Schechter Shavua: March 21, 2025

How Toilet Paper Helps Demonstrate Geologic Time

How do you measure billions of years? MIddle School students recently began a discussion of Geologic Time; in order to better conceptualize a timeline that covered 4.6 billion years, students used sheets of toilet paper, with each sheet representing 100 million years! This made their timelines almost 5 meters long! Students were tasked with placing specific events that  took place throughout the history of the Earth onto their timeline at the right moment. Sometimes, when sizes or times are so massive, like with the concept of "Deep Time" or millions vs. billions, it helps to shrink them down to something as mundane as a roll of toilet paper! 
 

You Don’t Have to be “Bendy” to Love Yoga

Can’t touch your toes? No problem! After school yoga instructor (and Nitzanim Bet teacher) Sarah Kruger notes, “Yoga is so much more than the physical poses. Yoga helps children take mindful moments and slow down, and with that comes self-awareness and regulation.” Typically, the yoga group does a mix of play-based activities to promote mindfulness along with the poses. The young yogis might focus on the 3 C's (concentration, connection, and communication) through a game that challenges them to pass a hula hoop from one person to the next with hands clasped together. As they practice Downward Dog and Warrior poses, they both strengthen their connection to the 3 C's while also fostering a fourth C: confidence!
 

Purim Celebrations Highlight What’s Special about Schechter

Celebrating Purim together in school is one of the many ways that Schechter students develop feelings of pride and joy about being Jewish. Many plan costume ideas together; they practice their megillah readings and consult on the tropes. Nevatim students (grades 5-6)created inventive animal-themed carnival games and activities for the younger students, and they rehearsed for and performed an entirely student-produced Purim play! Younger students baked hamentashen, created innovative homemade groggers, crafted puppets, and packed gifts for those in need! This kind of celebration doesn’t happen just anywhere; it is part of what makes Schechter such a special place! 

Click HERE to see more photos of Schechter’s joyous Purim!
 

Parashat Vayak·hel—Priorities and Practicalities

This parashah , like three before it and one that follows, deals with the construction of the mishkan , the desert sanctuary built by the Israelites. Over these parashot, we read multiple times about materials (gold, silver, textiles), dimensions (cubits upon cubits), and furniture lists (curtains, altars, basins, etc.).  It is very repetitive, so much so that commentators like Rashi fall silent for paragraphs at a time, because there is nothing new to comment on.

But when we zoom out from the individual details, which are mostly identical to ones we’ve read before, we notice something new: the order is reversed! When sharing the plans, Moses first talked about the ark, the altar, and other furnishings, and only described the tents and walls at the end. Now, when the mishkanis actually being built, the walls and tents come first, while the ark, altar and other furnishings come last.  

This is noted by Rashbam, Rashi’s grandson, who offers a simple and elegant answer in his commentary on Ex. 25:10. The entire purpose of the mishkanwas to create a place where God’s localized presence could come to rest—and so when sharing the plans, Moses starts with the ark because that’s where God’s presence would be most focused. When making plans, you start with what’s most important.

However, Rashbam notes, when it came time to actually build the mishkan, the tents and outer walls came first, because “Where can the ark [safely] go if there is no sanctuary in which to place it?” Just like you’d never have a sofa delivered to a new house before the roof is finished, it didn’t make sense to build the delicate and all-important ark before it had a safe place to go.

Why does the Torah repeat all of the gold, silver and cubits? To make the point that both priorities and practicalities are important; there is a time and place for each. Sometimes, we need to focus on what matters the most; sometimes, we just need to be practical. The wisdom is knowing which approach is right at any given moment. May we be blessed with that wisdom!

Shabbat shalom,

Rabbi Jonathan Berger
Head of School

Questions for the Shabbat table:

1. How does our understanding of God’s presence compare (or contrast) with the Torah’s?
2. When have you felt a conflict between what was most practical, and what was most holy?