The Tapestry of the Advanced Judaics Lab

What do you see? An old or young lady? When projected to the class today, most saw the young lady and could not see the old lady without it pointed out. Rabbi Solomon, who joined us today, had a difficult time seeing the old lady and I will make sure to email him this post to discover the two pictures embedded into this one presentation. But that was exactly the point of today's lesson where we continued to focus on building our class into a fantastic place for Torah learning.

A few years back a high school student I taught in NCSY, relayed a beautiful analogy of what she felt the Jewish people are. She said, the Jewish people are like a magnificat tapestry. She explained that when one looks at the front side of a tapestry, you generally see a picture or design of some sort. However, if you turn the tapestry over you will see many knots, loose threads, imperfections, bumps, disorganized color and a scene that appears random and chaotic. Yet, it is this side, the side filled with true difference, that creates the beauty that lies on the front side. Every stitch, knot and seemingly disorganized threading are an integral part of the magnificence that lies on the front side of the tapestry. The scene portrayed for all to see was not made with one thread, one color, one stich or one knot. It was made with the wonderful diversity of threads only truly understood by looking beyond the surface and flipping the tapestry over.

One of my Rosh HaYeshiva (Head of School) at Sh'or Yoshuv similarly described the Jewish people as a symphony orchestra made up of many different instruments that create beautiful music together. He would say that our shiur (class) were the electric guitars and every good classical piece needs a little rock and roll.

This was the lesson of the day. Our class, like the Jewish people, does not achieve majesty unless we value each and every single one of us. I certainly do and it is my the goal that the entire class of beautiful threads come together to form a magnificent tapestry that is the Advanced Judaics Lab. And like the photo above, there may be different portraits to be found, but together they make one wonderful piece of art.