The Second To Last Day Of School

When I was in third grade, I had an idea. I think I remember coming up with this while climbing the Bayside Jewish Center's stairs. I turned to my friend Glenn and said - "No-one ever does anything on the last day of school, so they should take away The Last Day of School?" I said this with a twinkle in my heart as I went on to say that after the last day of school was taken away the second to last day would become The Last Day of School. I gleefully imagined my plan leading to the inevitable end of school forever.

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Today was the second to last day of school and I gave my last day of school speeches just in case. All minyanim were consolidated into one today, which in the past has always meant either a holiday or a reading of the riot act. After davening the principal explained that we all davened together to celebrate with kids whose birthdays are in the summer, and immediately following Shacharit cupcakes were served. This year the school's parent association sponsored T shirts as birthday presents and this morning those T shirts were available for anyone who missed out on getting one throughout the year. They come rolled and wrapped in celaphane and ribbon and they were everywhere today. In the class picture above I am holding one of the packaged shirts.

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Graduation was tonight. While walking in, a colleague that I was chatting with mentioned her feeling that the principal is big picture rather than detail oriented. I found that interesting, told her I'd never thought of it, wanted to mull it over. Moments later in his opening address the principal spoke about the need to see beyond "superficial reality." He tied this in with The Sin of The Spies, suggesting that their mistake was to focus on minutia rather than the broader picture, saying to the graduates - "As you make religious choices, don't get caught up in details..."

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The valedictorian and salutatorian each spoke - but I don't know which was which. They are called class representatives when introduced and I forget the code of which speaks first. They both quoted from Rabbi Yitzchak Twerski, driving home the point of how irreplaceable he is.

Rabbi Twersky, the first speaker recalled, once stressed the importance of appreciating life and moments in it not only as goals and means but due to innate value. She then addressed the idea that Aharon is praised for lighting the Menorah day after day, exactly as told. Her take on this was that Aharon did it daily as a thing that G-d told him to do and that was always what it was for him. It never became something to put on his resume', wasn't ever a means to climbing up the corporate ladder. She advised her friends to stop every now and then to see the value in life's journey in and of itself.

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The other student speaker started with Douglas Adams' Total Perspective Vortex, a machine that showed people true perspective (and was used as a form of execution because people died from the shock perspective provided). He pointed out that put in proper perspective a high school graduation seems hardly like a big deal. He then quoted Rabbi Twersky, who taught him Kohelet (Ecclesiastes). Rabbi Twersky cited Chazal's report that Kohelet was kept as a holy book because of it's first and last line and added that in general you can get major clues about the essence of a sefer from its first and last lines. He explained that any act seems to be - as the opening line of Kohelehet puts it - futile. But, as the last line puts it - our life receives meaning through Yirat Shamayim (awe of G-d) and mitzvot (holy Divine commandments). Through a non universal value life actions take on individual meaning . He applied this to graduation, in that the fact that it has meaning to the graduates makes it meaningful - even though from a broader perspective it might not seem to matter.

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At the reception following the speeches and awards a student hugged me and told me that my class was "the only class that he actually remembered anything from." As he was saying those kind words that meant so much to me another teacher of his was walking by and snapped - "WHAT DID YOU SAY?" I started to repeat what he said because I'd heard him clearly, but it turns out the other teacher heard him too. "I heard what he said," she said. Then to him - "I should take this cup of soda and pour it on your head."

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Time to go to sleep so that I'll have energy for The Last Day of School, which maybe shouldn't be eliminated after all.