For those who have read my column for years you know that I typically write a column the Sunday after the Super Bowl with a lesson one can learn from the game. While I still anticipate doing so in the coming week, (assuming a lesson does seem to appear), I came across a football lesson in an article I read over the weekend in a Jewish magazine, and thought I would take the opportunity to write about it in the hours leading up to the Super Bowl.
Most of us probably heard that on January 2 Buffalo Bills player Damar Hamlin collapsed and went into cardiac arrest on the field. He is recovering after CPR on the field and time in the hospital. While there was much buzz about his collapse, at the time there was also much discussion in the media about the reaction of the team and the crowd. “How Damar Hamlin Drove a Nation To Pray-When the Buffalo Bills safety fell, there was, for many, only one rational response” wrote the Wall Street Journal. Article after article commented on how not only those present gathered to pray, but likewise did fans at home.
Rabbi Emanuel Feldman in his article “Sadness and Gladness” commented on the players falling to their knees to pray during the game. It demonstrated the “universal human impulse to reach out to a Higher Power. The human soul requires regular contact with the Creator, just as human lungs require air… the soul is often suppressed and neglected until moments of deep distress, we discover that we are vulnerable and powerless.”
Rabbi Feldman continues to write that as Jews, while we clearly turn to God in times of trouble, God wants us to have a daily relationship with Him and not only reach out when we need something. The word prayer is from the Latin word “to ask for, to entreat.” That is not all of what Tefilla means to us.
For us, Tefilla is a relationship with Hashem. Mrs. Elana Moskowitz, in her article “Invite Him In” notes that one way to form this relationship with God is by inviting him into your “mundane, trivial spaces in life.” Whether washing dishes, at a traffic light, or dealing with a difficult work situation, Moskowitz encourages us to invite Him in.
My own children often laugh at me when I exclaim, “Hashem help me!” when something annoying happens. I thereby demonstrate, with my frustrating exclamation, that God is not remote, but He is a part of every moment in my life.
Moskowitz’s article was part of a series on how to make Tefillah meaningful when one is having a hard time connecting to Tefillah. Another author, Erin Stiebel, in the article “Celebrate the Little Wins” also gives some mundane examples of when she reaches out to Hashem. “Hashem, please don’t let my child dump that container of cereal…Hashem, please don’t let me lose my sanity picking up 8,000 Cheerios off my floor…” She has endless conversations with Hashem all day long. And, that is why she is not surprised when she hears her little boy saying, “Hashem, please help me beat my brother at knock hockey” or “Thank you, Hashem, for helping me find my favorite socks.” Where did he learn this constant connection to God? From his mother who similarly demonstrates her reaching out to Hashem.
In my almost 30 years of Jewish education I have spent many hours davening with students and even teaching Tefillah classes. Some of the children are totally unconnected and some look as if they are speaking to Hashem when they daven. What is their secret? I believe that the relationship is the secret. We need to raise our children and model for them that relationship. We do not only turn to Hashem when we have to daven in shul on Shabbos or when there is, God forbid, an illness or a tragedy. We turn to Hashem constantly. I bet you didn’t expect that to be a lesson from a football game!
Advisory Update;
Sixth Grade: Students worked on organizing their bookbags and learning how to ascertain what to keep and what to throw out using the P.A.C.K. method
Seventh Grade: Students focused on skills needed for resilience
Eighth Grade: Students continued their unit on cheating and honesty.
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