Kickoff 5777-2016 School Year; What do I understand?

We are now in the month of Elul, which precedes the month of Tishri; the month of the High Holy days.  During Elul we are to prepare ourselves for the upcoming holiday season.  There are many different ways to get ready and as usual I am personally preparing for the High Holy days by preparing our educational program at Lakeside Congregation. School this year will look a little different and a little like it has in the past.

On the first day of school we will have a Kickoff for Lakeside which will feature a Firetruck bouncy house, a police car, an opportunity to say and write thank you notes to our local first responders.  music, making s'mores, and information tables by our Lakeside affiliates.  It will be a fun morning for the whole family and for prospective new members. I hope to see all of you at our opening program.

We are also very excited to launch our new Lakeside Academy for grades 5-10.  Students will be able to chose from a list of electives for the 2nd half of class.  Students will have a core curriculum from 10:30-11:15am and from 11:15am-Noon they will be able to chose an elective.  Here is a video with some of the electives we will be offering. Lakeside Academy Electives

Other ways to get ready during the month of Elul is to #BlogElul.  I hope to start blogging shortly and here are the topics that I will participate in Rabbi Phyllis Sommer of Am Shalom.


It is daunting to try and blog every day and I have never been very successful.  It does push me to think, prepare and get ready in many different ways.  Today's blog is understand.  I think to understand you must first know what you don't know.  After opening school for over 30 years (27 here at Lakeside) I almost always have butterflys the night before.  I have come to understand that I can't always anticpate everything that will happen or 100% accurately predict how the day will turn out.  I can do all the hard work before hand over the summer to insure there will be a modicum of success and continue to build on my understanding to make next year even better.  I look forward to blogging Elul and preparing for the High Holy days.