Tikkun Leil
Jessica Lowy, Year 12
Last Saturday night Year 12 arrived at Emanuel School ready to learn together, bond as a year group and not sleep very much. Around the world, Jewish people observe Shavu’ot by participating in Tikkun Leil Shavu’ot – a night of Jewish learning.
At our Tikkun Leil Shavu’ot, we learnt about a wide range of topics including Midrash, Hebrew sign language, the Biblical Ruth, what Judaism has to say about “sampling” in music, and the significance of the Magen David. Our students also worked on a Year 12 Canvas, featuring Jewish values, as a legacy for the School.
Every student attended three different sessions. It was especially meaningful to be able to discuss these topics with our peers, and hear what different people have to say about these Jewish ideas. For example, in Yael’s session about Jewish philosophy of friendship we were able to share our own personal conceptions of what friendship is. We debated whether Arendt and Heidegger’s friendship was true, or whether one has to see their morals reflected back to them in a real friendship. We concluded that friendship must be reciprocal, and true friendship, like how Buber describes “I-Thou” relations, should be one where a friend is valued in and of themself.
We ate cheesecake late into the night, did ruach, sung happy birthday to Morah Gaida, played soccer and formed deeper relationships with our friends.
The Year 12 Tikkun Leil Shavu’ot is an experience I’ll add to the collection of great times I’ve had here in my last year at Emanuel School.
Thank you to the Jewish life team for organising this amazing night.!
