Endings Matter
April 20, 2009
Last spring we tried something new, and this year when we do it again it will have become a Temple Emanu-El tradition: the closing assembly and reception on the last day of religious school.
On Sunday morning, May 17th, our students, parents, and teachers will gather together in the sanctuary to honor many indispensible members of our community, to celebrate the year’s accomplishments, and to learn from one another.
In recent weeks I’ve heard a number of people declare, in one context or another, that May 3rd is the last day of school. Now while it is true that May 3rd will be our last day of regular classroom instruction, I’d like to share with you the ways in which our siyyum, our ritual for concluding this year of study, is a substantive and indispensable part of our children’s education.
We tell our kids a lot about the value of an endeavor by how we end it. A movie, a life performance, a sports season, a worship service, even an ordinary day all have their concluding rituals: credits, curtain calls, banquets, songs, blessings, the feeding of pets. To arrive at the end of a year of instruction and walk away without ceremony might suggest to our students, our children, that we value that instruction but lightly.
By contrast, to mark the end of our school year with appropriate ceremony or ritual gives us not only a sense of the significance of the project, it also extends our learning.
How important is it that our children learn to say “thank you”? At our siyyum we will thank our teachers, to Leona Glazer (though not for the last time!), others who help enliven and sustain our students’ learning.
How would you like your child to remember something from this year for the rest of their lives, or at least until opening day next fall? At our siyyum our students will reinforce their learning by presenting it to others. Every student will be asked to share something: a song, a prayer, an artistic or edible Jewish creation, a skit, a new idea or accomplishment. As I heard the mother of a Bat Mitzvah student say earlier this spring, you learn things better when you have to communicate them to others.
This year our theme has been “Mitzvah,” which means obligation, commandment, or good deed. We will take the opportunity at our siyyum, collectively and individually, to reflect on the many ways in which we have made progress toward fulfilling and more deeply understanding our Jewish obligation to make the world a better place.
All this, and food, music and dancing too—a celebration of Jewish community, an opportunity to enjoy some time together, a sweet semicolon along the way to lifelong Jewish learning.
Endings matter. Don’t miss this one.
“Ahalan”
April 20, 2009
An Israeli entry into the annual Eurovision Song Contest from 1991 includes the following joyous verse:
“Here I set my table
A piece of bread, a fresh flower
I opened the door for my neighbors
And whoever comes, we’ll greet ‘Ahalan’
And whoever comes, we’ll greet ‘Ahalan’
The song titled“Kan Beti / Kan Nolad’ti (Here Is My Home / Here I was Born)” came in 3rd place in the contest, and that concluding word of the verse, “Ahalan” captures an interesting bit of contemporary, colloquial Hebrew.
There are, of course, several ways in which we greet one another as Jews. A very traditional greeting is the somewhat formal expression, “Shalom aleichem” (Peace be upon you), to which the customary response is offered, “V’aleichem ha- shalom” (and upon you be the peace). News broadcasts on TV and radio often begin “Shalom rav” (great peace), or simply “Shalom”.
But more and more, when Israelis on the streets of Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Netanya, or K’far Saba greet one another, they use the term “ahalan.” Like many words in contemporary Hebrew slang, ahalan is taken from the Arabic language. In Arabic, Ahalen WaSahalen is a formal phrase connonting “welcome.” The Arabic word ahal is one of many terms for “family”, a word related to the Hebrew word “ohel”, meaning “tent”, or the place where the family lives.
In his regular column on language that appears in the Jerusalem Post, Hebrew scholar, Joel Hoffman reflects, “What better greeting could be offered to a weary desert traveler than to be welcomed into the protective shade of a tent or the warm company of family. Indeed, Abraham is known for his generosity in welcoming strangers into his family tent. And though tents are now rare in Israel, the cordial greeting pays homage to a form of ancient hospitality.”
In our Temple’s Mission Statement, we express that same desire to welcome into the open doors of our tent …all who seek a Jewish religious connection and who choose to embrace and participate in Jewish culture.” From the early days of our people to the Jewish world today, such warmth, hospitality and welcome continues as an essential value to be both expressed and realized by our words and our actions. Let us always bear in mind, as members of a warm and welcoming congregation, that “whoever comes, we’ll greet ‘Ahalan’.
