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Here’s what one grateful parent has to say to the generous benefactor who set up a provision in his will for Day School scholarships:
April 6, 2006
Dear ________,
I am writing you this letter, even though you are no longer in a position to read it, because I want to imagine that there is some way that I can convey my thanks to you for the impact you have had on my family.
Neither I nor my husband attended Jewish day school as children. Last year, when we were awarded your scholarship for our son to attend a Jewish Day School, we were thrilled by the idea of giving him something we never had. This year, as repeat applicants, we already know what this gift would mean for him.
In the seven months that he has been in Junior Kindergarten at our Day School, he has become
- A little boy who is in love with Israeli culture, as he walks through our home singing Hebrew songs.
- A 5 year old boy who understands the power of prayer, as he told me once, “Mommy, this morning in Tefillah, when I was praying, I was thinking SO HARD of my sister, because I love her SO much!”
- A teacher, who sits down often with his little sister and points to the pages of his Siddur and sings her each prayer. (I should add that I found my 21 month old daughter in bed the other night, with her hand over her eyes and saying “A-go-nai”, her abridged version of the Shema her brother taught her.)
- A lover of Shabbat and its rituals, as he is a regular participant of challah braiding, candlelighting, Kiddush, Ha Motzi, and Havdalah, singing the blessings “just like we do it at CJDS”
- A poet, as, one Motzai Shabbat, he dreamily told us, “You know, shul is a little bit like Heaven.”
- A halachic scholar, as during last week’s supermarket trip, he said, “Mommy, let’s buy THAT matzah, because it has a third ingredient, so we could eat it now, before Pesach”
- Someone who integrates Jewish values in his personal life, telling me, “Let’s donate some of my clothing that is too small for me.”
- A leader who will fight for social justice, like the day he persuaded his classmates at recess to let another boy be the Pirate Captain, because that boy hadn’t had a turn yet.
- Someone who is proud of his Jewish identity, and not afraid to show it. When I asked him what he would do if someone asked him to play his violin in a concert on Saturday, he answered, without hesitating, “I would say, I’m sorry, but I ‘m Jewish, and I celebrate Shabbat.”
Our son is only 5 years old, and he already embodies all of those values and more. Maybe you thought that endowing a scholarship would improve Jewish literacy, or perhaps chip away at the mountain of intermarriage, but I know that your legacy will do so much more. Your incredible gift has already gone a long way towards fulfilling the mitzvah of “tikkun olam”, as an army of sensitive 5 year olds goes out to repair our world. Like Avraham Avinu, you are teaching us lessons of generosity, unconditional love, and hope for the future. You, too, have become a father late in life, of many young souls who will infuse themselves with Jewish consciousness.
May your memory always be for a blessing – I know that it will continue to be a blessing in our family as we watch our son grow and develop.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
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