Since Oct. 7 and the increasing amount of antisemitism that ensued, it can be difficult to find the light in the darkness, but something neat happened at the beginning of September that made the rabbis at B’nai Jehudah feel a genuine sense of awe that we bring into these 10 days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
One of our students recently started high school and made her varsity tennis team! Her teammates are depending on her to take them to State this fall.
This student is a dynamo. She's not only an athlete, but she's patient, kind and asks wonderful questions that indicate how deeply she wrestles with topics and just how much she cares.
She also hit it out of the park at her bat mitzvah, so we invited her to chant Torah during the High Holy Days. This is an honor we offer many students, but it's not so easy to find teenagers willing to chant in front of hundreds of people. When she said yes, we knew one more aliyah would be in good hands.
At the beginning of the school year, she was faced with a difficult decision: her team not only had the opportunity to play at Regionals, but if they won, they would make it to the State tournament, and a lot of this rested on her shoulders. However, the tournament for Kansas City high schools was to be held on the morning of Yom Kippur, and she was incredibly torn.
She was forced to decide between her two teams, both of which depended on her. Not just her tennis team, but also her Jewish team — her rabbis and her community, who were relying on her to chant Torah on the holiest day of the Jewish year. After brainstorming with her parents how best to handle this scheduling challenge, we determined that multiple people would need to be contacted to change the tournament date. We weren't confident it would be, but it was important for the Jewish calendar to be factored into the schedule so other students wouldn’t be forced to make this difficult decision, too.
The light at the end of the tunnel is that the date was changed, thanks to a team effort between parents, the school, our rabbis and the staff from the school district’s athletics department who advocated to the Kansas state athletic organization that they would only host the tournament if the date was changed.
Now, our student no longer has to choose between her Jewish team and her athletic team, and, hopefully, Jewish students won't be put in this position in the future so that they can have it all: be Jewish and star tennis players! This accommodation feels like a light in the darkness right now, and the way these groups came together fills us with a sense of awe and optimism.
During these difficult times, as we wrestle with rising antisemitism and heartbreak over the devastating loss of life in Israel and Gaza, we’re thankful for an opportunity to share a positive story of hope and good outcomes. We will continue to pray for more understanding in the world and a continued sense of hope, when it's otherwise so easy to despair. As we transition from 5784 to 5785, we’re grateful that this new year has brought something brighter. We hope that this “glimmer at the end of the tunnel” kindles your own sense of brightness and optimism as we embark on this new year together and also serves as a reminder that when we act together and advocate for ourselves, we can relish in all that it means to be Jewish in our world today.
G'mar chatimah tovah.
