It Takes One Voice

Raising them Jewish · yesterday · 1 views

This week- I did something tremendous.  Something that affected the lives of not just my children, but every single Kindergartner at my daughter's school.  Possibly the 1st and 2nd graders too.. I asked my school to move her music concert because of Shavuot's 2nd day of Observance. On the one hand, I'm so thrilled I could jump over the moon.  On the other hand, I'm sort of in awe over my ability to have influence. When we chose our little Linnie's school I knew we were making a great choice.  It's the only public IB program in the county- and it's also a K-8 school which means less driving down the road for Mama. But I knew that there were going to be drawbacks.  One of those was that it was a 'local' school.  At least 50% of the people walk or bike to school each day. Which is great- for them, for the environment, and for the drop-off line!  But it also means that all the kids live together in a way that Linnie and I can't match.  We aren't just around the corner for a play date. Additionally the school isn't very religiously diverse.  It's got a lot going for it with socioeconomic diversity and racial diversity, but Linnie is the only non-secular Jew in her class.  I was definitely expecting it to be a challenge to go from a Jewish school environment to a secular one with all those public school trappings of Christianity.  But I've been shocked by what has actually happened... I've been respected, listened to, and accommodated without concern. When I walked into the office to comment that they placed the kindergarten music concert on the same day as Shavuot I was greeted initially with confusion- Shavuot?  But they were polite, and kind and curious.  And also willing to help. The Principal came out and offered to call the music teacher- they would see what they could do.  Especially when I explained the part about Yizkor.  It's an awe-inspiring moment to know that you have taken your commitment to your religion to a whole new level. Now, like my cousin Greg said, can I really justify celebrating the 2nd day?  If it hadn't been Yizkor  would I have felt so strongly about my daughter missing school?  Questions for next year, since this year I've made my commitment.... Copyright Chabad.org- their website has amazing graphics!