It's a tradition in our school to celebrate the generations of our families. The children invite grandparents, an uncle or aunt, or an older cousin or sibling. We don't have any of those in the country so DD brought her old mother. (One of the grandmothers told how she remembered the liberation of Jerusalem in 1967 - she was 9. I was almost 5 so not much difference in age there.)
The theme this year was Jerusalem which will be celebrated on Jerusalem Day in 2 1/2 weeks time. And now that I think about it - why didn't we do this generations thing on Family Day (instead of Mother's Day in Israel) back in March? The whole thing was a bit of a mystery to me but as our school is more about tradition and culture than about religious practice, it fitted with the school ethos.
We started in the hall with a community sing-song and slide show of Jerusalem songs and videos. (What we will do on Jerusalem Day I don't know). Then we split into classes and went back to the classrooms. In DD's class some of the grandparents told of their memories of the Six Day War and visiting the Old City for the first time.
Others who immigrated later, told about what Jerusalem means to them. I told the following story. It's not about what Jerusalem means to me but it fitted in with the stories about 1967 and the Six Day War.
In June 1967 (or maybe a little earlier when they knew war was likely as the surrounding countries were all mobilizing troops on the borders), when I was 4 1/2 and living in London, my mother went to her weekly WIZO meeting (Women's Zionist Organization - like the WI for Jewish housewives). There they were shown a letter from the Israeli Government. It said that plans had been made to evacuate all the children from Israel in the event of war and if it becomes necessary. (They meant if it looked like Israel would lose.) The women were asked how many children they could each take. My mother wrote down four.
Then the children decorated photos of themselves with their grandparents and wrote something about Jerusalem. This was DD's picture. The photo was taken at my youngest nephew's Bar Mitzva and DD's note reads - I am my family representitive in Jerusalem.
We finished with the 'bringing in Shabbat' ceremony that they do every week. It was a lovely morning. Very moving, as usual. I found the themes slightly cobbled together - Generations, Jerusalem, and Shabbat but if you look at it all in the name of Tradition then I suppose it fits. I'm all for tradition so here's Topol in Fiddler on the Roof who, after all, describes tradition best of all.
The theme this year was Jerusalem which will be celebrated on Jerusalem Day in 2 1/2 weeks time. And now that I think about it - why didn't we do this generations thing on Family Day (instead of Mother's Day in Israel) back in March? The whole thing was a bit of a mystery to me but as our school is more about tradition and culture than about religious practice, it fitted with the school ethos.
We started in the hall with a community sing-song and slide show of Jerusalem songs and videos. (What we will do on Jerusalem Day I don't know). Then we split into classes and went back to the classrooms. In DD's class some of the grandparents told of their memories of the Six Day War and visiting the Old City for the first time.
Others who immigrated later, told about what Jerusalem means to them. I told the following story. It's not about what Jerusalem means to me but it fitted in with the stories about 1967 and the Six Day War.
In June 1967 (or maybe a little earlier when they knew war was likely as the surrounding countries were all mobilizing troops on the borders), when I was 4 1/2 and living in London, my mother went to her weekly WIZO meeting (Women's Zionist Organization - like the WI for Jewish housewives). There they were shown a letter from the Israeli Government. It said that plans had been made to evacuate all the children from Israel in the event of war and if it becomes necessary. (They meant if it looked like Israel would lose.) The women were asked how many children they could each take. My mother wrote down four.
Then the children decorated photos of themselves with their grandparents and wrote something about Jerusalem. This was DD's picture. The photo was taken at my youngest nephew's Bar Mitzva and DD's note reads - I am my family representitive in Jerusalem.
We finished with the 'bringing in Shabbat' ceremony that they do every week. It was a lovely morning. Very moving, as usual. I found the themes slightly cobbled together - Generations, Jerusalem, and Shabbat but if you look at it all in the name of Tradition then I suppose it fits. I'm all for tradition so here's Topol in Fiddler on the Roof who, after all, describes tradition best of all.
What a lovely way for your daughter to think of herself, as the family representtayive in Jerusalem. I'm always really interested in your posts which give us an insight into life in Israel and as a Jewish woman. Mich x
ReplyDeleteThanks Mich. In the interests of full disclosure, I wrote it for her. She was too busy colouring to be interested in the writing bit.
DeleteFascinating. Love insights like this.
ReplyDeleteHuge thanks for your lovely comments on the detoxing posts. Might be worth trying my month-long gentle detox - less arduous than the juice only ones! But, as I say, think it's tough when you're trying to do it at home (and particularly around children!). xx
I started today. I need to do my own thing with the ingredients I have availab;e but I will certainly look at your gentle detox. Thanks. And I really enjoyed your detoxing posts.
DeleteWow. What a longstanding connection through your mum with Israel. How life goes on and things turn out? Lovely photo and sentiment from your DD. I LOVE Fiddler on the Roof... and 'Tradition' in particular. (And 'Sunrise, Sunset'!)
ReplyDeleteI watched Fiddler with my mum when we were there last month. Neither of us had seen it for years. We were both in floods of tear of course.
ReplyDelete