Parshat Vayakhel begins with Moshe engaging every member of Bnai Yisrael in the building of the Mishkan. He asks them to donate gifts of gold, silver, copper, precious stones, fine linen, wood, oil, and spices, to which they respond in droves, each generously contributing whatever he or she could. Similarly, all of the skilled artisans eagerly volunteering their time and skill. The end result is magnificent and truly worthy of the Shechina.
This parsha reminds me in so many ways of our special OCA community. From our faculty, staff, and administrators, who care deeply about putting forth their best effort every day to build our beautiful and holy Mishkan of OCA, to our myriad parent volunteers, each of whom gives of themselves to our school with a nediv lev—a generous heart—a phrase oft repeated
throughout the parsha. Our collective purpose is to build a Mishkan worthy of the Shechina. With heartfelt pride and strength of purpose, we strive to accomplish that goal each and every day.
In the words of Rabbi Mordechai Kamenetzky, “In order to do the work, you must draw yourself close to it. If you take small steps with love and bring a project close to your heart, then rest assured you will complete the work in joy!”
The small steps each of us takes are indeed the most impactful. Walk through any teacher’s day and see him or her tweaking a lesson to make it more impactful, picking up the phone to share good news with a parent, helping a student learn from his or her mistakes, or celebrating a
student’s great effort. Understanding that meaningful, lasting growth happens when we love what we do and are emotionally invested, our teachers and rebbeim use their creativity and attention to detail to bring out the best in their students, recognizing the importance of hands-
on experiential lessons to actively engage students in building knowledge and skills, rather than expecting them to passively absorb information.
The parsha outlines the unique skills that every individual brought to the building of the Mishkan. So too does very member of our team, professional and volunteer, donor and doer, learner and leader, like every one of our students, have unique strengths, interests, and backgrounds to be nurtured, celebrated, and appreciated.
To that end, we humbly offer our hakarat hatov to our parent (and grandparent) volunteers who masterfully orchestrated this week’s Grandparents and Special Friends Day. We are grateful to each and every one of you for stepping up to ask how you can help. Thank you to our teachers, staff, and administrators who infuse their students with a love of Torah and Yiddishkeit, and who prepare them for a life of learning and engaging in the world.
Thank you, as well, to everyone who will be participating in this special morning. We love having the opportunity to show off the rich learning that takes place in our ECC and Elementary School classrooms and look forward to having you back again!
Shabbat shalom!