It is that time of year, the kids are all going back to school, Hebrew School is about to begin, and Elul, the final month of the Jewish Calendar year is about to start.
The kids are excited for another year of learning and are busy making sure that they have all their supplies in their backpacks. They are curious as to who their new teachers will be and what kind of academics that they will be exposed to.
We the adults are left watching in awe at the exciting moments of our children, as they celebrate moving into 2nd grade, Middle School, High School or college. We wishfully think back in our minds to our own youth, and remember our parents taking us into the school for the first time, boarding the school bus, or graduating into a new level of learning.
Then they are off to school and we go back to our hard work and cycle of life, with each of us making sure in our own way that we provide for our family and enable our children to succeed in their learning and education.
We want our children to succeed so that they have knowledge and we want them to succeed so that they can make it and establish their own lives down the line.
Study or Action?
In the Talmud there is a great Talmudic debate as to what is greater, study or good deeds. There are those who said study is more important and those who said that good deeds are more important, and the debate raged on.
Finally, in a classical Talmudic twist, the Talmud responds, study is the more important of the two, and then it goes on to say that the reason for this is since "it will lead to action and good deeds".
In other words, good deeds and study are very much intertwined with each other and our hope and prayers are that that our children will succeed in learning so that they will become better people as a result.
One of the nicknames of the Jewish people, is the People of the Book, since constant learning has been a built in part of our rich history and tradition and as a result it has served as the fuel that has energized our passion for spirituality, morality and creativity.
With thirty days left to Rosh Hashanah, let us think about what we can do to further our own learning and knowledge of Judaism, its meaning, history and teachings that apply to daily life. In today's digital world, learning has never been easier and if you don't like reading from an electronic device or listening to audio, there are more and more amazing books available or many great classes available at your local Chabad.
As an aside, if there a topic you are interested in that you would like to host a discussion / class on for you and your friends, let me know and we can talk about doing something in your home or business.
Learning Never Ends! So as we wish good luck to our children with their continued learning, let us wish ourselves too, success in figuring out what our next learning will be.
Good luck with the studies!
Shabbat Shalom and Good Shabbos
Yisroel