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"It is a tree of life to those who grasp her, and whoever holds on to her is happy."
-Proverbs 3:18

Spring is here and it is a time of growth, starting fresh, and celebrations. One of my favorite things about being Jewish is that it allows us to incorporate so many different beginnings. Of course there is the obvious Rosh Hashanah, a time for spiritual renewal. In the spring time, it’s a time of physical renewal and growth. Just as we see the leaves budding and growing, our children mirror their growth in so many ways. This semester we watched our 3rd grade religious school students graduate to the older kids services on Sunday mornings. At the beginning of the year, they started their journey to reading Hebrew and have grown so much!

Dressing up and kicking off our spring celebrations, we have Purim! Our Purim Shpiel cast has been practicing hard and I can’t wait to see their hard work come to fruition. Following the shpiel is one of my favorite events of the year — the Purim Carnival — where we will see some of the Yoth Group’s hard work, as they have been creating new games to grow our carnival and keep it exciting. (If you would like to attend or volunteer for Purim, we welcome you to experience the celebration first hand!) 

We use Passover not only to celebrate but to physically or symbolically clean out our homes and experience that spring renewal. And as spring concludes, we have Lag B'omer, or the 33rd day of Omer, a holiday celebrated traditionally with bonfires (and so we’ll be handing out take-home s’mores packets on Shabbat). In addition to celebrating Lag B’omer, we'll celebrate Confirmation, too. One of the best examples of growth is listening to the Confirmation class lead services that evening. They have come so far since their B’nai Mitzvah and confidently share their minds with the congregation.

So look at your children and take note of the growth they’ve made over the past year. It’s truly incredible to be part of their Jewish journey!

Sidni Weglarz