During East and West Wing morning meetings, Kenny (Harrison’s dad, EW) and Lori (Golda’s mom, WW) played the Shofar horn, a family tradition, in celebration of Rosh Hashanah.
In the West Wing:
Lori: If we live in a group of people, we have many ways of doing life. Holidays connect us to the way our ancestors live. We have different ways of connecting to our ancestors. Yesterday we celebrated the new year. Does anybody remember what it’s called?
Tallulah: It’s Rosh Hashanah.
Lori: Yes, you were at Open Temple yesterday. On Rosh Hashanah, we honor the birthday of the world. Rosh Hashanah means head of the year, and this is a special feature of Rosh Hashanah.
Mars: It’s a snake.
Golda: It’s a shofar!
Lori: Yes, and what we do in our Jewish tradition is announce the birthday of the world. When we start a new year, we look inside our hearts and we think about what we want to do better.
And we awaken our soul with the shofar.
Adriana: It’s like reflecting.
Lori: Yes, it is.
Mars: What are we going to do with the apples?
Lori: We put the honey on the apples and eat it so we can have a good and sweet new year.
A small group of children used the apple slicer to cut the apples and then they carefully set it on a plate to share with the community. Honey was poured into a bowl and challa was laid on a plate. As children shared the food, Asher and Eve shared their experiences.
Asher: I went to Temple and we had grape juice and challa. There was a straw for the grape juice. We mixed honey in the grape juice.
Eve: I saw Asher at the Temple. I had challa too.
Tai: I need apples.
Uma: I can pass it to you.
Eve: Where’s the napkins?
Poppy: Here, I can get it for you.
In the East Wing;
Kenny opened the morning meeting asking the children if they knew what he was holding.
Ephy: A horn.
Eli: A Shofar.
Kenny: You’re both right. Does anybody know what this is made out of?
Sawyer: Glass!
Phedon: Wood!
Lily: Plastic!
Poppy: It’s from an animal!
Kenny: Yes, it’s from an animal.
Aliana: It’s from an elephant.
Kenny: Not a tusk from an elephant, it’s actually more like a horn from a sheep. It’s a horn from a ram.
Aliana: How did it come off?
Kenny: They fall off actually. After the ram gets really old. They hollow it out and as you can see they make it into a horn.
Kenny explained to the children that Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year and on High Holidays in the Jewish faith, it’s a tradition that the ram’s horn is blown in three specific ways. As Kenny demonstrated the sounds with the Shofar, Harrison called out the three Shofar calls:
You can hear them played now in the video below
– password is “venice1987”
Similarly to how the children are building up friendships, the Shofar horn’s sound is a New Year’s reminder that we can make amends and repairs to relationships in our community, let go of what no longer serves us, and move forward intentionally with renewed energy.