Highlights from the High Holidays

Highlights from the High Holidays
On Rosh Hashanah I spoke about a book I highly recommend to parents, grandparents, and anyone interested in helping to raise well-rounded children and teaching them Jewish values. The book is The Blessing of a Skinned Knee, by Wendy Mogel, Ph.D. The chapters of the book address the following aspects of raising children:

Accept that your children are both unique and ordinary.
Teach them to honor their parents and to respect others -- family, friends, and community.
Teach them to be resilient, self-reliant and courageous.
Teach them to be grateful for their blessings.
Teach them the value of work.
Teach them to make their table an altar -- to approach food with an attitude of moderation, celebration and sanctification.
Teach them to accept rules and to exercise self-control.
Teach them the preciousness of the present moment.
Teach them about God.

I wish you luck in helping to guide your children, and in discovering more about Judaism through the reading of The Blessing of a Skinned Knee.

On Yom Kippur, congregant and Hillel teacher Daphna Feldman told us about Mishpacha Achat ("one family"), a program to provide aid and comfort to Israeli families and individuals whose lives have been altered by terrorists. Around 5,000 innocent Israelis have suffered at the hands of violence, with injuries including severe burns, brain damage, paralysis, and loss of limbs.