Today, Friday May 8th, is the 14th of Iyar. Very rarely in life do you get a chance to do a do-over. Pesach Sheni sets a wonderful precedent for making amends. If one was not able to bring the Korban Pesach at the appointed time, either because of distance or being impure, Pesach Sheni gave the person an opportunity to fulfill the obligation. How inspiring it was to see a video of Eli Beer, the President of United Hatzalah, celebrating with his family a Pesach Sheni Seder. B’Chasdei Hashem, Eli who had been hospitalized for over a month here in South Florida, was able to return home to Israel to recuperate and continue the chesed Hatzalah provides for everyone and anyone in need. If given the opportunity to do a do-over, what would you choose?
Every week we get the opportunity to press the restart button. Shabbos allows us a 25 hour pause from our quotidian distractions. We and our children have been basically glued to screens given the current COVID-19 reality. Even before we separated physically from our friends and family we spent an inordinate amount of time on our smart-phones, i-Pads, and PC’s. Shabbos allows us to disconnect and reconnect. In many of our households perhaps the only time that everyone sits down together for a meal is on Shabbos. I know growing up, way before all the tech inventions kept us in our silos, our heavy school and workloads, prevented us from all enjoying family time together during the week.
Except for Shabbos. Friday night was the time we all sat down together and we had our now famous family discussions. Many times the discussions would get very passionate (read that as argumentative) but the benefit was that we were able to express our feelings and opinions in a safe and loving environment. Shabbos gives us that same opportunity to really connect in person, face to face, with our family.
Pop culture now lauds the need to disconnect from technology. Whether scientifically proven or just plain common sense it is healthy and wise to unplug. A University of Maryland study in 2010 (when the use of technology was not as ubiquitous as it is now) found that students who put down their tech tools had a “better quality of life” - meaning they spent more time with friends and family, exercised more frequently, and even cooked more often and ate healthier foods. By putting aside their phones, they simply had more time to spend on other more enjoyable activities.
YoungAh Park, assistant professor of psychology at Kansas State University and former businesswoman in the competitive South Korean workforce, said that detaching from work mentally, physically and electronically helps stressed employees relax and recover (www.ehstoday.com/health/article/21915579). Other research (https://www.kxii.com/home/headlines/Cell-phones-believed-to-cause-serious-sleep-problems) suggests that the blue light from the screens in our computers and phones also makes it difficult for our bodies to fall asleep, implying that we should disconnect before bed, rather than falling asleep while staring at our laptops.
Certainly in-person communication and interpersonal relationships improve when we disconnect from our devices. When we sit behind a screen we cannot hear intonation, we don’t necessarily see body language, and we are also somewhat emboldened by the distance to say things that perhaps in person we would hold back.
What an amazing gift Hashem has given us right from the beginning of time - the gift of a spiritual haven, an oasis of Kedusha, the time to disconnect and reconnect with the values we hold most dear. Parshat Emor reminds us that Shabbat is G-d’s way of imbuing us with His holiness, and the moadim, the holidays, are our way of showing our appreciation.
And speaking of showing appreciation - this week was Teacher Appreciation week. Thank you to all the teachers for their devotion to SBTAG students AND thank you to the parents and Parent Council for demonstrating, with gifts and words of recognition, how much our Faculty and Staff are appreciated.
Wishing everyone a Pesach Sheni Sameach, a Shabbat Shalom!
Stay Safe, Sane and Healthy,
Dr. Rochelle Brand
Head of School
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