Wednesday, April 8, 2015

How do you measure success?

Henry Ford: While Ford is today known for his innovative assembly line and American-made cars, he wasn't an instant success. In fact, his early businesses failed and left him broke five times before he founded the successful Ford Motor Company.

R. H. Macy: Most people are familiar with this large department store chain, but Macy didn't always have it easy. Macy started seven failed business before finally hitting big with his store in New York City.

F. W. Woolworth: Some may not know this name today, but Woolworth was once one of the biggest names in department stores in the U.S. Before starting his own business, young Woolworth worked at a dry goods store and was not allowed to wait on customers because his boss said he lacked the sense needed to do so.

I bring these men up because we began a project this year at school under the supervision of Patty Greenfield, called, "Own Your Own Holiday."  The idea was to have one or several classes join together to educate the Temple community at large about a given holiday.  Additionally, we thought it would be a great way to build community and for parents to get to know one another.

Tu Bishvat
Our first holiday was Tu Bishvat.  After a slow start the parents in the classes involved did a wonderful job of putting on a Tu Bishvat oneg with stunning signs and tables of the various fruits and their meanings. The students in the class did a great job of presenting what the holiday was about and how the fruits were chosen.

Purim
The next holiday was to be Purim.  Patty called several meetings only to have no one show up and when one or two did, she met much resistance.  Without any cooperation, nothing came of this.  The combination of being disheartened and being involved in the other Purim events zapped a lot of momentum and thus when it came to Passover preparation, that just did not happen.

Where do we go from here?

Great question.  What we'd like to know is: is there still interest on the part of parents to move ahead with this or might you have suggestions on how to accomplish these goals?

Is anyone interested in doing a Shavuot BLINTZ-krieg?  On Shavuot it is customary to stay up all night studying and to eat dairy foods, especially popular are blintzes and cheesecake.  Shavuot is Saturday night, May 23rd.  If this is something in which you would be interested in participating and/or help planning, let me know.

We need you.  We need your input, your feedback, your advice and your participation.

B'Shalom,
Morah Judy