I am a very lucky person, blessed I would say. With a busy life and great expectations and hopes, it often takes something or someone to remember the good in my life.
It was another early morning in the Bernstein household. This one was planned, though the boys did wake up even earlier than was necessary after taking turns crawling into our bed. However, I don’t want to focus on sleep – not the reason I feel blessed. Anyway, the event that had my family and I stirring this morning took place at my older son’s school. He and his class were putting on a play. They did all kinds of cute 7 year old things – dressed in costumes, said their lines (some shyly and some loudly), and sang (some on key and some not so much).
While the play was nice and my son put on a fine performance which clearly displayed how much he has grown since last year’s production – said his lines loudly, if a little quickly, and sung the words and did the hand gestures – there was more to it that made me proud. This was billed as a Chumash or bible play. After the performance segment of the play was complete, each student, or performer as they were this morning, was called down from the front stage to another centrally located area which is elevated. At this second mini stage, families were able to join their child to formally present him or her with a Chumash and pose for a picture. When we met our son there, my wife gave him the Chumash, and I had to keep from squeezing him in a big hug (I can only imagine how embarrassed he would have been) but instead placed my arm on his shoulder.
Later on that day, my son had the book open, sat on the window ledge, and was reading the weekly portion. For all the pride I took in seeing my son’s performance, I felt even happier seeing him taking the book on his own. My little boy who thinks any sentence that has the word fart in it his hilarious, my little boy who loves to splash in the bath, my little boy who delights in spending hours playing with lego is growing up. He is growing up into someone I am so proud of. That is a blessing!
Ok, i could google it, but that seems to be a shortcut, and I’d rather hear it from a good source. What’s a Chumash?
A Chumash is another name for the 5 books of Moses. You may refer to it as the old testament.
Ahhh. Gotcha. Thanks! On a somewhat similar note, I will admit that most of what I know comes from the book, A Year of Living Biblically. I will have to look up the author, but he was awesome and detailed his life for a year while he tried to live by the Hebrew bible and the laws. It was greatness, well presented and shed light on a subject that I’m woefully uneducated on! 🙂
Well, if you have questions regarding the topic in the future, I would be happy to try and help.