Did Elana Do T'shuirah?
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Elana Holtz did not come from
a large family, but her house often
seemed too small. There were only
Mother and Father, Elana and her
little brother Michael.Sometimes
Elana thought that four was too
many. There was also an old grey
cat named Gluckle von Hamlin,
but she wasn't part of the problem.
Elana liked cooking, reading,
playing with her doll named
Crystal, pretending to have a video
on MTV, having Gluckle fall asleep
in her lap, putting on her mother's
clothes and makeup and riding
skateboards with Berta Cooper.
Berta's real name was Roberta.
Elana didn't like other people
telling her what to do. Everyone
else had their idea of what Elana
was supposed to do.
It was one of those days. In
school, Mr. Hoyt spent the whole
day giving orders. It seemed that
everything Elana did was wrong.
She wanted to finish her reading
book, but Mr. Hoyt said that it was
math time. When she and Berta
wanted to work in the science
center, Mr. Hoyt said it was Baxter
and David's turn. Elana wanted
indoor recess, but Mr. Hoyt
thought it was warm enough to go
outside. Then, the art teacher was
sick, so they had an extra period
of spelling. And so it went. Elana
came home in a bad mood.
She sat at the kitchen table
having her snack. She thought
about making a chocolate cake.
She got out the bowl, the big
spoon, the pan, the mix, the water,
the eggs, the butter and
everything. Then, Mother came
home and told her to clean up the
kitchen. Mother was going to fix
dinner. There was no time for the
chocolate cake. Elana was angry.
She yelled at her mother, turned
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FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 1990
her back and slammed the door.
Elana went into the family
room and turned on the TV. She
was dancing and singing to MN.
Her father came home. He came
into the family room with his
newspaper and sat in his big chair.
From behind the newspaper he
told her turn the television off and
do her homework. Elana was
angry. She yelled at her father and
ran upstairs to her room. She
played her radio as loud as it
could go.
Michael came into her room.
He didn't knock. He wanted her to
play with him. She said, "No." He
said, "Please . .." Before he could
even say another word, Elana
yelled at him. He left her room.
Elana picked up Gluckle and went
into her closet. Together they sat
in the dark on the floor.
On Rosh Ha-Shanah the
services were very long. Elana sat
there very quietly. She was almost
crying. The rabbi told a story
about a poor boy who had no
parents and who was too poor to
go to school. He had to work hard
every day. When Rosh Ha-Shanah
came, he didn't even know how to
read the words in the prayer book.
Elana said to herself, "I am very
lucky." The boy in the story still
prayed to God with all his heart.
Elana said to herself, "I will too."
When the rabbi explained that
t'shuvah meant "coming back"
from doing bad things, Elana
made up her mind. This Rosh Ha-
Shanah was going to be her new
beginning. She made a promise
that from that day on, she would
never ever get angry and yell at
her family. She was going to try
She made a promise
that from that dity on,
she would never get
angry and yell at her
family.
with all her might to never miss
that mark again.
That night after father finished
the read-aloud time and after the
lights were turned out, Elana