My sixth-grade class was exploring Lech’L’cha-the Torah portion in which God instructs Abraham to leave his home and take his family to a new land, Canaan, as the journey of the Jewish People begins. And in my typical fashion, without so much as an introduction, I simply handed the students a painting of the moment along with two L shaped pieces of paper and we played Crop It, a game I learned from the organization Facing History, Facing Ourselves. What caught their eye first? What part of the painting best showed what the story is about? Where was there tension? Where was a choice being made? After each question, students used their L’s to select a specific part of the painting that resonated-that’s the cropping part.
One student selected a figure’s head turned away, signifying some hesitancy in the moment. Another zoomed in on a section that contained both light and dark colors, wondering how the moment was perhaps simultaneously exciting and terrifying. Kids cropped camels, bare feet, an outstretched arm, a cracked and dry landscape-each student “cropping” something different, coming to the moment of our people’s journey with intention and imagination. As a teaching tool, Crop It is amazing because it immediately lets kids know that their voices matter.
It was fascinating to watch students unpack the story of our people through multiple and personal lenses. And it got me thinking … if I took two L’s to RSNS-to our programs, to our building, to our mission, we could play Crop It forever, with each of us zooming in on experiences that felt joyous, meaningful, challenging, and comforting. Our Synagogue School students might zoom in on gleefully playing in the snow last month at our annual Ashokan retreat as a moment of joy. Our Or Hadash kids might crop volunteering at The Soup Kitchen at Hebrew Union College in NYC as the time they felt they were “doing” Jewish.
When did you feel a part of what RSNS is all about? I would crop our D’var Torah from Sally and Jonah’s B’nei Mitzvah-approaching our Torah with adventurous thinking and a desire to feel a sense of belonging to the Jewish people past and present. What RSNS moment made you laugh? For me, it would be the very first time I sang at a Shabbat unplugged (now known as Soulful Shabbat) and lost any hope of singing in tune when Cantor Eric suddenly harmonized with me! What moment at RSNS challenged you? I would zero in on October 7th when I felt the ground shake below me as I tried to lead our school faculty through the impossible. And can you identify a spot where you feel your Reconstructionist self most strongly? For me, that’s the Blue Room, where we bring our worlds together at Better Together, Girls Group, and Women’s Rosh Chodesh – programs that delight in building community and encourage us to look at our lives through our secular and our Jewish selves.
Playing Crop It is a perfect way to reflect on how RSNS allows each of us to wrestle with, explore, and discover our Jewish identities in the community. It describes exactly what education at RSNS looks like. A kaleidoscope of moments that move us, fill us, make us wonder, and most importantly connect us to one another in endless ways. As always, I look forward to experiencing these moments with all of you in the months ahead.
Rebecca Hirschwerk
Director of Congregational Education
