Rabbi Dreamin

I told them that's because
cones can't give forgiveness.
They got a little lesson in
terms of God and asking
forgiveness between man and
God and man and man. It was
just a fun way of getting the
topic of forgiveness on their
agenda," he said.
During Sukkot, a mystery
sukkah tour was led by
Donald and Daisy Duck (Rab-
bi Chuck and his recent bride,
Mickie, who is assistant direc-
tor of Windsor's Jewish Corn-
munity Centre).
While congregants danced
with the Torahs on Simhat
Torah, Rabbi Chuck and
Assistant Rabbi William Ger-
shon sported clown wigs and
rapped:
During the week a lot of
us are real cool,
That's because we all go
to Hebrew school
We love to pray and study
the Torah.
That's why we're here, a-
dancin' the horah.
"Shaarey Zedek really does
it up for Simchat Torah," said
Liz Abramson, USY presi-
dent. "Rabbi Chuck never
stopped dancing. Every time
we saw him we started sing-
ing so he would start dancing
again."
Liz says Rabbi Chuck's en-
thusiasm is contagious and
"he's gotten all the high
school kids so involved in pro-
grams, even kids who had no
interest in the past. A lot of
kids go to him just to talk,"
she said. "His office is just
like a toy store. And when you
walk into his home there is a

big picture frame that says
`My Family,' and in it is a pic-
ture of the USY group which
was taken at our kick-off pic-
nic along the Detroit River in
Windsor. He tells everyone we
are his family and we all love
it."
Liz, a 12th grader who
graduated from Hebrew
school last year, is continuing
this year even though it
means forfeiting Sundays, the
only morning of the week she
could sleep in. "I'm going for
the fun of it. I love his classes
and it's definitely worth get-
ting up to be there."
Along with several other
high school students, she is
helping out in the grade
school by teaching a class
(under Rabbi Chuck's direc-
tion) on ethical dilemmas to
3rd and 4th graders during
their enrichment period.
"The programs he's im-
plemented are really great,
like the advanced placement
class for the seniors, she said.
The Jewish Theological
Seminary gives three hours of
advanced placement credit in
philosophy for the class,
which should be transferable
to college.
"He has also instituted a
Yad b'Yad program this year
— an outreach to those high
school students who dropped
out after bar and bat mitzvah
and who decide to return this
year," said Dottie Wagner.
"They will be recognized for
having returned." In
December, he took a student
group on a 12-day trip to
Israel.

USY advisor Robert Bloomberg visits Rabbi Chuck and his toys.

"We've changed the high
school curriculum, adding
some more substantive
courses, more text course!"
Rabbi Chuck said. "I think
that kids on all levels have
been challenged, and my
sense is that they haven't
been challenged enough.
"The high school kids also
have to develop into leaders
and set the example. They
have to become role models
for the other kids in the pro-
gram, so the younger kids
look up to the high school
kids and it sort of becomes a
cyclical kind of thing where
the older kids start training
the younger kids to become
leaders and they then replace
themselves."
At kindergarten round-up,
members of the USY ex-
ecutive board joined the
moose-slippered rabbi in a
skit of welcome. Each child
was given a bright yellow T-
shirt emblazoned with
Shaarey Zedek Class of 2002,
and their kindergarten class
supplies were presented to
them gift wrapped.
Marlene Margolis, who co-
chairs the PTO with Sharon
Zipser, said Rabbi Chuck has
involved PTO members in
more activities too. "As things
come up he's been calling us
in to help with programs. He
had us help with snack the
first day, and we served ap-
ples and honey to the kids
before Rosh Hashanah."
Her daughter Rachel, a 3rd
grader, thinks Rabbi Chuck
makes Hebrew school more
enjoyable because he's nice
and funny. Her son David, in
kindergarten, loves his T-
shirt and Rabbi Chuck's jug-
gling. During the sukkah
decorating, the rabbi juggled
three apples, taking bites out
of each one without missing
a beat.
Danielle David, another
kindergartner, loves the dan-
cing flower in his office. Her
sister Elizabeth, in fifth
grade, said Hebrew school is
definitely more exciting this
year. "Rabbi Chuck is making
it funner. He makes jokes; he
asks us questions. There's a
girl in our class named
Chaya, and once when he was
leaving he said, `Chaya, bye-
a.' He started a parade of kids
to assembly and we went from
room to room to get the other
kids, chanting 'We love
Torah! He came in and made
a video tape and later showed
it to us!'
Their mother, Pamela
David, a member of the
education committee, said her
whole family is enthusiastic
about the arrival of Rabbi
Chuck, particularly because
Danielle is in the Class of
Continued on next page

RABBI CHUCK DIAMOND

Special to The Jewish News

T

here are four seconds
left in the game when
the coach calls our last
time out. The Celtics are
ahead by two in what has
been a struggle since the
opening tip-off. "Diamond,
get into the game!" snaps the
coach. As I take off my sweats
I try to get loose. The crowd is
on its feet. The Palace is
`rockin!
John Salley tosses the ball
to Isiah who takes a dribble,
spots me in the corner and
passes me the ball. The clock
shows one second left to play;
Larry Bird has his hand in
my face as I launch a jump
shot from three-point range.
It looks good, it's . . .
ding-a-ling .. .
Ding-a-ling . . . It's the
phone. With all the effort I
can muster I pick up the
phone, Hello . . . No, I wasn't
sleeping . . . What time is it
anyway? . . . 6 A.M.? Who is
this? . . . Oh, hi, Liz, what's
up? . . . You, Jon, Joe and Dan
need a ride to minyan this
morning? Sure, I'd be glad to
pick you guys up. Yeah, yeah,
I can drop you off at school
afterwards, no problem!
Well, time to get out of bed.
It's time to start yet another
day in pursuit of Jewish
education!
It's already 9:30; where has
this morning gone? Oh, I
almost forgot about our staff
meeting at 10. Big problem.
It seems we have too many
kids enrolled in our Hebrew
school, space is scarce, our
teachers are already working
overtime and we have a
waiting list of 123 students.
I've heard rumors of a $3
million Federation grant —
Yes, I guess that would cer-
tainly help us out.
Twelve noon and time for
lunch. Doesn't it always hap-
pen that the phone rings just
as you are walking out the
door? Shalom. Hi, Dr.
Leemood. You're from the
which public high school? I'm
sorry that our Simchat Torah
celebration conflicts with
homecoming. I know that you
are losing a lot of kids to us
that evening. I'd love to help
you out, but I'm afraid we
can't move our holiday to
another night. Good, I'm glad
you'll be able to change your
homecoming. Thanks for
calling.
Two p.m. already! I've got to
start preparing for school.
The teachers will be here
soon. I'm amazed that they
are always here an hour and
a half before classes in order
to prepare. Yes, Betty, I can
take a call. Hello, Mrs.

Rabbi Chuck:
What a day!

Horim, how are you? Your son
Ben wants to come in early to
use the library? Why certain-
ly, Mrs. Horim, he's more
than welcome, but tell him to
hurry, the library is already
a-buzz with activity.
Hello, Sarah, nice to see you
today. Are you prepared for
our H.E.L.P. (Hebrew Enrich-
ment Learning Program) ses-
sion? You what? You prepared
10 pages instead of the one I
asked you to do? Oh, I see, you
had some extra free time —
well great, Sarah. You're go-
ing a fine job, but let's hurry,
Lanny is due here in another
15 minutes! Hi, Lanny, you're
early. You'll have to wait a
few minutes. Sure you can go
to the library.
Three-fifty and classes start
in 10 minutes. I think I'll go
out and shmooz with the kids.
It's certainly quiet in these
halls, where is everybody? I'll
be, classes have already
started.

It's 4:40 and here I sit all
alone in my office. What hap-
pened to the good ole days
when kids were sent to my of
for being bad? At last it
helped pass the time. At least,
I see by the clock that it is
time for the break, but I don't
hear the pitter-patter of little
feet running down the
hallway. Where is everybody?
Selicha, Morah Bayla, you
know it's break time. Oh, I'm
sorry, you're in the middle of
a fascinating discussion about
the first Perek of Bava Metzia
and your class voted to give
up their break time. Do you
know where the rest of the
classes are? They decided to
daven mincha in the chapel.
That's great!
It's 5:45 and only 15 more
minutes until the end of
another day of Hebrew school.
Hello, Melissa, what are you
doing here today? Your
Hebrew high school classes
aren't until tomorrow! Sure,
Continued on next page

TUC

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