By Elise Kimerling Wirtschafter (4-19-09)

Today is ten days, which is one week and three days of the Omer.

 

It is a tradition to count the days between Passover and Shavuot, as we mark our freedom from slavery and celebrate our freedom to accept Torah. This is called "counting the omer." This year we will observe the tradition of "counting the omer" by sharing stories about the many different ways that we have been turned on to Jewish learning, and through Jewish learning to Torah.

The Everyday Method of Jewish Learning
 
A younger colleague once explained that his mother never allowed him to watch Sesame Street.  She rightly feared that when he started school, he would expect the teacher to sing and dance.  This is to my mind the problem with thinking in terms of "a memorable Jewish learning experience."  My memorable Jewish learning experience is nothing memorable at all.  It is the simple fact of being Jewish-growing up in a kosher home; deciding what to eat at a friend's or in a restaurant; attending Sunday School and Hebrew School; preparing for the Bat Mitzvah and then for Confirmation; lighting Shabbat candles and waiting for Friday night dinner to end so that I could go out and have some fun; buying new dresses and dress shoes for the High Holidays and again for Passover; breaking the fast at Aunt Eva's; eating lunch in Uncle Charlie and Aunt Esther Lee's sukkah; hearing the sound of the glass break at my wedding, at my wedding in the temple where I grew up; and finally, sitting bored to tears in temple, flipping through the Chumash and prayer book, reading an occasional passage, and learning to be with my thoughts and conscience....

There was nothing special about my Jewish learning experience.  It was part of everyday life, a mundane routine that followed the seasons and continued over the years.  Though much diluted in my adult life, it is still, I think, the mundane experience of being Jewish that has taught my children to feel and be comfortable with their Jewishness.

 

By Elise Kimerling Wirtschafter

These stories are brought to you by the Temple Emanuel RE-IMAGINE project, an 18-month initiative sponsored by Hebrew Union College, devoted to re-thinking and re-structuring our religious school.