Dear JCOGS family,
This Shabbat, we celebrate our JCOGS families, youth, and B’nai Mitzvah and all the wonderful work being done with the guidance of our director of education, Beth Liberman. Tonight at 6pm, all are invited for Family and Friends Friday, marking the culmination of the religious school year of our Olam Chesed Education Center. Tonight also marks a bittersweet transition as our Jewish life teacher Jonah Ibson transitions out of his role after seven wonderful years. We are so blessed to have had his passionate, gentle educational expertise over these years of exponential growth in our school. We say thank you to Beth, Jonah, Gilana, our Hebrew pod teacher, and to our education committee, Lis Erickson (chair), Judith Wine, Barb Sokolow, Kara Rosenberg, Lauren Antler, and Matt Yoskowitz.
Tomorrow morning also marks the culmination of our Mitzvah program. Our Mitzvah cohort of seventh graders will be celebrating their “big days” over the summer and fall. During Shabbat morning services, beginning at 10am, students will share about their 13 Mitzvot Challenge, the thirteen ways that they have improved upon their personal, family, and communal lives over the course of the year.
One of our Mitzvah students, Fiona Bock, recently won the The Vermont Holocaust Memorial third annual Student Holocaust Education Competition. Please take a few moments to be blown away by Fiona’s powerful essay (I was in tears reading it), and her charge for us all on the significance of Holocaust education in Vermont. And read about this accomplishment in the press here. We are kvelling.
This morning was the first time that I walked around our neighbourhood of Morrisville since being back from Israel. It was the first time that I walked the streets where, just days before, a manhunt was underway. Where schools had recently been closed because of the search for an armed man (who was often seen on the streets holding up a sign that had a swastika on it) who shot at a police officer that I work out with at the same gym. Thankfully, the police officer is safe and the armed man was taken into custody.
This all was a stark reminder that even our streets of Vermont are not always safe. At JCOGS, we are hearing about increases in antisemitic acts in local schools and places of work. And we all know about the increase in mental health issues among youth and teens.
At JCOGS, we try to create a safe haven of belonging for our youth. We teach them (and learn from them) about the sanctity of life. Our theme for our Olam Chesed Education Center this year was l’chayyim, to life! We celebrated the lifecycles with a mock brit covenanting and naming ceremony, Bar Mitzvah celebration, and wedding under the JCOGS chuppah. We also visited the JCOGS cemetery Darchei Shalom to learn about Jewish mourning practices and to bury a collection of Jewish books no longer fit for use, that contain the name of G-d, learning about the kavod, the honour due to both our holy books and people. A Jewish cemetery is sometimes called a Beit HeChayyim, a house of life.
Now, here in Vermont, more than ever, we have the need to teach about the sanctity of life, cultivating our children’s sense of belonging within our community and tradition. Join us in person or online tonight and/or tomorrow morning for a Shabbat of celebration of our incredible educators and of what is most needed for our youth. So that our children feel that they will have a place for life. L’chayyim!
Tihiyu bri’im, may you be healthy. Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi David
