minyan receiving aliyot to the Torah and other honors. 

We look forward to a year of growth, challenge, rich learning, creative opportunities and joyous celebrations.  Since Gesher students are immersed in their life cycle event, we will explore the Rhythm of Jewish Life and invite experts to teach us about pieces of the Jewish life cycle.  We will embrace the Torah reading cycle examining the parashat haShavua (weekly Torah portion) with an emphasis on Jewish values found in each.  We will consider Jewish prayer and attempt to extract personal meanings from the Birkot haShachar (the morning blessings).  We will meet the prophets and sing some verses from Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Sages) and we will create a very special and personal siyyum (culminating event) as we prepare for the next steps in our exploration of what it means to be a Jew. I look forward to continuing our journey together. 

Rabbi Daniel Gordis wrote, “The Jewish phrase “Shannah Tovah” means not a “happy” new year, but a “good” new year.  Jews wish each other not just a year filled with happiness, but a year filled with goodness, in which we do good, bring good to the world, and try to become good people…” (A Jewish Parent’s Reference Guide, p. 222) 

May this be a year of tov in which our focus and our actions reflect our identities as images of God.

Shannah tovah u-metukah--Best wishes for a good and very sweet new year.

HaMorah Margalit (aka Gretchen Marks Brandt)

Gretchen.tiofnatick@gmail.com