SIDDUR

Last month during Hanukkah, I drove to my granddaughter Talia’s school, Alfred and Adele  Davis Academy, in Atlanta, at 7:30 a.m. to attend the SIDDUR ceremony specifically held for second graders so their parents could present to their child an individual SIDDUR , a Jewish  prayer book containing a set order of daily prayers and hymns.

Each family designs and creates a decorative, unique artistic cover for the SIDDUR, constructing it of needlepoint, embroidery, or artwork painted on cloth. Talia’s Aunt Joan, a professional artist, painted the cover on cloth, and then reproduced the same artwork in a painting for Talia.

In a classroom, parents of the second graders individually dedicated and presented the decorated SIDDURS to their child, and spoke of the significance of the Jewish faith, the legacy of the family, and the importance of  this symbolic holy book.

After the individual ceremony, the entire school, faculty, students, parents, grandparents, and other relatives filed into the gymnasium to honor the second graders who sat on bleachers facing the crowd.

Rabbi Menashe Goldberger welcomed and congratulated the second graders who sat holding their treasured SIDDURS. Playing a guitar, he accompanied the second graders as they led parts of the shacharit (morning prayer) service in Hebrew, using their SIDDUR for the first time.

Second graders then sang traditional Hebrew songs. The Rabbi spoke of the relationship and importance of this holy book to their lives and cautioned them to protect and cherish it. Since that day, Talia has slept clutching her SIDDUR.

After the dedication ceremony, Rabbi Goldberger, asked the crowd to face East toward Jerusalem and everyone sang a traditional Hebrew closing song while Talia’s four year old brother Jake twirled and threw, using his magic fingers, Spiderman webs at the crowd.

Impressed by the ritual, the participation by the crowd, and the understanding of these eight year olds of the importance of their connection to their Jewish faith, I drove away from the school feeling grateful and proud that my grandchildrens’ appreciation of their faith will help them to cherish the principles and symbols of Judaism that will guide them to become good people.