Rosh Hashana: Making Values Fun for Children

Aryeh Fein put a gnarled ram’s horn to his lips and blew until veins stood out on his forehead. The 10-year-old from Rancho Santa Margarita sounded the shofar Friday morning to herald the start of Rosh Hashana in a program sponsored by Morasha Jewish Day School in Mission Viejo.

“I blew it a little too long,” Aryeh said, sitting in the grass until his dizziness passed. “It’s cool because it makes so much noise.”

The shofar is used to signal the start of the Jewish New Year, an occasion for repentance, resolutions and renewal. The holidays began at sundown Friday and end with Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, which starts at sunset Oct. 8.

After poetry readings and Hebrew songs Friday, the students walked to a nearby stream for the Tashlich ceremony, tossing bread crumbs into the water, symbolic of casting away the sins of the past year. The youngsters also dipped apple slices in honey to herald a “sweet” new year. The ceremony is usually performed the first day of Rosh Hashana, which is today, but the school observed it early so the children could share the tradition.

“This one is for hitting my sister,” said Josh Chazen, 8, of Aliso Viejo, tossing a chunk of bread into the creek. Does he plan to reform himself in the new year? “Maybe,” he said. “Well, maybe not.”

The second-graders read their firm resolutions for a cleaner year on the planet.

“I won’t spit gum on the street,” said Eli Kaufman of Mission Viejo.

“No spitting and no trash in the gutter,” declared Jeremy Cosel of Tustin.

“I will recycle and water plants,” said Dylan Nathanson of Dana Point.

Parents sat on plastic blankets with sacks of bread for the Tashlich ceremony, listening, watching and occasionally snapping photos as their children made their solemn resolutions.

“It gets them thinking about their lives and what’s right and wrong,” said Joe Kaufman of Mission Viejo, who has two children in the school. “It’s a renewal.”

The children particularly loved chucking the bread into the water. The teachers finally asked them to stop because the creek was choked with glistening bits of bread.

“You guys can’t have that many sins!” said parent Donna Ross of Dana Point. “They gave me a piece of bread. I said, ‘This is for the day, right? If it was for the year, I’d need a whole loaf!’ ”

The coming year has special significance for Morasha Jewish Day School’s students, teachers and parents. The school is moving in about a month to a new 4.1-acre property in Rancho Santa Margarita. Adele Sender, school board president, said families of the 75 students have raised $2 million for the new property, including a modular building. The goal now is to raise the $5 million needed for a permanent structure that could accommodate 320 students through middle school.

Kim Nathanson of Dana Point said it may cost her more to send her son, Dylan, to Morasha, but it’s worth it for her to see him learn the traditions of Judaism and lessons on values and morality during the school day.

“To have a smart kid is good,” she said. “But to have a good kid is even better.”