{"id":58591,"date":"2017-10-17T14:34:18","date_gmt":"2017-10-17T19:34:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?p=58591"},"modified":"2017-10-22T10:05:32","modified_gmt":"2017-10-22T15:05:32","slug":"defense-school-chol-hamoed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/defense-school-chol-hamoed\/","title":{"rendered":"In Defense of School on Chol Hamoed"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over the past number of years, a debate has quietly simmered beneath the surface of the American Jewish Day School community regarding school on Chol Hamoed Sukkot<\/i>. My sense is that more schools are moving away from having school on Chol Hamoed<\/i> than moving towards it, and not without good reason. It is true that filling two or three days with activities that are engaging, worthwhile, and Halachically<\/i> appropriate can be challenging.<\/span><\/p>\n

That is a challenge that my school faces as we plan for Chol Hamoed<\/i> each year. And I admit that as I awoke last week and prepared to face a full day of Sukkah<\/i> Hops, special programming and regular Judaic classes, I felt a mixture of appreciation and apprehension. But then magic happened where I least expected it.<\/span><\/p>\n

During Hallel<\/i> of our middle school minyan<\/em> (we actually had one, unlike most of this year so far, because the high school and adults joined us for a beautiful community davening<\/em>), I saw that some of the younger students did not have a l<\/em>ulav<\/i> and e<\/em>trog<\/i>. I approached them and let each have a turn shaking them during \u201cHodu<\/i>\u201d and \u201cAna Hashem<\/i>.\u201d These were students who would never even have attended a m<\/em>inyan<\/i> otherwise on this morning, and it was an experience that they may never have had again in their lives. It was clear from the eagerness with which they took advantage of the opportunity, and from the tenderness and growing confidence with which they performed their first-ever \u201cna\u2019anu\u2019im<\/i>,\u201d that this simple moment may have a profound and long-lasting effect on their spiritual lives.<\/span><\/p>\n

A little while later I was approached by the 5<\/span>th<\/sup><\/span> Grade Judaic teacher who was waiting for the 6<\/span>th<\/sup><\/span> graders in the minyan<\/em> to finish so they could leave together for a Sukkah<\/i> Hop. I said it would be a few more minutes because we were about to start Hoshanot<\/i>, and she said she would wait with the 5<\/span>th<\/sup><\/span> graders outside of the school building. Then a thought flashed across my mind \u2013 a teachable moment was about to be squandered. I ran down the hall and suggested to the teacher that the 5<\/span>th<\/sup><\/span> graders join the middle school for Hoshanot<\/i>, and she readily agreed.<\/span><\/p>\n

The 5<\/span>th<\/sup><\/span> graders entered the main m<\/em>inyan<\/i> room cautiously. They have never attended the main m<\/em>inyan<\/i>, so they did not know what to expect. At first, they gathered in clusters on their respective sides of the room, but soon the girls found friends among the older cadre and the boys reflexively assumed their Shabbat<\/i> morning \u201cEin Keilokeinu<\/i>\u201d positions around the b<\/em>imah<\/i>. I briefly explained how Hoshanot<\/i> works, and then the parade commenced, the 5<\/span>th<\/sup><\/span> graders witnessing with wide-eyed wonder this fascinating ritual for the first time in their lives. I could see it would not be their last.<\/span><\/p>\n

These are just two of last week\u2019s priceless moments. There was the student who found out after the fact that we do not make a \u201cLeishev BaSukkah<\/i>\u201d on popcorn, and there was the moment I stood with my class at the doorstep of the town Rav\u2019s drenched sukkah<\/em> so that he could tell them an inspiring Sukkot<\/em> story. There is no substitute for such moments, no way to create them artificially in a classroom lesson about how Hoshanot<\/i> works, how to shake the l<\/em>ulav<\/i> during Hallel<\/i>, or which foods require a \u201cLeishev<\/i>.\u201d And this begs a larger question: When we move away from school on Chol Hamoed<\/i>, do we make a statement that learning is for the classroom only, as opposed to bolstering the belief that learning is best defined as the sum of experiences and the impact they leave on our minds and hearts?<\/span><\/p>\n

I would not have the audacity to prescribe to any other school or community how to make this difficult decision. There are so many factors to consider, so many variables in the equation, and every school must do what is right for them. But I would humbly submit to the debate that as educators who believe in learning through experiences, we have much to lose by cutting off from our students the raft of experiences that arise organically through the very days of their education that we may choose to forgo. Chol Hamoed<\/i> may not be a \u201clearning\u201d day in the traditional sense, but more learning may still take place than on almost any other day. We know that there are moments in the lives of our own children that cannot be created artificially and require us to \u201cbe present,\u201d as the buzzword goes. We should not cut our children\u2019s educators out of that process and deprive them of the opportunity to \u201cbe present\u201d in the lives of their students as well. Some of the most important, impactful \u2013 and educational \u2013 moments can happen on the days with the least \u201ceducation.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over the past number of years, a debate has quietly simmered beneath the surface of the American Jewish Day School community regarding school on Chol Hamoed Sukkot. My sense is that more schools are moving away from having school on Chol Hamoed than moving towards it, and not without good reason. It is true that<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133505,"featured_media":55608,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[85],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiration"],"yoast_head":"\nIn Defense of School on Chol Hamoed - OU Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When we move away from school on Chol Hamoed, are we saying that learning is for the classroom only, rather than the sum of experiences and their impact?\" \/>\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\/inspiration\/defense-school-chol-hamoed\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"In Defense of School on Chol Hamoed - 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