Patricia Silverman is our director of education at the Springhill Avenue Temple, and recently talked to me about the opening of our religious school: “Last Sunday, August 21, was the first day of the religious school. We had a wonderful attendance and a great deal of enthusiasm. We also had a Sunday family model Shabbat service. Leah and Sarah did the lighting of the candles. We had the blessing of the children, which the parents did. The boys went first, as is tradition. There were more boys than girls. The parents held the corners of the tallitasam in the middle of the bimah. First, all the boys came under the tallises and the Rabbi read the prayer that parents traditionally recite over their sons in Hebrew and English, and the parents repeated: ‘Y’simcha Elohim k’efrayim v’chimenashe.’ For the daughters, a different prayer was recited: ‘Y’seemeich Elohim k’Sara, Rivka, Rachel V’Leah.’ Barrett read responsively, ‘We thank God for the world around us. We thank God for the sun and stars. We thank God for giving us the Torah. We thank God for family and friends,’ with an alternating response from the congregation, ‘God is everywhere, and God is One.’ Everyone was very satisfied and enjoyed the service. I’m so pleased that the parents are so involved with their children. If the rest of the year goes as well as the first day, it will be a great year.”