RABBI MOSHE DOV HEBER (VINnews) — The busy weeks of preparation before school have come to an end as we begin the new school year. It’s the first day of school, and from my vantage point, in front of the bais medrash, at Yeshiva K’tana of Waterbury, I see close to a hundred Middle School boys ready for their first morning of minyan davening of the year.
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Neatly dressed, many with new clothes or shoes, they all look ready for a new year. Davening goes by with each boy in his seat davening. Davening ends, and the Menahel speaks to the boys about davening and breakfast.
It is so calm; everything is just working so well.
I walk out of the bais medrash towards the classrooms and the sounds of davening from
the younger grades fill the halls. Happy boys ready and excited to learn. I climb the steps to my classroom on the third floor, line up my class, and bring each boy in as they quietly fill out an index card of Gemara words. It’s peaceful, it’s calm. The introduction to my classgoes over well, the introduction to Perek Hakones goes well. The boys are so
into the learning.
We are all hoping for a great school year. As in other years, challenges crop up during the school year and sometimes it’s harder to see that sparkling neshama that we saw on the first day of school. On that first day, he was neatly dressed on the outside and he was shining on the inside as well. Despite the struggles that our students have, on the first day we see who they really want to be.
Elul and the Yomim Noraim are in the air. On Rosh Hashanah we try to dress our best
and stand in front of Hashem begging and asking Hashem for the sweetest year. We tell Him who we want to be, what we could be and what we should be. We take on chumras during the Aseres Yemei Teshuva, showing Hashem what we are striving for. We stand
on Yom Kippur begging and telling Hashem we will change. This is the last year we will fall short. We stand by Neilah and we feel that closeness with Hashem. All we want is to
live in the house of Hashem our entire life. Our neshama is shining.
The true us is shining.
As the cycle of life goes forward, the year moves on and the challenges sprout up. As part of galus each person has a unique nisayon. Despite our challenges we ask Hashem to remember who we really are. We ask Hashem to remember our closeness with Him during the Yomim Noraim while our neshama was shining.
As our challenges crop up during the year, we ask Hashem to remember the real us. So, too, as the struggles of our talmidim and children come up, let us remember how they were on day number one, fresh and clean with a shining neshama and to look deeper into the child.
Because deep down everyone wants to be good.
Rabbi Moshe Dov Heber is a Middle School Rebbi in Yeshiva K’tana of Waterbury, the Director of the Mishmar Evening Program in Waterbury and Division Head in Camp Romimu. He is a frequent contributor to various publications on areas related to education as well as speaks publicly on various topics. Rabbi Heber can be reached via email at [email protected] .