New to her position as Associate Principal of the Middle School at The Moriah School in Englewood, Mrs.Tzipporah Boim is inspired daily by the admirable acts of her student body. Several weeks ago, Boim found herself working late in her office when she heard the voices of a small group outside her door. When she went to investigate, she confronted a group of 7th and 8th grade girls congregated in the hall, clad in basketball uniforms, following their pre-game warm-up and prior to the actual game. When she approached them, she realized to her delight and even perhaps a bit of amazement that they were listening intently to a Dvar Torah being presented by one of their 8th grade teammates as a “pump-up” chizuk talk in preparation for the game against a formidable rival team.
As their coach, Debby Coby is not Jewish, the players took it upon themselves to prepare spiritually for the event through Divrei Torah, which they had been doing since the basketball season began. As the week coincided with Parshat Toldot, recalled Boim, “The speaker was referring to Esav’s disparagement of the status of the firstborn and his willingness to sell it to his younger brother Yaakov for a hefty bowl of lentil soup. The message the young lady was conveying to her classmates was to look ahead at the larger picture and see that what may look insignificant now may eventually prove to be most treasured and worthwhile later on. So even if our team does not win against this formidable opponent tonight, at least we can say that we played our best against the best and maybe down the road we will defeat them.”
Needless to say, Boim was truly impressed and inspired. However, this was not the only recent instance from which Boim had garnered a great deal of “nachat” from the junior high school girls. About one month ago, Elisheva Feuerstein, a middle school Judaics teacher, was married to Moshe Dintner. Morah Elisheva’s 8th-grade class decided that they had to be present at this momentous occasion and so they chartered a bus at their own expense, got dressed in their holiday finest, and headed toward the Atrium in Monsey to participate in the festivities. At the reception prior to the chuppah, a long line of well-wishers lined up to greet the Kallah. Among them were 90+ of her current Moriah 8th-grade students joined by a group of former students now in their first year of high school. Upon seeing them, Morah Elisheva broke into her widest, welcoming smile and proceeded to dispense “brachot” upon her beloved students from their beloved Morah. Witnessing this, the guests assembled, including the writer of this article, were brought to tears of joy and inspiration. What better example of the warmth and genuine connection between a teacher and her students!
The story continues on the dance floor, when the Moriah students, current and former, surrounded their Morah with joyous dance and song during the first dance. When the time came for them to depart to the bus, as they were exiting the hall, Morah Elisheva ran out of her circle to embrace them once more and thank them for adding so meaningfully to her simcha.
A few days after the wedding, Principal Boim received an email from a young woman who was present at the wedding as her husband is the chevrusa of the chatan. The email, which Boim is proud to share with the community, read as follows.
“Dear Rabbi Alter and Mrs. Boim,
Last week I attended the wedding of one of your teachers, Elisheva Feuerstein, as a guest of the choson as he and my husband have learned together in yeshiva and he is a close friend and neighbor of ours on the Lower East Side for many years. I felt compelled to write to you and let you know that the approximately 95 current and former Moriah students who attended the wedding displayed beautiful middos and exemplified bnos yisroel. Although they were a large group, they were not loud or overbearing, did not shriek or scream, waited patiently to say mazal tov to their very clearly beloved teacher and were not obtrusive in any way. I saw a girl kindly and graciously offering her seat to an elderly woman at the chuppah. I was truly impressed by their behavior and middos and they deserve kudos for it.
All the best,
Rochel E.”
This treasured email and many others past and future are “what it’s all about” for educators as well as for communities. In keeping with this nachat, Boim hopes that “the legacy of the ‘pump-up divrei chizuk’” will be passed on to next year’s 8th graders and onward.”
By Pearl Markovitz
