By Stacey Evans (5-23-09)

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

LOST AND FOUND
 
It could be said that we lost everything.  It wasn't a fire, so we still have our personal belongings, our photos, some savings.  What we lost was our business, our income, the house we spent so many years building.  We lost family too, and so much more.  We moved (on) late last summer.  

We found Temple Emanuel Academy Day School and we knew at once we were in the right place.  We were not only new to Temple Emanuel and the Day School, but also to Judaism.  I had grown up stating that I was Jewish, but had received no Jewish education. Most years, my childhood saw its ritual twice a year.  My husband Daniel was the one who, after almost twelve years of marriage to me and through these recent challenges, chose to pursue Judaism for himself and so, too, for our family.  

The first step on his path to conversion took the two of us to the official Union for Reform Judaism class, "Introduction to Judaism," which was held at Temple Emanuel, led by Rabbi Geller and Rabbi Aaron.  It was truly an honor to be with our Rabbis every Wednesday night.
 
Last autumn, during the first night of class, Rabbi Aaron unfurled the Torah in the Sanctuary just for his students.  I was amazed that I was being given the opportunity to touch the parchment itself.  The Torah was something I had only viewed from afar on the rare occasions in my past that I found myself in Temple.  To even be allowed to see it up close, let alone to lay my hands upon it, was such a privilege. 
 
Shortly after that night, I was given another chance to interact with the mantled Torah by holding it during Simchat Torah, to cradle it and dance with it through the aisles of the Sanctuary.  Through my tangible contact with the Torah scroll, it became mine...something that was for me, not just for others more pious than me. 
 
Judaism has since taken root in our home and in our daily lives.  In living a Jewish life together and being a part of Temple Emanuel, we have found ourselves amid a new extended family.  Our newly found community here is a living breathing entity where God comes to us through one another.  It's something we each are learning to participate with, to trust, and to take for granted, because it is so freely granted. 
 
We haven't found all our solutions yet but we, along with our children, now understand the difference between having Judaism in our lives and not having it.  It may just be that our lives are simply better now, merely because we left our troubles behind us; but it is with certainty and conviction that we know that being Jewish gives us a richer life now than we ever had before. 
 
How unexpected it is to find that there, in loss, was the very thing that had the power to bring us home.
 
By Stacey Evans

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.