March 2022
Off the Bookshelf and Your Emails
Two weeks ago, Brooks published the following in The Atlantic...
In 1938, researchers at Harvard Medical School lit upon a visionary idea: They would sign up a bunch of men then studying at Harvard and follow them from youth to adulthood. Every year or two, researchers asked the participants about their lifestyles, habits, relationships, work, and happiness. The study has since expanded to include people beyond men who went to Harvard, and its results have been updated regularly for more than 80 years. Those results are a treasure trove. You look at how people lived, loved, and worked in their 20s and 30s, and then you can see how their life turned out over the following decades. And from this crystal ball of happiness, you can learn how to invest in your own future well-being.
According to the Harvard study, the single most important trait of happy-well elders is healthy relationships. As Robert Waldinger, who currently directs the study, told me in an email, “Well-being can be built—and the best building blocks are good, warm relationships.”
The concept of sharing book reflections emerged from the goal to build relationships and form connections within the Yavneh school community. Where previously we would see each other more often and create those building blocks, these past years have diminished those moments.
As we anticipate March 7th and internalize the impact of the last two years, I thought I would share some of your recent feedback to me with the broader school community…
- “Rabbi Nahman of Breslov taught, “A person is not only where he is physically, but where he is thinking about being.” An idea can consequently crystallize in the hubbub around us if we can stand back and try to grab hold of it. I'm sure you constantly experience that in the halls of Yavneh.”
- “Dr. Lamm in 1976…Do not be afraid to live in the tension of doubt versus affirmation, and of unresolved uncertainties.”
- “It was exactly two Purim’s ago that we were in Yavneh for the last time hearing the Megillah, see picture attached from March 10, 2020. We started the pandemic and now ending masks in school on Purim, there’s certainly a hidden meaning here. Maybe we’ve been forced to hide our faces for two years, focus on what’s truly important about life during the days of quarantine, worrying about health, family, etc. After two years of reflection, perhaps we are ready to re-enter the world with our full faces shown as stronger, better, smarter, more attentive to our kids, family healthy and happier. Maybe our kids will be kinder to each other when they see their faces again all day. Some of the early quarantine days were the best days of our lives sharing quality time with our immediate families like we’ve never did before. Now, maybe we’ll remember to cherish those times we have together and grow from the hardships we’ve endured over two years. It’s been hard, but we’ve overcome and thankfully had Yavneh with us along the way. It’s the special commitment Yavneh made from day one that kept our kids healthy and somewhat normal. From zoom classes, video contests, baking zooms, drive-in graduations to back to school with partitions, masks, in-class lunches, quarantines, outdoor ceremonies, etc, Yavneh always put our kids and their health and safety first and we thank you for everything, well done!”
- "The late Prime Minister Shimon Peres observed: “Sometimes people ask me, ‘What is the greatest achievement you have reached in your lifetime?’ I reply, ‘There was a great painter named Mordecai Ardon, who was asked which picture was the most beautiful he had ever painted. Ardon replied, ‘The picture I will paint tomorrow.’ "
While we never know what tomorrow will bring, science teaches us that developing meaningful relationships during these years as we raise our children will significantly enhance our ability to navigate whatever may lie ahead. Perhaps that idea is one of the enduring takeaways from this experience.
Chodesh tov and looking forward to a happiness filled Adar!
Rabbi Jonathan Knapp
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