The tremendous paired excitement and anxiety of the first day of school seemingly is seemingly predicted in the seasonal alignment of this week's Torah portion and next week's. The name of this week’s portion is Ki Teitzei, literally "when you go out" and next week's is Ki Tavo, literally "when you enter" or "when you return." The start of a new school year pivots from going out to distant places toward entering back or returning home.
At JCHS this week, just before I welcomed students back from summer, the student body president encouraged them to appreciate and celebrate the small treasures that can be found every day taking the opportunities available to learn and to grow. Her encouragement to seek out the sometimes hidden treasures brought to mind a folktale about Reb Izzy of Krakow.*
Reb Izzy lived in a very small home. He always dreamt of something bigger, grander. Reb Izzy's house was so small . . .
Reb Izzy's house was so small, when he dropped a tissue he had wall to wall carpeting.
How small was it?
Reb Izzy's house was so small, when you entered the front door you tripped over the back gate.
How small was it?
Reb Izzy's house was so small that when he was eating in the kitchen his elbows were in the living room.
How small was it?
Reb Izzy's house was so small he didn’t have room to change his mind.
You get the idea. Reb Izzy had a small house.
Then one night Reb Izzy had a dream about finding treasure buried under the bridge that leads to the king's palace in Prague. He ignored the dream at first. But then the dream repeated night after night. After so many nights, Reb Izzy decided to take the long journey to Prague to find the bridge and the treasure.
But when Reb Izzy arrived in Prague and found the bridge he discovered palace guards walking back and forth across it at all times. He was afraid to start digging. So he quietly watched the bridge day and night to find a time when there would be no guards. After many days of just watching the bridge, Reb Izzy caught the attention of the captain of the guards, who asked in a kindly way whether he was looking for something or waiting for somebody.
Reb Izzy told the captain of the guards about the dream that brought him to the bridge in search of treasure. The captain laughed. "You believe in dreams so seriously!?! If I did that I would be in Krakow right now. Because I had a dream once telling me to go to leave Prague and go the Krakow and dig for treasure under the stove in a small home belonging to a rabbi called Izzy. How absurd!"
Hearing that, Reb Izzy said goodbye to the guard and raced back to his small home. Indeed when he started digging under the tiny stove in his small home he discovered treasure. He used the treasure to enlarge his home and build a study hall filling them both with many friends.
I told our students that returning home to school could be like that -- discovering the hidden treasures in our daily lives.
The power of returning home is set-up through several Torah verses that come just before this week's Torah portion. In last week's Torah portion we read about returning home to fulfill one's intentions (Deut. 20:5), returning home to nurture relationships (Deut. 20:7); returning home to restore one's courage (Deut. 20:8); and returning home to enjoy the sweetness earned through hard work (Deut. 20:6).
Applying these verses to the setting of school or of crafting a communal home, we discover a path toward making a school community that is about much more than class schedules or formal learning. It is also about a school community that makes possible pursuing the most intense interests or passions to which we each dedicate ourselves. For developing the deepest and most nourishing relationships with friends, peers, and mentors. For receiving courage and being empowered by our experiences there. And for celebrating the sweet rewards of our hard work and truly enjoying our time together.
As we return home to start a new school year may we be encouraged and empowered to set our intentions, deepen our relationships, and sweeten our experiences all through the year that has just begun.
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* My version of this story is (liberally) adapted from the version recorded in Martin Buber's "Tales of the Hasidim: The Later Masters" (1975) pp. 245-246.
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