Why Inner City Schools Need Kohanim

A couple of Friday nights ago we had the privilege of having over to our home for Shabbat dinner a distinguished group of U.S. educators visiting Israel as part of the American-Israeli Friendship League Mission Program.   As usual, we went around the table and had everyone introduce themselves.  In addition to telling us a little bit about themselves, each guest — most of whom were Superindents of large school districts — shared what they considered to be the best part of their trip.  Many spoke of the beauty of different parts of Israel, while others spoke of the amazing educational institutions they had visited the previous week.  Still others — most of whom were not Jewish — spoke of the spirituality of the place. 

One of the last guests, however, completely caught us by surprise.  She represented the National Urban Alliance for Effective Education, an organization dedicated to strengthening public schools in urban America.  When it came time for her to share with us what she considered the best part of her trip she said, “What I witnessed just now, right here at your table.”

When queried about what she meant, she referred back to the ritual my wife and I perform — and Jewish parents around the world perform – every Friday night with our children prior to commencing with the Shabbat meal.  I go to each of my children individually, place my hands upon their heads, and then offer them the traditional priestly blessings: “May God bless you and keep you; May God shine His countenance upon you and be gracious to you; May God turn His countenance to you and bless you with peace.”  Afterwards, we have the additional custom — I doubt very unique — of kissing and hugging our children after blessing them.  Perhaps somewhat more unique, however, is the custom some of my children have adopted of returning the favor and blessing us once we have finished.

“Witnessing you blessing your children is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen,” she continued.  “And not only that.  As a educator, I’m pretty sure that if every child received such a blessing from their parents each week, many of our problems in public schools — and maybe in urban America in general — might go by the wayside.”  She continued to wax poetically about how meaningful such a blessing would be for the children on whose behalf she works — pointing out quite passionately that such children would no doubt grow up to be self-confident, loved and loving students, which of course is exactly what schools need to be successful.

I found our guest’s comments quite beautiful and even inspirational.  Not simply because she complimented a Jewish custom, ascribing to it near mythical powers of educational potential, though certainly that was nice to hear.

Rather, what I found inspirational was the fact that I had grown so accustomed to blessing my children, I had forgotten just how beautiful a custom it is.  I knew I loved this practice, and once in a while would even become emotional during my blessings.  But never did I entertain the thought that it possessed within it such deep meaning for not just my family but all the peoples of the world.  And then I thought: How many other practices of Judaism possess such power?  How many other things do I do on a regular basis possess the ability to transform the entire world?  How many other customs and halachot am I fortunate enough to partake in that truly inspire other people when witnessed for the first time?   

I imagine part of the reason our guest offered such nice comments was in order to express her thanks to us for hosting her.  But in truth I felt far more in debt to her.  After all, she reminded me that I live amongst diamonds and rubies and an untold number of other precious treasures.  Since these treasures are so common in our lives, we sometimes forget that they are there.  Her excitement over one of them, and her yearning to have the same in her life, awoke me from my complacency.