TBJ News

October 7, 2023
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Dear ECC and REC Families,  

We are writing to you in response to the current crisis in our beloved Homeland, Israel. As this heartbreaking situation unfolds and as our community plans to gather together in solidarity, we will stay in close communication with you. Please know that we, your clergy and educators, are here as your partners while you process and navigate your personal response and your response to our children and their questions.  

At each age and stage, our response to our children’s questions should and will be different and developmentally appropriate. Below are suggestions and recommendations from our partners in the Jewish community. These may serve as a guide to how to speak with children of all ages. If you are unsure about how or if you will address this tragedy with your children, please do not hesitate to reach out to our clergy team and our school leadership teams for additional guidance and support. 

We, in our ECC and REC, will not be directly discussing these tragic events. Of course, at each age and grade level, we recognize that children may hear information and raise questions. Please be assured that our faculty will respond in an age and developmentally appropriate manner. During times of prayer, both in the ECC Shabbat Celebrations and Religious School Tefillah, we will, as always, pray for peace here, in our Jewish Homeland, and around the world.  

Resources and Tools for Parents and Caregivers:  

• How to Talk to Your Children When the News is Scary 

• The Reform Movement has an ongoing listing of resources to be used in the wake of tragedy which includes articles for parents and educators, relevant prayers, and resources for action. In addition, this article from reformjudaism.org addresses How to Talk with Children About the Conflict in Israel. 
• ​​​​​​​Jewish Family Services suggests How to Talk to Your Children About Tragic Events.
• ​​​​​​​ This article from 2015 was re-posted by The Forward in 2021, still relevant then and sadly, relevant today.  
• The Jewish Education Center of Cleveland offers guidelines for helping your child understand and navigate the situation in Israel as well as action steps for parents and families.  
• Teens and college students may find themselves facing anti-Israel and ant-semitic sentiment at school and on campus. The AJC offers a campus library with many resources and this article from JewishBoston serves as a Jewish Teen Guide to Understanding the crisis in Israel. 

We invite all of you to join us at TBJ for the Gathering in Solidarity with Israel tomorrow evening at 8:30pm.

As we begin a new week, we pray for peace in our world and the strength to create light, even when it seems very dark.  

B’Shalom, in peace,  
Michele and Abra