Letters from parents, teachers, and students as they reflect upon school years past and share their dreams for the one that’s starting

Dear Parents of the Adorable Yingele About to Learn Alef-Beis,

IS your little prince asleep yet? His backpack right next to his bed where he can see it?

I’m sure you’ve talked to him endlessly about going to cheder, about having a rebbi and not a morah, about the davening and learning he’s going to do, and of course about the toys and the slide in the yard.

You may have butterflies. You hope the system won’t be too harsh or strict, that the class isn’t so large he’ll get lost, that the rebbi will be wise and kind, that he’ll even notice him.

I want to tell you what’s happening with your son’s rebbi the night before cheder starts.

Actually, let’s start with what the weeks before look like.

The rebbi made sure he had the student list as soon as it became available. He’s tried to memorize your son’s name and nickname. He’s made countless trips to the classroom to hang up pictures of gedolim, and of course, the alef-beis choo choo train.

He’s gone to stores to replenish toys that have been lost or broken over the course of last year.

He’s made sure to meet with his assistant to go through who is in charge of what at every hour of the day.

He’s come home each day of the last week of vacation exhausted, even before the year has begun, because he’s determined to put one thousand percent into your child’s chinuch.

He’s davening, too, that his classroom be a place of joy and laughter. That no child gets left behind, that he manages to build a rapport with you, the parent.

He’s hoping that there won’t be a child in his class who will need remedial help. That’s a difficult thing to break to parents whose dreams of a prodigy turn sour. He’s bracing himself for the comments and complaints that are inevitable, praying no one ends up with hurt feelings.

But most of all, he’s like you, dear parents. He has a tefillah on his lips and in his heart for each and every one of the precious neshamos he’s going to teach the foundation of all learning they will ever do. He’s davening that Torah be forever sweet on their lips, in their hearts.

I’m joining him, and you, with sincerest wishes for hatzlachah for your yingele,

The Rebbi’s Wife