As is our yearly tradition, each sixth grader welcomed a fifth grader to our homeroom with heartfelt words and wisdom. I hope your son or daughter have shared his or her experiences about the first few days of school. Already from the first half day, I can tell many of the students are ready to become student leaders and “dare greatly” as evidence from the teacher introduction rap and dance that they choreographed and performed on Thursday!
We have also spent some time organizing our reader’s and writer’s notebooks for upcoming activities and launched our ⅚ wide, hands-on icosahedron investigation. With intention, we are staying in homeroom the first two weeks to develop a sense of community, trust, and support. I have read the “Rabbi’s Gift” to your child twice already and we have reflected on how some of the themes may be relevant to our classroom. Please review the outdoor education paperwork that I gave to your child on Friday and return them by this Friday, August 25. There are two items that require your immediate attention. First, if your child requires any type of medication (over-the-counter, homeopathic, and/or prescription), your child’s doctor needs to fill out the appropriate forms. Second, if you are interested in volunteering for the outdoor education experience to 100 Elk, please fill out the form and return it to us by this Thursday, August 24. If you have any questions or concerns about the trip, please let me know. Also, copies of all the forms can be found under the handouts/documents tab of the ⅚ website. We ended our first day together reading and listening to this story
The Rabbi’s Gift Author Unknown Deep in the woods of southern France was an old abbey dating back to the 1500s. Over the years, the young monks had moved on and new members were not attracted to this lifestyle and felt a greater pull from a modern life. It finally reached the time when only five monks were left in the monastery and each felt that their order would come to an end. In the surrounding deep woods, there was a little hut that a Rabbi from a nearby town used from time to time. The monks always knew the Rabbi was home when they saw the smoke from his fire rise above the treetops. As the Abbot agonized over the imminent death of his order, it occurred to him to ask the Rabbi if he could offer any advice that might save the monastery. The Rabbi welcomed the Abbot at his hut. When the Abbot explained the reason for his visit, the Rabbi could only commiserate with him. “I know how it is,” he exclaimed. “The spirit has gone out of the people. It is the same in my town. Almost no one comes to the synagogue anymore.” So the Abbot and the Rabbi sat together discussing their faiths. The time came when the Abbot had to leave. “It has been a wonderful visit,” said the Abbot, “but I have failed in my purpose. Is there nothing you can tell me to help save my dying order?” The Rabbi said that he had no advice but he had this strange dream last night about the abbey and that the Spirit was among you. When the Abbot returned to the monastery, his fellow monks gathered around him and asked, “What did the Rabbi say?” “He couldn’t help,” the Abbot answered. “The only thing he did say, as I was leaving was that the Spirit is among us. Though I do not know what these words mean.” In the months that followed, the monks pondered this and wondered whether there was any possible significance to the Rabbi’s words: The Spirit is among us? Could he possibly have meant that the Spirit is one of us monks here at the monastery? If that’s the case, which one of us is the Spirit? Do you suppose he meant the Abbot? Yes, if he meant anyone, he probably meant Father Abbot. Certainly he could not have meant Brother Elred! Elred gets crotchety at times. But come to think of it, even so, Elred is virtually always right. Maybe the rabbi did mean Brother Elred. Of course the Rabbi didn’t mean me. He couldn’t possibly have meant me. I’m just an ordinary person. Yet supposing he did? Suppose I am the Spirit? As they contemplated in this manner, the monks began to treat each other with extraordinary respect and dignity on the off chance that one among them might be the Spirit and in turn, each monk began to treat himself with extraordinary respect. As people came and passed by, they began to notice. Without even being conscious of it, visitors began to sense a powerful spiritual aura. They were sensing the extraordinary respect that now filled the monastery. Hardly knowing why, people began to come to the monastery frequently to picnic, to play, and to find peace. They began to bring their friends, and their friends brought their friends. Then it happened that some of the younger men who came to visit the monastery started to talk more and more with the older monks. After a while, one asked if he could join them. Then, another and another asked if they too could join the abbot and older monks. Within a few years, the monastery once again became a thriving order, a vibrant center of light and spirituality in the realm. |
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