By Lee Forseter Silber (5-25-09)

Today is forty-six days, which is six weeks and four 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.

Thank you to everyone who wrote about a memorable moment of Jewish learning. We've collected 49 amazing stories, and we're grateful to all of our contributors. 

I attended Yeshiva Rambam, a K-8 co-ed yeshiva in Brooklyn, New York.  Most of the Judaic teachers were Holocaust survivors who were still adjusting to the American version of yeshivas.  They wore dark, forever creased, ill-fitting suits and floppy, felt hats; and they seldom smiled.  However, there was one exception, Rabbi Ben Shemer.  He was a roly-poly, bald man who wore freshly starched white shirts, colorful bow ties, and red garter belts above his elbows to shorten the sleeve lengths. And he always smiled and called us "Yeladim" (Children.)

Did I learn a lot of Chumas that year?  Probably not.  What Rabbi Ben Shemer did teach me was a love for Jewish songs and art.  Each holiday he miraculously found coloring books with Hebrew themes, heroes, and Hebrew letters.  Today that might seem minor, but back then, the only religious coloring books available depicted Christian holiday scenes. 

It was not easy teaching restless, not very Jewishly motivated 3rd-graders. I can recall how he'd look around the room, shake his head, sigh, and with a smile announce, "Yeladim, nu, it's time to sing."  He would them pick up his beloved concertina and start to play some chords, asking us to guess which song would be first.  We would each shout out our favorite one and then burst into song when we finally identified the tune.  Our tiredness would disappear and we would sing enthusiastically and happily.  He would transform us from indifferent students into avid learners of religious as well as modern Hebrew songs.  

To this day I feel most connected to Judaism when I am singing.
 
By Lee Forseter Silber

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.