We are kicking off the school year working toward a classroom brit—a set of guidelines that will set us up for a fun, communal experience full of great learning.
Yesterday, we learned the text from Exodus 39:43 where Bnai Yisrael, the Jewish people, finished building the Mishkan and Moses blessed the people for all their generous donations and hard work building a space where they could all gather as a community to connect.
Each of our students came in to the snack table—where our learning starts out every day—to find their snack plate turned upside down with a bracha (blessing) written on the bottom. They said things like:
WOW, [Name] you ask great questions!
WOW, [Name] you have really opened up since you got to Makom Community this fall!
WOW, [Name] you have done an amazing job welcoming to new friends to Makom Community!
WOW, [Name] you have a great sense of humor!
…and lots more.
Each student read the bracha Sarah and I had written. Then we brainstormed other times we say WOW brachot, and our students quickly came up with several that they hear at Makom Community every day:
1) The sun! We say yotzer or every day during Tfilah: Prayer Music and Movement and always stop to appreciate the natural world around us and the way it is renewed each day.
2) Our food! We cultivate gratitutde for the food we eat and all of the people and processes it took to get it to the table in front of us.
Then each student turned to another and wrote a bracha for them. Either formulated as:
“Wow, you…”
or
“My wish for you is…”
A few of their amazing brachot:
“Thank you for being on this planet.”
“Wow, Mommy! You’re great at cutting up apples and pizza.”
“Wow, L! You’re my best friend.”
“I wish that I could have a play date with C.”
“E, Wow, thanks for being so funny”
“A, I wish you would keep talking like a duck.”
We are building those brachot together onto a bracha wall. The next step is for us to populate that bracha wall wish our wishes for this new year at Makom Community. Those wishes, along with several other activities will be worked together to create our new Brit—two-way promise—that will guide us throughout the year. Stay tuned to hear more about that project as we create it together.