School News

From the Head of School

 

Dear RGHDS Family,

We are proud Americans, and we are proud Jews.

Both universal and particular connections are highlighted when we read Parashat Noach,

the famous episode of Noah’s and his family’s righteous ark-building and preservation of our

species, and all of G-d’s creatures. The world had gone violent and mad. One midrash

explains that G-d destroyed the world because people became so selfish that they thought

stealing one lentil would have no effect, until everyone stole just one and merchants were

left with no way to make an honest living. Worse yet, crimes of murder and of more deviant

natures filled the Earth. The take-away: we are encouraged to check even our smallest

unethical practices.

 

As educators and parents, we are hopeful, because we see our children learning that they

do not have to settle for the world as it is, and we share their ambition for a world further

redeemed. Are we, though, focused enough on the deep moral questions that we face and

that our children will have to face as the next generation of righteous leaders? Reading the

Torah this week is a harsh reminder that we have a long way to go in perfecting our society

in the United States. With the election upon us, we are privy to polls that show people are

generally more worried about where society is going versus feeling confident we are headed

in a direction that will help further the causes of justice and peace.

 

However, a few observations about the historical nature of this Presidential Election can still

provide light to our kids. Have we discussed the incredible nature of the candidates and how

neither a woman nor a person of African American descent could have stood on those

podiums only a couple of decades ago? Have we noticed how incredible it is that political

rallies – gatherings at which people express their hope for our nation – are attracting the

same number of people as football games? Are we sharing our ideas with local political

representatives and our national ones, in sight and within hearing distance of our kids, so

that we encourage them to get involved in taking civic responsibility?

Over the past few weeks in particular, I spent time reading the book Mama Went to Jail for

the Vote by Kathleen Karr and Bonnie Christensen, illustrated by Malene Laugesen. It was

a reminder that bigotry against women existed and still does. It is hard to believe that it was

only recently that hard-fought battles had to be fought in front of the White House and on

the streets of our nation’s capital, to allow the Suffrage Movement to overcome. Not until

1920 did the 19th Amendment state clearly: "The right of citizens of the United States to vote

shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex."

Civil Rights was an even more recent triumph. Have you considered that white people will

be a minority in this country in only a few years? Are we doing work with our children to

ensure that their perspectives about race are not informed by fear? Are we secure enough

in our Jewish identity to add to the diversity of the population of the United States not just

because we are American but because we are Jewish Americans? Are we expecting our

children to maintain the culture but opting out of participating in the dancing, singing,

praying, outward expressions of our peoplehood? Do we know enough about the Jewish

stories of the Civil Rights era and are we involved supporting causes that seek racial justice

for Latinos, Blacks, Asians and others, even while we are enjoying our tight-knit, family oriented,

successful communities?

 

Digging into the fabric of our Torah lessons can clue us into why we must be in the forefront

of keeping hope front and center. We are the ones who sing aloud, “We have not and will

not lose hope – od lo avda tikvateinu.” Our curriculum, in some ways, is set for us week to

week by our calendar. Torah portions come to inform us and teach us each year; living with

the weekly parashah is living with the times!

To take a lesson from our portion this week, modern Jewish commentators, as well as some

ancient and medieval m’farshim point out, [both men and women by the way] that we never

met Noach’s wife in the story of the ark. According to Jewish tradition, though, and widely

accepted by Bible scholars from all walks, her name was Na’amah. From the essence of her

name, we can understand that she was pleasant and practiced just activism on behalf of her

family and the creatures of the world. She and her husband, Noach, were positively people

of color. We are clued into her essence, nature and contributions through the root of her

Hebrew name assigned to her by our Sages.

The Hebrew root nun/ayin/mem conveys a sense of being pleasing before G-d and/or to act

in G-dly ways. While the letters can form words that simply mean pleasant or pleasing,

those who seek meaning from the Torah and Midrash sense the Sages message: Noach’s

wife was as much the “get the ark built and save the world” person as her husband. The

Rabbis, in developing their commentaries, knew the verse, from Proverbs (13:17): “Her (the

Torah’s) ways are “darkhei no-am” – ways of pleasantness and justice; Na’amah’s name

was not accidentally connected to the ways of justice and peace.

As the 70th anniversary of Krystallnacht approaches, and the community commemorates it

on the steps of the County Courthouse in New City, 5 p.m. Sunday, November 9, organized

by the Holocaust Museum and Study Center, we are reminded of the importance of the

pursuit of goodness that truly defines our mission in education and for our lives. Please

attend this important event. Moreover, let us be sure to talk with our children about the

historical nature of this election, in addition to actively pursuing justice and peace in our own

lives and here at school.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Scott Bolton

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