Throughout the Hebrew month of Elul we have enjoyed the morning ritual of the shofar being blasted throughout the school. Hearing the ancient notes being sent through a 21st century speaker system is somewhat incongruous but speaks to the longevity and continued relevance of the practice.

The three notes – tekiah, shevarim and t’ruah – are said to each serve a different function. The tekiah is understood to be a proclamation, a recognition that we should take note of what is to come. The t’ruah is likened to wailing or crying – it calls us to consider what we would wish to change in the coming year. The shevarim, with its staccato trail of sounds, is like an alarm or a wake up call. 

In combination, the sounds of shofar invite us to recognise the build up to the momentous occasion of the High Holy Days, to reflect on the year that has passed and to proclaim what we wish for our future.

So what should we recognise about the year that has passed?

5782 was a complex one for all of us. We were still dealing with the challenges of the pandemic and the tail end of last year’s lockdowns and restrictions.  For me, this marks the t’ruah or what I wish were different. The uncertainty over this period and the prevalence of restrictions made life very challenging and the intermittent periods of distant learning were particularly challenging for students, staff and parents.

Thankfully, from our pandemic slumber we were awoken by the shevarim – the alarm call that it was time to return to more normal in-person school life. Our community was quick to respond with a return to the many joyous and vibrant curricular and co-curricular activities that are so effective in developing our students holistically and assisting them to grow into such well rounded individuals.

I trust that like me, you are still relishing the opportunities to come together as a community.  We have had so many recent highlights such as the Years 3-5 Drama performance, ‘Aeobsolutely Fable-ulous’, the Year 8 Passion for Thinking, The VCE Music Show and next week’s Years 6-8 Production of The Lion King and our Spring Concert. Indeed 5782 is finishing with a frenetic range of wonderful communal activities more numerous than the beats of shevarim and we have all learned not to take these occasions for granted.

And now, as we move towards 5783, we can proclaim our excitement, our T’kiya, for what is to come. Soon we will induct our 5783 Hanhagah (student leaders), our VCE students will shortly head into their final exams and their Celebration Day and then our largest ever cohort of Yr 10 and Yr 11 students will head off for a memorable four weeks in Israel for their Yesh trip. We also look forward to our marvellous Prep to Year 2 Musical and Presentation Evening. There are so many exciting highlights to come in what promises to be a tremendous new year!

I take this opportunity to wish everyone in our school community a sweet and happy New Year.

Shabbat Shalom and Shana Tova u’Metukah

Marc Light