{"id":33483,"date":"2013-09-03T16:48:23","date_gmt":"2013-09-03T16:48:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?p=33483"},"modified":"2013-09-03T16:48:23","modified_gmt":"2013-09-03T16:48:23","slug":"fresh-start-back-school-jewish-new-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/parenting\/fresh-start-back-school-jewish-new-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Fresh Start: Back To School & The Jewish New Year"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"School<\/a><\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on\u00a0Jewinthecity.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019m pretty sure that there\u2019s a place\u00a0in geheinnom<\/em>\u00a0where the really bad people are trapped in a shoe store with hordes of short people who whine \u201cMommy\u201d at them \u2013\u00a0forever.<\/em>\u00a0 There is a certain dread that fills my being at the end of every summer as we begin our back to school shopping. The shoe store is my least favorite stop on the long road we take each August in order to return the kids\u00a0to school.<\/p>\n

Two of my children have one foot that is slightly longer than the other. You would never know except for the inordinate number of reject boxes that cover the floor by the time we\u2019re done. That coupled with my older son throwing a tantrum over us not buying him Spiderman shoes (despite my extremely cogent argument that the REAL Spiderman would never wear a shoe with his face on it, so why should he?), plus my younger son randomly pulling boxes off the shelves, and running through the aisles giggling as we clean up after him and try to chase him down, leaves me in the looney (shoe) bin by the end of the outing.<\/p>\n

The school supply trip isn\u2019t much better.\u00a0Pushing our way through crowded Walmart aisles filled with other procrastinators. Fighting for the spot closest to the binders. The looseleaf. The folders.<\/p>\n

\u201cMa, I need colored pencils.\u201d Crayons, thick markers, thin markers, short markers, dry erase markers, regular pencils.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh look, colored pencils!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cActually, Mommy, this is a twelve pack, the list says we need a\u00a0twenty-four<\/em>\u00a0pack.\u201d<\/p>\n

(No!) Twelve pack, another twelve pack, a seventy-two pack\u00a0(who needs seventy-two different colors of pencils?!)<\/em>, twenty-four pack!<\/p>\n

\u201cMommy, can I get this new backpack?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy not?<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause I said so.\u201d<\/p>\n

Post-it Notes, glue sticks, index cards, Poly-pocket folders (why did they name a folder after a doll?!), and a packet of exactly FOUR highlighters containing blue, green, pink, and yellow. Not a three pack. Not a five pack.\u00a0Only<\/em>\u00a0a four pack.<\/p>\n

Although I detest back to school shopping, there is something wonderful about it that I still remember from my childhood: Everything was new. Everything was fresh. What a wonderful feeling it was to have folders with edges that hadn\u2019t been bent back yet, erasers that were still bright pink, having not been sullied by erasing, and notebooks that were crisp with the promise of a new beginning.<\/p>\n

In theory, parents could just have their kids rip out the used pages of old notebooks, erase the writing on marked up papers, and tell them to make do. But as long as they as they can afford it, you see most parents getting their kids new supplies each year.\u00a0And I think part of the psychology (whether or not people think about it) of having unblemished supplies is that there is a hope that comes along with starting off anew.<\/p>\n

I was always a good student, but I didn\u2019t always keep my school supplies in the neatest order, and every year, there was a certain point in the semester that I\u2019d get disgusted with my stained, ripped notebooks and binders and long for that fresh start. And through the chaos of back to school shopping, I got to thinking about how this time of year, we don\u2019t just give our kids new school supplies. We are given\u00a0by\u00a0our\u00a0<\/em>Parent in heaven\u00a0a chance for a new self through the power of\u00a0teshuva\u00a0<\/em>(repenting\/returning) that comes with Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur.<\/p>\n

When we truly do\u00a0teshuva,\u00a0<\/em>last year\u2019s\u00a0<\/em>mistakes aren\u2019t simply \u201cripped out of the old notebook,\u201d or \u201cerased off the used paper\u201d leaving us with a lingering memory of the past. No \u2013 our start is completely fresh. Our \u201ceraser becomes one that never erased.\u201d Our \u201csupplies\u201d are all brand spanking new. And just as our children should feel grateful that we don\u2019t make them reuse the old stuff, so too we should appreciate the kindness that the Almighty does for us allowing us to be reinvented each and every year.<\/p>\n

The image of leaving last year\u2019s mess behind, last year\u2019s disappointments in last year is a pretty powerful one. Our new\u00a0start should also fill us with hope. We\u2019re wise enough to know that our \u201csupplies\u201d will get \u201cspilled on\u201d and \u201cstepped on\u201d and \u201cmarked up\u201d by the year\u2019s end. But maybe, just maybe we\u2019ll get through this new year with just a few less \u201cscribbles\u201d and \u201ctears\u201d than the year before.<\/p>\n

Wishing you all a great start to your school year and sweet, happy, and healthy New Year!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just as our children should feel grateful that we don\u2019t make them reuse their old school supplies from the year before, so too we should appreciate the kindness that the Almighty does for us allowing us to be reinvented each and every year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":790,"featured_media":33484,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[85,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiration","category-parenting"],"yoast_head":"\nFresh Start: Back To School & The Jewish New Year - OU Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/parenting\/fresh-start-back-school-jewish-new-year\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fresh Start: Back To School & The Jewish New Year - OU Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Just as our children should feel grateful that we don\u2019t make them reuse their old school supplies from the year before, so too we should appreciate the kindness that the Almighty does for us allowing us to be reinvented each and every year.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/parenting\/fresh-start-back-school-jewish-new-year\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"OU Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-09-03T16:48:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/girl_apple2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"582\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"350\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Allison Josephs\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Allison Josephs\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/parenting\/fresh-start-back-school-jewish-new-year\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/parenting\/fresh-start-back-school-jewish-new-year\/\",\"name\":\"Fresh Start: Back To School & The Jewish New Year - 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