True Teshuvah

Repentance is a major theme of the High Holy Days, but the season for repentance actually begins a whole month in advance. Every day of the month of Elul, Jews are reminded by the blasts of a shofar to start the process of makeing repentance, or atonement. This past week, the sixth graders and I discussed repentance--in Hebrew, teshuvah. I'd like to take a little space here to go over what we discussed and expand on it.

1) Teshuvah comes from a Hebrew root that suggests returning or repeating an action. When we think of the English word "repentence"--or the related adjective, "penitent"--we usually think of feelings. One feels bad about what he/she did wrong or becomes aware that what they did was not moral. Many people think that it is enough to feel guilty and promise not to do something again. Others think that saying one is sorry, even if the apology is empty of feeling, is sufficient. However, from a Jewish perspective, repentance must include other aspects: acceptance of responsibility, including (if relevant) behavioral consequences or payment of damages; actions to reverse the negative outcomes of one's actions (such as providing medical assistance to an injured party, replacing a lost or stolen item, or taking on extra work to make up for lost time); and efforts to choose correct actions in the future.

2) I've heard parents and educators encourage students (adult as well as kid) to "rewind" and "redo" their mistakes, and this is a great exercise to role-play teshuvah. It can be extremely difficult to own up to one's mistakes, especially ones that others might not have noticed. Practice admitting you did wrong, saying you're sorry, or accepting punishment. Talk to someone--a friend or relative who's uninvolved in the event--and talk through what you could have done differently. But don't stop there! It's also important to address your regret and willingness to reverse (as much as possible) the negative effects of your actions with the people who you may have harmed or slighted. If you know you've made an error with another person, tell them that you'd like a "re-do," since you are unhappy with how behaved previously.

3) Commit yourself to correct action in the future. An important medieval scholar, Rambam, taught, "What constitutes true teshuvah? If the sinner has the opportunity of committing once again the sinful act and it is quite possible for him to repeat it and yet he refrains from so doing because he has repented... he is a true penitent" (Hilkhot Teshuvah 2:1).

Shanah Tovah! (Happy New Year!)

MUSIC VIDEO: Amonai Shamati—Moroccan High Holy Day Piyyut

This beautiful melody is from the Sephardic-Moroccan musical tradition. A piyyut is a prayer in prayer form, usually composed on the specific theme of an older prayer and being chanted before or in the middle of that prayer. This piyyut--asking for God to hear the singer's prayer--is chanted just before the Amidah on both Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

HADASSAH Magazine - Jewish Traveler Archive

Every month, Hadassah Magazine has a terrific article about Jewish life in a particular country or city, remote or close at hand. The articles are terrific resources for travelers and are great resources for learning about Jews around the world but are also fun to just look at.
HADASSAH Jewish Traveler Archive

Links for Learning about Israeli Elections

With the approach of the US election, it's easy to forget that it is also an election year in Israel. Here are some links to prepare you for understanding the upcoming Israeli elections:

• About the current leading coalition party: My Jewish Learning: Kadima
• About parliamentary politics: My Jewish Learning: Pros and Cons of the System
• Overview: Israeli Politics
• More on Tzipi Livni's win of the Kadima party primary from PBS
• What is a coalition government? See Wikipedia
  

Jews around the world

Jews around the world

This website has links that describe briefly the history of Jews from countries all over the world.

Do Parents Influence Teen Behavior?

I just saw some fascinating statistics about the effects parents have on their teenage children on the Moving Traditions (the organization that sponsors It's a Girl Thing!) website. You may want to check it out!

Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll
Do Parents Influence Teen Behavior?

Following Narrow Victory in Kadima Primary, Livni Has a Full Plate - Forward.com"

Following Narrow Victory in Kadima Primary, Livni Has a Full Plate - Forward.com"

Agriprocessors and Beyond - Forward.com"

For those of you following the current controversies and new attitudes in the Kosher meat industry, The Jewish Daily Forward has an on-going summary of what's happening with links to articles in the still-developing story.

Agriprocessors and Beyond - Forward.com"

Kadima Party in Israel Held Primary Today

Exit polls - Livni clear winner in Israeli primary - NYTimes.com

Filed at 5:04 p.m. ET

JERUSALEM (AP) -- Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni won a clear victory in the Kadima Party's primary election Wednesday, TV exit polls showed, placing her in a good position to become Israel's first female leader in 34 years and sending a message that peace talks with the Palestinians will proceed.

Cheers and applause broke out at party headquarters when Israel's three TV networks announced their exit polls giving Livni between 47 percent and 49 percent, compared with 37 percent for her closest rival, former defense minister and military chief Shaul Mofaz. Livni supporters hugged each other and shed tears of joy.

Livni needed 40 percent of the vote to avoid a runoff next week.

If official results bear out the exit polls, as is likely, the 50-year-old Livni will replace Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as head of Kadima. Olmert, the target of a career-ending corruption probe, had promised to step down as soon as a new Kadima leader was chosen. [click link above to read more]

Hebrew Hear-Say: You name it | Personal Notes | Jerusalem Post

Hebrew Hear-Say: You name it | Personal Notes | Jerusalem Post
A fun article on trends in Hebrew names.

Welcome to a new year of Rabbi Rochel's RealLife Blog

Berukhim Haba'im (welcome) to my blog! As a teacher at Congregation Etz Chayim, in Palo Alto, I find it extremely useful and fun--for kids, parents, and me--to keep a blog especially suited for my students. As we start a new year, I'd like to give a little tour of this blog and its features.

Entries I write entries for the blog with varying frequency. You'll find that the entries serve several purposes. They are helpful for:

• Students who are absent should read the blog to see if there is material corresponding to the lesson they missed.
• Parents who want to keep up-to-date with class topics and learn more about our material.
• Students who want to study more in depth what we covered in class.

I also post on topics that aren't related strictly to what we've covered in class, but might be of interest. In particular, I link to news articles on Jewish and Israel world events.

Tags The first non-biographical item in the left column is a way to access entries by class (both years that I have taught each grade at Etz Chayim) or subject. Just click on one of the tags to see those entries. For example, if you want to see what I posted about Zionism, you can click and see all those entries from both this year and last.

Blog Archive This box allows you to view posts by calendar month.

Rabbi Rochel's Writings In addition to my work in education, I also am a freelance author. I have mostly written for MyJewishLearning.com. Some of my older topical overview articles there have been added to and integrated with additional authors over the years. More recently, I've been given more freedom to write on practical topics that have a direct impact on daily Jewish life. My two most recent articles are at the top of the list. Middle-schoolers may find some of the articles quite challenging to read; the target audience is educated adults. Nevertheless, I am very proud of my articles on-line and in print. Check them out!

The Rabbi Suggests (Links) Here, you can find links to resources I find interesting, useful, and fun on the web. Students in particular may enjoy the links to Israeli and Jewish-interest museums. I'm adding new links all the time!

Defining the Borders of the Land of Israel

Land of Israel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This Wikipedia article has great images of the various ways in which the Tanakh (the Jewish Bible) outlined the Land of Israel and its borders. The maps include the definition from God's promise to Abraham in Genesis 15, the books of Numbers, and Ezekiel. There is also an image of different Biblical explanations of the extent of King David's empire.

Map showing one interpretation of the borders of the Promised Land, based on God's promise to Abraham (Genesis 15).

Some Palestinians support ending the Palestinian Authority

Memo From Jerusalem - Support for 2-State Plan Erodes - NYTimes.com
This new article points to a growing number of moderate Palestinian voices who think that the solution to their continued disappointment with the Palestinian Authorities experiment is to become Israelis and push for equal rights alongside current Israeli Arabs.