At Bialik-Rogozin School, shooting baskets with Josh Gomes

Josh Gomes discusses the game in "Hebrish/Englew"
with several players on the Grades 8-9 Basketball Team

The compelling educational vision and innovative practices of the famed Bialik-Rogozin School, in Tel Aviv, draw hundreds of volunteers, including my friend Josh Gomes, an American professional basketball player winning points for Israeli teams several years.

Josh scored big on his visit with the Grades 8-9 Basketball Team (they captured third place in the 2011 Tel Aviv Basketball Competition). The team's makeup reflects the inner-city public school's international student body (nearly 900 Jews, Christians, and Muslims from 48 countries) — with roots in Israel, Sudan, Darfur, Ghana, Sierra Leone, the Philippines, Eritrea, Russia, Dominican Republic, and Columbia, among other countries.

Watch the video (4:16 minutes)



Bialik-Rogozin School
Ha-Aliya 49
Tel Aviv, Israel 66041
Tel. 03-668-3802
(from abroad ++972-3-668-3802)

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May the [Jewish] New Year and its blessings start תָּחֵל שָׁנָה וּבִרְכוֹתֶיהָ

Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, falls on the Hebrew calendar dates of 1 and 2 Tishrei. The coinciding secular dates for this year, 2011, are September 28 (at sundown) through 30 (at sundown). I first published this post on September 12, 2007.

In Jerusalem's Machane Yehuda open-air shuk (market),
jars of honey — a symbol of the hope for a sweet year

Dear Tamar,

May the New Year and its blessings start (תָּחֵל שָׁנָה וּבִרְכוֹתֶיהָ Tachel shana u-birkote-ah)*.

The word Shana in Hebrew comes from the word li-shnot (to repeat) but it also sounds like le-shanot (to change). I think that's the main thing every Rosh Hashanah: it's our chance either to repeat our mistakes or to make a change — to keep the good things or to let them go. I hope your New Year will be filled with good choices.

Shana Tova 5768,
Shimon

* From אָחוֹת קְטַנָּה Akhot Ktana (Little Sister). Click the link to listen to the piyyut (Jewish liturgical poem) by Abraham Hazzan of Gerona (called Girondi), Spain, 13th century. Each verse ends with a one-line chorus: (Let the year end with all its curses!) תִּכְלֶה שָׁנָה וְקִלְלוֹתֶיהָ Tikhleh shanah ve-killeloteha! The last line of the piyut concludes: (Let the new year begin with all its blessings!) תָּחֵל שָׁנָה וּבִרְכוֹתֶיהָ Tahel shanah u-virkhoteha!

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