May 6th, 2022 | 5th of Iyyar, 5782 | Kedoshim קְדשִׁים
Dear Beit Rabban Community,
It has been a very rich week at Beit Rabban. In addition to the always incredible learning that is our baseline, this week we hosted a parent session on our new health curriculum, we held orientations for our first overnight trips in the middle school, we cheered on our Chidon HaTanach team, we commemorated Yom Hazikaron, and we celebrated Yom Haatzmaut both in school and also at a community Shira B'tzibur (singing) event in the evening. It was a week of togetherness, of feeling part of a community that is greater than the sum of its individual members.
What fortuitous timing for Teacher Appreciation Week!
I love Teacher Appreciation Week because it is so powerful to feel part of a collective gratitude effort. Each morning this week our principal sent out an ode to a particular division and called upon all colleagues to thank those who work in that division. The parents association and board showered teachers with treats and beautiful lunches. Our senior team gifted a small and unique token of appreciation to each teacher based on a survey they completed to share what makes them happy. Our students and parents wrote gorgeous thank you cards to teachers that they placed in teachers' individually labeled buckets, a literal and figurative act of "filling buckets." We even arrived at school one morning to find that an anonymous community member drew a magnificent thank you note in chalk right in front of the entrance. At the end of each day, I passed by teachers smiling while they read their thank you notes, and I heard people sweetly sharing particular lines with each other.
What an amazing thing to be part of an effort of individual acts of gratitude that together affect the entire culture of a space. Communal culture can feel like a heavy lift- it is hard to create, nurture and/or change. At the same time, I wonder whether we sometimes overthink culture in our efforts to get it just right. It may be as simple as remembering the basics... if enough people take a minute to say thank you to each other the impact on the collective can be immeasurable.
Wishing you all a restful and rejuvenating Shabbat,
Stephanie
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