T.G.I. Shabbat

TGIF! In the winter, Friday's can get stressful at work. Since I live about an hour away from work, and since Shabbat starts pretty early in the winter, I have to leave work especially early on Fridays. (For my readers unaware about Shabbat: there's certain things we don't do on Shabbat, and one of them includes driving. If you're interested, you can read more here). I am so thankful for an understanding work environment and coworkers who cover for my workload on Friday afternoons.

One Wednesday at work, I was talking to the other school psychologist about a meeting I had scheduled at 3:00. He said,  "3:00? Isn't that too late?! You won't be home on time before it gets dark." And then he said, "Oh wait. It's not Friday. I'm still trying to figure out all of the Jew times. But if you had to be home every night before it got dark, that would be a problem, wouldn't it?"

During Chanukah, a lot of my coworkers said to me at the end of the day, "The sun is setting! Don't you have to leave?" I explained the reasons why I didn't have to leave early on Chanukah, and I thanked G-d for the amazing work environment I have.'

A group of school psychologists often meet up on Friday afternoons. They know I can't join them at this time of the year. One Friday, I got the following text message picture from one of them:

As we plan for next semester, one of the teachers in the program for students with Emotional Disturbance said to me, "I would love for you to do a cooking presentation on kosher food with my students next year." He explained to me that he wants to teach his students about different cultures, and it would be really good for them to hear about keeping kosher. He is going to work on preparing a lesson in advance of me coming. He then said, "And I want to hear, too!" He went on to explain that he is Seventh Day Adventist, and he told me some similarities about Judaism and Seventh Day Adventist that I was not aware of. 

When I started covering my hair, I was expecting a few comments here and there. I was not expecting to be asked to give a cooking demonstration to a group of students who may have never even heard the term "kosher." But I am so honored and blessed to have this opportunity to be a kiddush Hashem. As I said in a previous blog post, I am going to take this as an opportunity to elevate the place where I work. 

Have a great weekend, everyone, and Shabbat Shalom to those who are celebrating!

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