This week’s parshah is parshat Lekh-Lekha. God says to Avram, Lekh-Lekha: “Go on a journey,” leaving behind what you know well, “to a place that I will show you.” We learn our weekly middah, “be flexible”, from Avram (later Avraham) who offered to share the land with his nephew Lot, from Sarai/Sarah who thought flexibly and strategically in dealings with Pharaoh in Egypt, and from Hagar who had to change her perspective to find water in the desert for her child Ishmael.
I have always thought of The Toronto Heschel School as a Lekh-Lekha school. The founders of the school were pioneers – flexible, out-of-the-box thinkers – who set a new course for Jewish education in Toronto. Educators at Heschel have remained steadfast in their commitment to educational innovation, bringing integrated curriculum, arts-integrated learning, teaching Hebrew immersion through drama among many other innovative methods to the forefront.
This week one of our educators, Morah Lisa Sheps, was awarded the Covenant Foundation Pomegranate Prize for her innovative work in arts education, curriculum development and teacher mentoring. Morah Lisa’s work is just one example of the remarkably talented, creative, and dedicated teaching that makes The Toronto Heschel School a recognized leader in Jewish education.
May we continue our journey from strength to strength, inspired by the innovative and flexible thinking of Avraham and Sarah’s Lekh-Lekha journey.
Shabbat Shalom,
Moreh Greg
