Can You Connect the Dots?

Ray Levi, Head of School

It’s Friday morning and the 1-2 hallway (as well as the nearby classroom) is filled with parents and grandparents paired with students who are dramatically reading stories aloud.
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Our Lower School Hanukkah program dessert is sweetened by 1,250 homemade cookies.
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Visiting the Minneapolis Institute of Art at the culmination of Art Adventures program, the museum docents comment on our students’ engagement and their knowledgeable insights.
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A professional ethicist leads a lively discussion with a seventh grade science class to examining issues around genetics and ethics.

No, this is not a variation of the old Sesame Street exercise, “which of these is not like the other?” Indeed, these seemingly unrelated scenarios are linked. But how?

Each is characterized by the presence of volunteers, whether actively on stage or behind the scenes. Parents and grandparents provide opportunities for emerging readers to enhance their oral reading skills. Parents and grandparents, trained at the Institute of Art, offer in-class preparation for our museum visits. And yes, it was a cadre of parents who managed to bake all those cookies one cold December morning. As our children grow older, we utilize professional expertise as our students tackle increasingly sophisticated issues. Sometimes the volunteer’s role is simply (but importantly) to connect a class with a professional colleague or to take a half hour for a phone interview.

Like a pointillist painting, volunteers create the picture that is the HMJDS community.

We know that finding time to volunteer is particularly challenging as parents juggle professional commitments with family responsibilities and the complex logistics of getting everyone to the places they need to be. At the end of a long day, when I head off to a meeting for which I’ve volunteered, I frequently ask why I’ve said “yes” to the request for my time. Yet, once I’ve immersed myself in that activity, I enjoy the gift of community participation and of connection. know why. And if I need inspiration to find time in a crowded schedule, I simply look to the congregational rabbis and cantors who share their time with us during our students’ Kabbalat Shabbat experiences. Friday afternoon is the busiest time of the week, but the congregational leaders graciously share their stories and insights with our students.

Volunteers at HMJDS offer our students so much:

Volunteers offer audiences to respond to their reading and written work.
Volunteers connect our school to the larger community with which we want our students to be actively engaged. Visiting teachers and professionals with whom we’re linked via phone or computer greatly expand the human research resources available to our children. These interactions motivate them to do their best and invariably enhance their confidence when they dialogue with “outside experts.”
Volunteers model caring—caring for individuals and for the school. Activities undertaken at home as much as those that happen at school--cooking for a shiva or making phone calls in the evening—demonstrate a commitment that stands as an example to our children.
Volunteer work greatly enhances what we can provide, especially during a period of time when financial resources are more limited. Thus, we are profoundly appreciative of all that volunteers have provided for our community.

We know—through parent stories and research about Jewish day schools—that volunteering on behalf of HMJDS also strengthens your connections to the School. You can find a community of friends, find opportunities to see our children at their best (well maybe not in the dining room—though interesting conversation is guaranteed), and even get to laugh with our students and their parents.

If you’d like to offer a few extra minutes, please contact the PTO leadership or your children’s teachers. We’ll be enormously grateful. Each interaction makes a difference. Ultimately, the dots represented by each volunteer activity connect parents to grandparents to school and to people and institutions beyond our walls. Like a pointillist painting, they create the picture that is the HMJDS community

B'shalom,



IN THIS ISSUE Can You Connect the Dots? Pharaoh and the Politics of Division The Internalization of Derekh Eretz Mean Girls: Say It Isn't So HMJDS Students and Staff Win Awards in Three Contests HMJDS HAPPENINGS EVENTS CALENDAR THE BACK PAGE THE LIONS' PHOTO DEN COMMUNITY ANNOUNCEMENTS Core Value for January "Guard your tongue from evil." (Psalms 34:14) We must be careful how we speak and what we say to each other. Words can be kind and caring or hurtful and painful to others. .	Can You Connect the Dots? Ray Levi, Head of School It’s Friday morning and the 1-2 hallway (as well as the nearby classroom) is filled with parents and grandparents paired with students who are dramatically reading stories aloud. . . . Our Lower School Hanukkah program dessert is sweetened by 1,250 homemade cookies. . . . Visiting the Minneapolis Institute of Art at the culmination of Art Adventures program, the museum docents comment on our students’ engagement and their knowledgeable insights. . . . A professional ethicist leads a lively discussion with a seventh grade science class to examining issues around genetics and ethics. No, this is not a variation of the old Sesame Street exercise, “which of these is not like the other?” Indeed, these seemingly unrelated scenarios are linked. But how? Each is characterized by the presence of volunteers, whether actively on stage or behind the scenes. Parents and grandparents provide opportunities for emerging readers to enhance their oral reading skills. Parents and grandparents, trained at the Institute of Art, offer in-class preparation for our museum visits. And yes, it was a cadre of parents who managed to bake all those cookies one cold December morning. As our children grow older, we utilize professional expertise as our students tackle increasingly sophisticated issues. Sometimes the volunteer’s role is simply (but importantly) to connect a class with a professional colleague or to take a half hour for a phone interview. Like a pointillist painting, volunteers create the picture that is the HMJDS community. We know that finding time to volunteer is particularly challenging as parents juggle professional commitments with family responsibilities and the complex logistics of getting everyone to the places they need to be. At the end of a long day, when I head off to a meeting for which I’ve volunteered, I frequently ask why I’ve said “yes” to the request for my time. Yet, once I’ve immersed myself in that activity, I enjoy the gift of community participation and of connection. know why. And if I need inspiration to find time in a crowded schedule, I simply look to the congregational rabbis and cantors who share their time with us during our students’ Kabbalat Shabbat experiences. Friday afternoon is the busiest time of the week, but the congregational leaders graciously share their stories and insights with our students. Volunteers at HMJDS offer our students so much: Volunteers offer audiences to respond to their reading and written work. Volunteers connect our school to the larger community with which we want our students to be actively engaged. Visiting teachers and professionals with whom we’re linked via phone or computer greatly expand the human research resources available to our children. These interactions motivate them to do their best and invariably enhance their confidence when they dialogue with “outside experts.” Volunteers model caring—caring for individuals and for the school. Activities undertaken at home as much as those that happen at school--cooking for a shiva or making phone calls in the evening—demonstrate a commitment that stands as an example to our children. Volunteer work greatly enhances what we can provide, especially during a period of time when financial resources are more limited. Thus, we are profoundly appreciative of all that volunteers have provided for our community. We know—through parent stories and research about Jewish day schools—that volunteering on behalf of HMJDS also strengthens your connections to the School. You can find a community of friends, find opportunities to see our children at their best (well maybe not in the dining room—though interesting conversation is guaranteed), and even get to laugh with our students and their parents. If you’d like to offer a few extra minutes, please contact the PTO leadership or your children’s teachers. We’ll be enormously grateful. Each interaction makes a difference. Ultimately, the dots represented by each volunteer activity connect parents to grandparents to school and to people and institutions beyond our walls. Like a pointillist painting, they create the picture that is the HMJDS community B'shalom,

IN THIS ISSUE

Can You Connect the Dots?

Ray Levi, Head of School