Junior High School

Some of MD's friends already received their acceptance letters on Thursday. A few more received theirs on Friday.

Going into Shabbat, MD still had not received any letter. It was a tense Shabbat....

Sunday morning, we all left before the mail arrived.

Sunday afternoon, there was a thick envelope in the mailbox.

I remember applying to colleges.... thick envelopes were good, they contained all sorts of forms....

I waited until I was inside, then opened the letter.....

"We are pleased to inform you that your son has been accepted...."

I called Moshe. Then I called MD.

"Yesh!" (Yes!)

I could hear the relief in his voice.

He got into the school where he wants to go.

Thank God!!



Please daven (or send happy, healing thoughts) for RivkA bat Teirtzel.

With love and optimism,
RivkA

Aseifat Horim

I wouldn't even begin to know how to say Aseifat Horim in English!

In the beginning of every school year, every educational framework in Israel, from Gan (kindergarden) through High School, has an aseifat horim.

At the aseifat horim, parents meet their children's teachers for the first time. It is also an opportunity to meet the other parents.

For kindergarden, the aseifat horim is relatively simple. Parents arrive, are given some sort of cardboard shape (eg. a flower), and are asked to write their child a bracha (blessing) for the upcoming year. Then, the ganenet (kindergarden teacher) invites the parents to introduce themselves, after which, she explains everything a parents should know about kindergarden. At the end, the ganenet asks for volunteers for the va'ad horim (parents committee).

In the beginning of our journey into the school system, I was impressed that parents were invited to be more involved. With time, I learned that the main job of the va'ad horim was to collect money.

In elementary school, in addition to meeting with the teachers, the aseifat horim includes greetings from the principal.

In Junior High School, we are also introduced to other staff (guidance counselor, vice principal, etc).

Last night, we had our first High School aseifat horim.

The first thing that impressed me was that it began on time!!

Good thing, too, because there was a lot of talking! Greetings from the principal, the Rav, the vice principal, the pedagogical coordinator, a second pedagogical coordinator, the administration manager -- whew!

Admittedly, some of it was a little boring.

Nonetheless, overall, everyone who spoke was really excited about the school and about all the special programs. Their enthusiasm was contageous.

Finally, we divided into our individual class meetings. It was nice to see some familiar faces among the parents.

Y's teacher exuded positive energy, and was very articulate. I discovered that this teacher would teach my daughter for both 9th and 10th grade. I was pleased.

I could tell why my daughter was happy to go to school every day.

When we got home, Y was in bed, but still awake.

"Did you meet my teacher?" she asked, right away.

Y looked up at me, her sweet, innocent, eyes shining.

In a soft voice, she continued, "She's nice, isn't she?"

I looked at my beautiful daughter, who is growing up so fast, and whose independence is emerging as a strong force in our household.

I wanted to hold onto that moment forever.

I bent down, and kissed her on her forehead.

"Yes, she is," I assured my daughter, as her eyes closed, and she drifted off to sleep.



Please daven (or send happy, healing thoughts) for RivkA bat Teirtzel.

With love and optimism,
RivkA

The First Day of School

Your first day of school.

You did not need me to see you off.

I got up anyway.

You chose your own clothes.

You did a good job.

You made your own lunches.

And cleaned up after yourself.

You packed your bags.

OK, I helped with that.

You left the house, calmly.

You have done this many times before.

For the first time, I did not take your picture.

I am sorry.

You did not need to mark this day.

I did.



Please daven (or send happy, healing thoughts) for RivkA bat Teirtzel.

With love and optimism,
RivkA

The Last Day of Summer Vacation

It was going to be a very pressured, not very fun, day. We were going to finish getting ready for school.

Then I received an invitation to join a select group of bloggers at Former Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu's press conference about his education initiative.... in Likud Headquarters, in Beit Jabotinsky, in Tel Aviv!

It seemed like a great opportunity, but I really did not want to drive out to Tel Aviv. Besides everything else, the trip would eat up half of my day. Then it occurred to me that I could drive to Tel Aviv for the press conference, and, afterwards, take my kids to the beach!

A has been asking to go to the beach all summer! In an instant, I changed the focus of our last day of summer vacation from boring, stressful, school preparations to fun, exciting, family time!

Thanks to A Mother in Israel, I learned that there is a museum on the first floor of Beit Jabotinsky. We both brought our kids to the museum, where they spent the morning learning about Jabotinsky and the Etzel, while we were on the top floor at the press conference.

An hour later, my kids and I were on our way to Herzliyah, to the beach. Y proved to be an excellent navigator and we found a wonderful public beach, "Hof HaSharon."

(Moshe drove to Tel Aviv with us, and attended the press conference, but caught a ride back to Jerusalem with Carl, from Israel Matzav. The beach, on a hot summer day in August, is not for Moshe. He'd rather work in his air-conditioned office!)

We found a great parking space, adjacent to the beach entrance (There was plenty of free parking). Just as we arrived on the beach, another family vacated their spot under one of the pagodas, so we found a place in the shade to place our blanket! (really a sheet, but nevermind) Cool!

We had a wonderful afternoon! First we changed into bathing suits. Then we ate a picnic lunch on our blanket. Then we applied generous amounts of sunscreen, and headed into the surf.

We rode the waves for a while. The kids were excited by the dynamic ocean, but they did not like the salty taste of the water, or the burning sensation when water got in their eyes or throats.

I could have stayed out in the waves for hours, but my kids had enough. So, we waded back to shore, rinsed off, had a snack, then broke out the "matkot." (I felt so Israeli!) I brought two sets, so we all could play. MD and Y played with each other, and I played with A. None of us played very well, but we had fun, and laughed a lot!

Then we took a break, in the shade, had another snack, and returned to the water. When the kids were ready, (before I was, of course), we headed back to shore. There we collected shells and interesting stones. Many of the stones had naturally formed holes, that seemed perfect for making necklaces.

I could have spent hours combing the beaches for those beautiful stones and shells, but Y wanted to play another round of matkot. She literally dragged me away from the water, and we played, and laughed. After about half an hour, we sat down on some benches, and watched while MD and A played in the sand.

Too soon, we realized that it was time to go. After all, tomorrow is a school day.

We packed up our things, showered, changed, and headed for home. Of course, we got stuck in rush hour traffic, but we had good music and good company, and the ride home was fun too.

When we got to Jerusalem, we met Moshe and my sister for dinner at a local Chinese restaurant. It was the perfect ending to a near perfect day.

I had not planned on leaving my house today. But, thanks to Bibi's education initiative, our last day of summer vacation was one of the highlights of our summer!






Please daven (or send happy, healing thoughts) for RivkA bat Teirtzel.

With love and optimism,
RivkA

Hello Old Friend

One of my oldest friends in the world, ER, is in Israel for 2 weeks.

We got together last night and had so much fun, talking and catching up.

We are friends since high school, and we also attended the same university. After that, our paths diverged. He is also a strong Zionist, but his real dream is to be an astronaut.

Talking about high school friends, made me wonder where all my high school friends are these days, and how they are doing.

We swapped information about the friends with whom we are each in touch. But we had many more questions about "what ever happened to....?" than we had answers.

Some of the stories that ER told me were sad. (There is a lot of tragedy in the world) Other stories were just bizarre. And some just magnified the different paths that all of us have taken.

I lived in such a different world back then.

First of all, I felt split in many directions. Socially, my friends were all over the place -- there were my friends from school (mostly, but not exclusively, Jewish, secular and assimilated), my friends from NCSY youth group (Orthodox, FFB), my friends from Habonim youth group (Zionist, non-religious), and my friends from frisbee. (yup, even then I had a "frisbeechevra")

Even within school, I was split. I went to the A-school (Teaneck's Alternative 1 High School -- which deserves a blog post of its own). I also took science courses at Teaneck High. And I also took courses at Fairleigh Dickenson University, as part of my high school curriculum. (Where I passed as a college student, and prayed that nobody discovered that I was really just in high school).

And then there was my involvement in the theatre community, which is how I became the confident, outspoken person that I am. (Can you believe that I used to be really quiet and introverted?)

My friends from high school were so different than I was, in so many ways. But I LOVED them. I loved hanging out with them. I loved hearing their stories. I loved experiencing all their wild adventures vicariously. I loved being on the fringe of their outrageous world.

And I was on the fringe. I was a serious kid. Serious about not taking drugs. Serious about "waiting until I was married." Serious about going to classes. Serious about being Jewish. Serious about Israel. Serious about everything.

Maybe even too serious.

I was on the fringe of the fringe group.

Maybe we all were -- fringes on the fringe.

I think about my high school friends, and I think about the unique paths they took.

Compared to the rest of my high school crowd, I took a unique path as well.

I'm the only one living in Israel. I'm the only one who is "dati leumi" (Religious Zionist). I am the only one who married a religious Jew and whose children are religious Israelis.

To them, I might as well be an astronaut and live on the moon.



Please daven (or send happy, healing thoughts) for RivkA bat Teirtzel.

With love and optimism,
RivkA