Today was our last day teaching at Lauder, and I had a great class of 10th graders, who are the equivalent age of American 11th graders. I began with my introduction to modern Jewish history and specifically, American Jewish history. Because I had a double period with the same class, I had a chance to go into more depth with them. I showed them the image of a 1909 Rosh Hashana greeting card that was published in the US by Russian Jewish immigrants and was sent back home to their families in the Old Country to wish them a Shana Tova, a Happy New Year. The image allowed the students to see, think, and wonder about the experience of Jewish immigration to America, and allowed them to analyze the challenges and repercussions of that experience. Later that day, a student approached me during lunch and told me how much she had enjoyed my class. As a teacher, there is no greater compliment.
On Friday night, we went to the local Moishe House for Shabbat dinner. Started ten years ago, Moishe Houses are groups of twenty-somethings who live together and host informal Jewish programming in their homes. There are Moishe Houses all over the world, including in DC. We heard from several Hungarian Jewish young adults about their backgrounds. Many of them only found out that they were Jewish when they were teenagers. For others, they always knew that they were Jewish, but they didn’t really know what that meant or what to do with that information. They all spoke glowingly about Moishe House, how comfortable they are there, and why they keep coming back. I can see why. It was so much fun that I wish I could go back next week too.
