The quality of your middos is the ultimate grade that counts

Living Higher

Asstudents in New York State set out to take their state-administered English language arts examination, Mrs. Danyel Goldberg, general studies coordinator for grades 1–8 in Woodmere’s Shulamith School for Girls, taught her students in a few short sentences what just might be the most important lesson of the semester. Prior to the exam, Mrs. Goldberg reminded them that the real test is not one that can be distilled into a neat pile of lined paper. The quality of your middos is the ultimate grade that counts, she reminded the girls. A middos mark is the only grade that doesn’t show up on a report card — but shows up everywhere else.

HAPPENING IN

Budva, Montenegro

This week, 100 Chabad shluchim — representing communities across 40 countries in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East — gathered in Budva, Montenegro, for a summit addressing the new post-October 7 Jewish reality in their regions. Issues discussed included the influx of Israeli expats, how things have changed for Jews in Muslim countries, and the renaissance of Jewish life in regions once thought dormant.

The summit was marked with a sense of poignancy: It was the first such summit where Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky, former vice chairman of Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch, the educational arm of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement that oversees over 5,000 religious and educational institutions worldwide, was not present. Rabbi Kotlarsky, whose vast responsibilities included arranging these mini-kinnusim, passed away last year at the age of 75. Last year’s kinnus in Krakow was his final project, and this year, the work continued unabated — dedicated to his memory.

Back to Basics

There was a time when a picture like this bore little significance — just a group of boys casting their fishing lines into a pond, hoping for a meaningful catch. But with today’s never-ending stimuli and dazzling electronic entertainment, snapshots like these are as extinct as the Kodak cameras that once took them. In the Waterbury community, however, there’s a group of boys that uses their long Friday afternoons to head back to the basics. Here, they stand near the pond at the local Fulton Park, not necessarily planning on bringing any fish home for Shabbos (or to swim in the bathtub), but hearkening back to a simpler, purer world nonetheless.

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 1060)