Bruriah’s Word Watch committee, founded at Bruriah over a decade ago, plays an important role in helping Bruriah students become more aware of their words and how their speech can impact others. While often this focuses on the halachos of shmiras halashon, this month’s Word Watch turned the focus to positive speech and how it is important to verbalize appreciation and thankfulness for all of Hashem’s gifts.

To that end, Bruriah students were privileged to hear from Maya Namdar on this topic as she personifies this midah to its utmost. Namdar is the mother of Liel Namdar a”h who was tragically killed in a car accident last year. Namdar spoke about overcoming such immense pain and learning to thank Hashem amidst such enormous tragedy. She gave numerous examples from her own life which emphasized how even in the darkest of times, we must be thankful for Hashem’s guidance as He guides us through the dark. The students were awestruck by Namdar’s unwavering emunah, and they reflected on how to incorporate it in their own lives.

Word Watch programming at Bruriah creates a common objective across the school as everyone works in tandem towards personal growth, thereby contributing to a better school community. Junior Rina Weinstein, one of the heads of Word Watch, is keenly aware of this: “I know that as one of the heads of Word Watch, I need to be even more careful of what I say because I am in a position where I am trying to influence positive speech amongst my peers.”