Certainly this space is usually occupied by comment on issues facing the region, nation, Israel and the world.

This time, in this space, we simply want to wish all of our children a wonderful, fresh new school year.

We’re extending those wishes as well to parents and grandparents who are getting children and grandchildren off to school, whether it be preschool, high school, college, or seminary and yeshiva.

And of course we offer a strong message of support to our teachers, our morot and rebbeim who have already put in long hours of preparation time so our children, their students, get off to the best of starts.

We think of parents at either end of their children’s school career. Some are holding their child’s hand and dropping that child off for the first time at a half-day preschool. Others are realizing that this is the beginning of their child’s senior year of high school or they are again holding their child’s hand, this time leaving their son or daughter at airport security or in a college dorm before they start college or a gap year.

It seems like we were just welcoming everyone home for summer vacation and sending many of our kids off to camp as campers or counselors.

It all seems to go by so quickly, with first days turning into last days before we know it. This is the time for us to slow down and take a moment to hug our children and be thankful for their presence in our lives.

And as the school year begins, let us remember that neither test scores, admissions applications or any other quantification takes precedence over the love we have for our children.