By Roderick O.

Jewish Service for the Week

This weeks’ Tuesday morning Jewish service explained that you can find peace and happiness wherever you go. Rabbi Michelle asked the students a couple questions to help them wake up.

Describe your past month in one word.

Some students answered with negative words and positive words. Rabbi continued to explain that we all go through positive and negative moments throughout our whole lives and if you answered with a negative, how can you change it into a positive if I ask this question again in a month?

What is something that makes you smile?

No matter how angry you are or how bad of a situation you are in, you will always have something to smile at. Some students responded by saying that their families or puppies make them smile. Rabbi than told us that one physical action of smiling can brighten our whole mood. It’s weird to think that such a small action can have a huge impact on your day.

What is something that you hope for?

What I noticed about this question is that all the students answered in a positive way. No one hopes for bad things to happen. We all hope have peace in the world or to get along better with our families.

By Roderick O.

Every year The Passover Seder is celebrated at The Family Foundation School and is hosted by Rabbi Michelle. The dinner lasts a couple hours because of the traditional blessings that were said before the meal started. In between the blessings songs of praise were sung, as well as played by the Jewish band that was hired for the event. Each family in the school was given two tables and they were all set up in the gym. Also, in respect for the Jewish religion all males that attended this event all wore Yamakas.

Once the blessings were said, Rabbi announced the food to be served. Head chef Bill Cortz and his kitchen staff whipped up some special food for the celebration. We were served a small chicken with potatoes and vegetables by the catering crew. In the middle of the food being served, students joined Rabbi in a festive dance around the gymnasium. I danced as much as I could, but after I had consumed the delicious food and a large amount of it, moving around was the last thing I wanted to do. The celebration allowed family’s to reunite and savor the celebration to love one another.

By Roderick O.

This week’s Jewish service was led by three Jewish students in the absence of the Rabbi. By taking on a leadership role and hosting a chapel service these students took a step in the right direction of doing Gods will. They removed themselves from their comfort zones and lent a helping hand. This was only made possible through faith in God.

During the service Adam B. shared about his experience with faith and gratitude. He explained that it is our choice in what we put our faith into. We can put our faith in God, our parents or friends, or in our jobs. This is something I struggle with a day-to-day basis. I allow my fear to get into the way of making smart decisions. If I had some faith that everything would work out for the better, I’m sure I would find myself making better decisions sometimes.

Have some faith that things will work out the way they are supposed to.

Adam also talked about gratitude. He shared that there are many things to be grateful for at the school and in life. If you are reading this right now than you clearly have access to a computer and this is something to be grateful for because some people don’t even have clean clothes to wear or a warm bed to sleep in at night. I know that I take things for granted most of the time. I don’t consider the fact that I am more fortunate than other people and I should be grateful for what I have.

Be grateful for what you have. 

By Roderick O.

This Tuesday morning Jewish service reminded each student about choices that we make on a daily basis. Even though God puts forth many opportunities for us throughout the day to do the right thing, we don’t always take them. It is our choice to do a nice act for someone or be in a positive mood. We choose to allow the external environment around us effect how we live.

It may be difficult sometimes to realize that God is always there for you. When I am down in the dumps I sometimes lose sight of my faith in a better day and that God has a plan for me. My choice of accepting the fact that God has a plan can affect my whole day. I don’t want another day to go by were I doubt God’s love for me and it starts with making a choice.

“Gracious God, it seems that life is always requiring decisions. Sometimes everything in my life is stable and settled, and then a new opportunity presents itself, and I feel unsteady and unsure of which way to go. At other times I become weary with stability and decide I want a change in my life. Unsettled about making a decision, especially when there is still some haziness in my heart about the course I should take. I do not, after all, want to make the wrong decision. I pray that you will guide my thoughts when I am searching through options for my future. Help me be patient when the process is unfolding more slowly than I would want. Help me trust the spirit of intuition that you have given me as an aid for interpreting the signs that help me move forward. Give me a spirit of risk and the faith to trust, so that I will try something new, speak something new. Remind me that even if I make a faulty decision, your boundless grace will bring goodness to the decision I make. I ask this for the sake of Your love. Amen.”

By Roderick O.

This week’s Tuesday morning Jewish service featured a list of steps to help get us through any hard time. Although the steps contained a wide variety, there were three that stuck out to me. These steps were let go of the situation, learn from it, and lose the negative attitude.

Sometimes it’s hard for me to let go of a situation and I end up dwelling on it for hours. When I end up letting go and moving on, I feel as though a weight is lifted from the shoulders. I usually pray, meditate, help other people or move my mind to active work. As I ponder on it right this minute I realize the unnecessary amount of time I have spent dwelling on situation that I can’t change.

Move forward.

Whether it is positive or negative, you can acquire knowledge from any type of situation. The key to learning is being open minded and taking in account for what you did wrong. If it was a mistake you made than by learning from it, it shouldn’t happen again. I know that this has always been a problem for me; I never learned from my mistakes.

Gain understanding. 

If you are closed off to the situation and have a negative attitude the situation will not get any better. Lose the negative attitude and be vulnerable to the fact that there is a whole world of things that can make a person happy.

Be positive. 

By Ileana A.

During this week’s Jewish service, Rabbi Michele told a story about a motorcyclist. This motorcyclist was conversing with a rabbi and declared that he didn’t need to pray because his life was already full of miracles. The rabbi asked him to give an example. So the biker tells about how he was riding past a cliff and a truck comes zooming toward him and his two options were to ride off the cliff or crash into the truck. Of course, he rode off the cliff. The miracle was that the bike was caught between two rocks, which acted as shock absorbers. The rabbi then asked him, “Who pushed you off the cliff?”

This story was a good reminder for me that God is always there for me. Lately, I have felt as if there have been obstacles in my life that I could never overcome. I was reminded, however, that God would not put things in my life that I would not be able to handle. God knows what is best for me and I need to have faith that everything happens with His good reasoning.

By Ileana A.
This past weekend, The Family Foundation School celebrated Sukkot. Sukkot is a Jewish holiday that comes from both history and agriculture. Historically, when the Israelites spent forty days and nights wandering in the desert, they had to build booths in which to sleep. This is where the name for the holiday Sukkot comes from, sukkot meaning booths.

Sukkot is also a celebration of thanksgiving for the year’s harvest. Traditionally, the Seven Species, wheat and barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives, and dates decorate the booths. Part of the celebration requires living in the booths just as the Israelites did so long ago. This can be eating the daily meals inside of the booths or even sleeping in them at night. Of course, we just had lunch in our booths.

The students spent Sunday preparing for the meal, making posters of psalms, stringing popcorn, and making paper chains with descriptions of what we were all grateful for. Before eating, we recognized that there is a time for everything, even a time for thanksgiving.

By Ileana A.

Tashlik is a Jewish ceremony done during the High Holy Days. During the ceremony, people talk about the sins they have committed during the year and promise not to repeat them.

This week Rabbi Michele held a Tashlik ceremony for the Jewish students at The Family Foundation School by the pond. Students collected leaves to represent their sins of the past year and tossed them into the water so that the sins could be carried away for a clean start to the new year. As each student did this, they pledged to do their best not to repeat those sins again and to make amends for having committed them.