Shalom from TBD Religious School

Shabbat newsletter compiled by
Gal Kessler Rohs, Education Director
Dear 2020 students,

Please journal these historical days. 

Pick up a pen, a pencil, a marker, or a crayon, and journal these days. Draw pictures, jot down your emotions, document your experiences, highlight your thoughts, graph the evolving curve, and compile your childhood memories in writing. Put down those electronic devices for a brief moment in quarantined time to relay these memories of your youth. Your childhood and you are making history. 

Dear 2020 students, you are in a moment of time, where you may be deprived of your upcoming playdate, or the digging for worms. Gd only knows when you’ll be able to embrace your vulnerable grandparents at the shabbat table again, those precious pioneers who planted the seeds for your future. Gd only knows when you will be able to leave this siege you are in, and hop on the school bus with a sack lunch to go on that field trip to the butterfly farm. Your Bat or Bar mitzvah is at a halt in the planning, and your teachers are missing you so. The seder is pending, and the Israeli flags ordered for you for Blue and White day are awaiting international transit. Journal these moments of your fear, your boredom, your anxiety, your loneliness, your indulgence in screen time, your movie nights, and that extra treat your parents gave you, in sorrow of the childhood that is being deprived from you.

Dear 2020 students, you are in a brief moment in time where the words “mall”, “Snap Chat”, “hang out” and the latest fashion trend in jeans are replaced by "Corona" and "COVID", and the number 19. Very soon, I pray, you will look at these days where “flattening the curve” and “social distancing” will be replaced by new moves you and your friends will create in TikTok.

Dear 2020 students, Instagram and YouTube are media trends that will pass. There will be days when selfies and Messenger will be replaced by other cool acts, apps, and other gimmicks. You’ll be downloading your apps on other electronic devices, which a smart inventor succeeded to break into the market, to replace the iPhones and iPods. Journal this all down for the sake of your children, for the sake of history, for the sake of our future generation. There will be a time when you'll take off that N95 face mask, when this horrifying nightmare is over, and you will say, this was just a brief moment in time when the world shut down.

Shabbat Shalom,
Gal Kessler Rohs, Education Director
A message from Rabbi Lachtman
about these challenging times
The Coronavirus dominates all aspects of lives with yesterday's start of the mandatory shelter in place . These are difficult times for our synagogue, our families, our communities, our country, Israel, and indeed every corner of our world.  We feel vulnerable and challenged to find stability and inner peace. 

Hopefully more will stay connected to TBD by texting, emailing and speaking on the phone with the Rabbi, Cantor or temple friends. We are here to help you find comfort and inspire hope. Your congregation wants to be in touch with those who have insufficient personal contact. If you know of anyone who is in need of attention or is suffering from isolation, or lack of nourishment, please contact the office or me personally. 

We are strengthened when we reach out to those who need an open ear and outstretched hand. If not now then when?
Shabbat virtual Services with our clergy tonight
will be through Zoom
Simply download the Zoom application on your electronic devices, then click on the link to join the services, virtually: https://zoom.us/j/5078318743   

We will communicate with your classes individually, and after Shabbat, with information about how our school will move forward with your children's religious education.
People we are thankful for during this trying time:
medical staff
People were thankful for in this challenging time: doctors who are at the front line fighting COVID 19, and caring for patients medically and emotionally.

Pictured here are Drs. Jackie Green and Richard Shapiro in happier times. Both medical doctors are 20+ years TBD members. Dr. Shapiro has stood in the front of our temple finance Comittee, temple board, men’s club, and Shabbat host. Dr. Green now serves as our school enrichment leader for positive psychology, serves in our sisterhood and membership Comittee. 
Like the Frazins,
we owe it to our seniors to take care of them
Like the Frazin’s, we owe it to our seniors to take care of them, as they did plant the seeds for us in their younger-years. Temple Beth David is committed to serve those who need us especially in this difficult time. That’s also why one of our school's six pillars of learning is intergenerational experiences. 

We are also in partnership with the Temple City Police Department to ensure the wellness of our senior members, provide them with warm meals, and care for their respective needs.

Please reach out to us should you or your loved one are in need, of know of anyone we may offer our love and service to. Sending courage and strength to our families, as we embark together on this hard journey.
Shabbat Shalom, stay strong and
don't forget to wash your hands!