Hello everyone!
This Shabbat was an amazing and very fun day! We started off by waking up late and having breakfast at 9:30. We then got to have an amazing service with some singing and a Torah reading. Everyone was all dressed up and looked really nice.
After services, Jamie Lassner, a school administrator and volunteer EMT, spoke to us on being a hero. He’s an incredibly cool guy who has helped so many people and was a first responder during 9/11. He was incredibly inspirational, and said we can all be heroes. This was then immediately followed by Kiddush, and we had more food with some really good beans.
We then split into different small groups and got to talk about what it means to be a hero and how we can all be one. We talked about how saving someone’s life is saving a world (because it is their world), and how we are given all the tools we need to make our destiny happen.
We played a fun game afterwards where people compete to make the better shape with their body of an object said. Some people were pretty good; I, on the other hand, made a terrible stapler.
This was followed by Jamie talking to us again about being a hero and other experiences he had, such as being called at 2:30 in the morning as an EMT by an old woman who said she couldn’t breathe, but just wanted someone to talk to. He said how it was rewarding to help someone who just wanted friendship, and he set it up so that an elementary class would visit her every week.
Jamie also just happens to be the brother of Producer Andy from Ellen! (But in my opinion, Jamie is cooler.)
We then had even more food for a special meal for the end of Shabbat. This was followed by some songs to say goodbye to Shabbat. (One was really cool and went “Oooooooo , Oooooooo!”) And we had Havdalah after that and sang the prayers over the wine, spices (which smelled really good,) and the candle. It was beautiful and everyone had such high energy and it was great! Everyone was dancing and jumping, and just having a great time.
We then all changed into comfortable clothes and got our phones. (We dressed nicely through the day intentionally, and we all limited our use of technology, in order to create a lovey Shabbat atmosphere). After we changed, we headed off to the Rockefeller Center Ice Rink. We all got to skate, and some people fell, others didn’t, but it was a blast!
After that and late in the night, we headed off to dinner (for like our 4th meal,) and got some really good pizza. We headed to the hotel for bed right after. It was a great day.
Seth Flynn, 9th Grade, Oak Park and River Forest High School
Photo caption: Seth Flynn, (c.) with Shabbat guest speaker Jamie Lassner (l.) and friend Aaron Freeman (r.)