My Jewish Day: A Short Story

Usually you’re told: just be yourself. Parents, teachers, and friends always say “Be yourself, there’s nothing better you can be.”
Last January, my school, David Posnack Jewish Day School, received two bomb threats. Two more than any school should ever get. Two awful phone calls that no one should ever receive but, my Jewish school did. It challenged our safety and identities. Being Jewish and Israeli defines me in every way possible, it’s who I am. These threats that my school received frightened me. It made me question why anyone would do this, or how they have the heart to scare and threaten the lives of hundreds of children. But this threat didn’t put me down; it woke me up. It made me realize that even with all the hate out in the world,
we are here. We are proud of who we are and that we aren’t going anywhere. This is why my parents put me in this school: to learn that even with all the hate, we should stay proud and faithful. I was always taught to not be ashamed of who I am, but to be proud, and as much as that was one of the scariest moments in my life, I couldn’t have been prouder to be who I was.
We did not let this man bring us down, but instead he brought us together. The scariest moment of my life, turned out to make me strong and worthy. I was taught to be myself my whole life, and when someone told me not to and that it’s wrong, I didn’t let him. He did the opposite and made me prouder.
We did not let this threat bother us.
In the middle of our daily Teffilah (prayer) we had a lockdown warning, then minutes later we were told to evacuate. We felt something was wrong because in a drill we would never have to evacuate. In a rush, the boys kept their Teffiin on since we needed to evacuate quickly. They brought the Torah down with us to keep it safe. Since a Torah is the holiest book we have we couldn’t put it on the ground so we put it on a car. As soon as I heard what was going on, I felt the need to pray to G-d. At that moment everyone was praying, with passion. Everyone was so into it. At that moment, looking at everyone around me including my brother reading from the Torah, I felt safe and extremely proud to be who I am. Everyone surrounding a car listening to the Parashah made me feel so special to be who I am.
The hate that someone has towards us didn’t make us fear them or challenge us, but it made us stronger and even more proud. It made me so thankful to be who I am, for being in a Jewish School, but more importantly to be Jewish and Israeli. There’s a saying “Haters are your motivates” and yes, in this very moment they certainly were. They motivated me to love who I am even more and to never be scared or ashamed of who I am. They motivate me to do what I was always told to, which was simply be
myself.