“When I open a Siddur and begin to pray the formal words of the liturgy, I am conscious of my needs, my struggles, my wishes, my dreams, my sense of gratitude. Equally, though, in that moment I am asked to contemplate a larger context. (As) I recite the words of the prayerbook, words that are not my own, I am inevitably aware that I am praying along with a community, a people to whom I am tied…tying us to a common past and creating a shared present.” This excerpt written by Edward Feld from the introduction to Siddur Lev Shalem, had particular resonance as I sat with several BBRS parents of 3rd grade students (along with Rabbi Isenberg) while they created personalized (and very beautiful) Siddur covers for their children this past Sunday morning. In a few weeks (Saturday morning November 23), we will have a ceremony to present each of our 3rd graders with their very own Siddur. This is a significant and joyous milestone for the students as they develop their Hebrew decoding skills and learn the sweet and traditional prayer melodies, and are thus excited and eager to put these skills to practice as they read and sing prayers using their new Siddurim. It’s obviously a significant and proud moment for these parents and their families as they celebrate their child’s achievements in all that they are learning at BBRS and as they encourage them on their Jewish journeys.
This event should also be important to all of us at CBI! These families who in the past several years have affiliated with our community because they recognized CBI to be warm, nurturing and inclusive, have entrusted us to give their children a meaningful Jewish education and Jewish experiences within a value system that is shared by all of us. Our entire CBI community is a partner in transmitting Jewish knowledge, values and traditions to all of the children of CBI. Seeing these parents taking the time to create a unique Siddur cover, and making a commitment to give their children a Jewish education and connection to a community, filled me with joy and a sense of hope for our future.
The prophet Isaiah made a promise after the destruction of the Temple that Jerusalem would be rebuilt and the people would be re-connected to G-d saying, “And all of your children shall be students of the Lord and great shall be the peace of your children .” (Isaiah 54:13).
There is a beautiful and profound midrash on this sentence which appears at the end of a number of tractates of the Talmud (Berachot, Yevamot, Nazir and Kritot) and is also found in many traditional siddurim at the conclusion of the morning tefillot: Rabbi Eleazar said in the name of Rabbi Hanina: The students of the wise (talmedei hachamim) increase peace in the world, as it says, ‘And all of your children shall be students of the Lord, and great shall be the peace of your children (banayich).’ Don’t read this word ‘banayich – your children’ [as the regular vocalization suggests] but rather read it ‘bonaich – your builders’.
In other words, our children are the builders for the future and the more our children experience Judaism, learning and living its values, the stronger our community will be and the better our world will be.
May our children and our community go from strength to strength, L’Dor VaDor – from generation to generation.
