Learn the words in Hebrew to figure out the joke below:

Store – חֲנוּת

Manager – מְנַהֵל

He was surprised – מֻפְתָּע

You quit- עוֹזֵב

He knew – יָדַע

He told me – סִפֵּר

You stopped working  – הִפְסַקְתָּ לַעֲבֹד

Before I did – לְפָנַי

Solution: Jack met Moti and shared with him that Danny told him that he stopped working at the store. Jack asked Moti if his manager was surprised that he was no longer working at the store. Moti answered, “No, he knew it before I did.”

Teacher’s Corner: One of my students knew that she would not be invited to a party. All week she was walking under gray clouds and her posture was down. I took her aside and I asked her “what is going on?” So she confided in me that she felt excluded.

I shared with her that even when you feel bad, don’t let your feelings control your posture; instead, let your posture control your attitude. If you walk with your shoulders back and your head up, that will exude confidence and soon you will actually feel confident. If you are not invited then you must realize that it’s not about you, it’s about them. If somebody doesn’t appreciate you or the values that you hold dear, then maybe it’s a reflection of their inability to recognize your value as a person and as a friend.

Everyone deserves to have kind and respectful relationships; so, if these kids are not yet ready to appreciate your values maybe you can seek out other kids who do. It won’t be easy but it will definitely be worth the effort.

Besides, we all have a responsibility to treat everyone with kindness and respect. If your friends do not treat you with kindness and respect, do you really want to trust these purported friends with your feelings and with your friendship?

And, if you cannot trust your friends with your feelings, then you may want to ask yourself if you want to invest your time and energy with these friendships or should you invest your effort in looking for other friends who will treat you with kindness and respect?

I checked in with my student a few times during the following few weeks. She said she felt stronger and more confident just from walking with her back straight and shoulders back and her head held high. She really was a different student, so I asked her, “What happened at the party?” She said she had a better invitation. One of her classmates invited her to join her at the gym and she had been going to yoga classes with her new friend.

She had a smile on her face and she said, “I thought to feel this strong I would have had to work out lifting weights. Who knew it was all about lifting my attitude—and a little ‘namaste?’”

For individual, family or group tutoring in Hebrew, all levels, please email [email protected]. Maya Yehezkel is a Hebrew teacher at Yeshivat Noam middle school.