A sweet Passover story from Michael S. Jay, JCC Metrowest

Dear Dr. Wolfson:

We shared dinner and stories of welcoming communities last week at JTS. We had also previously met at Congregation Agudath Israel on our Inaugaral Shabbat. Susan Werk is one of the reasons I am studying to be a rabbi at the ripe old age of 47. You have had a huge impact on Susan, so I guess I can blame you too. At any rate, as an educator extraordinaire, I thought you would like the following story.....

So when you get to a point where you are exhausted and enough people are wondering how come it is taking you so long to do things, and others are yelling at you because they know you can do better work, and bill collectors call and
your wife is unhappy and your daughter wonders why her friends get to go to Disney and she can't even get the Disney Channel.

And when everyone says its an amazing thing that you have chosen to do until they want you to do something for them and you just don't have the time to do it, or it is done, but not exactly how they would have liked it......

Well, when all of this happens and you are just about ready to say "s--- it".......You substitute for a class of 5th graders and you remember why it is that you are doing what you are doing.

So I substituted last Sunday. I had no time, but the Educational Director was in a bind so I agreed to help out for an hour (I ended up teaching for 2). Not a bad time to help out because the class was covering the seder (usually an orderly lesson plan, a little Jewish humor there). So I'm having a grand old time teaching this and teaching that and we get to a point where we are discussing the symbols on the seder table and we get around to talking about the hard boiled eggs. What does the egg symbolize? We discussed the standard answers..... life, life cycle, roundness for a good year, fertility etc., etc.

Then it happened......one beautifully spiritual little girl raises her hand and says: "You know what I think?" and I said, "No, but I'd like to know." And she says.........."The egg is a symbol of Spring. The white part is the snow, cold and all encompassing, and the yolk is the sun that melts the snow and warms everything up so the green things on the table can grow."

Oy....! And I said, "That is the most beautiful thing I have heard in a long time. You probably won't remember me, but I will remember you and I will remember your little piece of poetry; it is a beautiful vision that will come with me to every seder I participate in from now on."

And, at that moment, I remembered why I am doing what I am doing. And I know God was in that room grinning a big grin with a tear of joy running down God's cheek. Sometimes, the most beautiful prayers just happen; they roll effortlessly off the lips like water cascading down a brook.

Have a Zissin and Fraylachin Pesach