Greetings!
It feels very good to be close with one another and offer extra hugs during these difficult days.
This week, I shared with our staff and faculty at CJDS that they are all heroes. Teaching heroes. Educational leader heroes. And heroes of the triumphant spirit. This is a dark time. But what each of them does every minute of every day, by bringing light, love, and learning to our children, and to each other, is making a tremendous difference. I want to celebrate that depth of thinking, love of the world and its diversity, and sense of obligation to one another, that all of us teach, and need always, but especially now.
I have found that among the most healing acts is being reminded and assured by those outside of our community that we are not alone.
Rachel and I have received numerous calls, letters, texts, and emails, of support from near and far. And one of the first people to reach out to us, last Saturday night, was our dear friend and neighbor, Pastor Frank Luchsinger. Pastor Frank leads the wonderful Methodist church just across our parking lot. When he visited Sunday morning, leaving his own services early, to check in on all of us, he asked what he can do to help.
But he and his congregation had already gathered on that Sunday morning to create a book of handwritten hopes, prayers, images, and drawings from children, to stand in solidarity with us. To remind us that we are not alone.
So, we want to warmly invite you to a special assembly we will be having at CJDS on Friday, November 9, 1:40 p.m. - 2:20 p.m., when our dear friend and colleague, Pastor Frank Luchsinger, will be coming to “drash” Parashat Toldot at our all school Kabbalat Shabbat. He will also be presenting us with a book of letters of support, love and solidarity. We will also hear reflections from our teachers and our students. We hope you can join us. And please feel free to invite anyone else in your life, Jewish or otherwise, whom you feel could also benefit from a healing reminder of true goodness in the world.
I believe we can overcome this dark time by standing strong together, and through reaching out across communities of faith, ethnicity, and culture, unifying around our shared embrace of the power and beauty of diversity.
Warmest regards,
Rachel Arcus-Goldberg, Principal
Tali Zelkowicz, Head of School
