The Story:
This past week at school we celebrated Shavuot, the Hebrew word for "weeks." This holiday both marks the end of the seven post-Passover weeks during which one observes the counting of the Omer (long period of spiritual reflection based on now-defunct agricultural practice) and also commemorates G-d giving the Torah to the Israelites at Mount Sinai. Shavuot being one of the harvest-related holidays, we all brought in fruits and vegetables to school for donation to an organization that focuses on equitable food distribution and for some random Jew reason that no one seemed quite sure of, we all dressed in white as is Shavuot tradition.
Just as all the students in the Lower School were making their way up the hill to the synagogue, swathed in white and carrying all forms of bags and baskets overflowing with produce, the Middle School was getting on a small fleet of schoolbuses to go to the park for Mini-Course Day (randomly scheduled and completely unrelated to Shavuot). The younger kids, heads wreathed in crowns of harvesty branches and the older kids, clothed in the unofficial outdoor learning day uniform of sweatshirts and swishy pants, regarded one another with complete confusion as their paths crossed in the parking lot.
The Lesson:
The next day Ani called me for the first time in forever to see if I wanted to go to Arizmendi with her. I was on my way to meet Alef and also wasn't quite sure what we'd say to one another so I politely declined but we chatted for a moment or two and she made a sage observation about the festivities from the day before. "I saw all your kids going up to the temple and did a total double-take," she said. "They all looked so pagan in their white shirts and dresses, everyone with head wreaths and armsfull of bananas and broccoli. It was like that Dar Williams song The Christians and The Pagans, except with Jews. I thought it was Beltane (pagan holiday they used to celebrate in the co-op where she lived at Stanford) all over again for a second."
My reply: "We are nothing if not a liberal pluralistic community day school I suppose..."
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