Grade 8 Moves Up!
Stepping Up
Moving Up Speech 2025
Lori Skopp
Good afternoon parents, friends, colleagues, and incredible eighth graders! We are so proud of you and your accomplishments today, and we are brimming with love. Looking at you gives us hope for a future--one that is עוד יותר טוב--even better.
As this week’s parshat beha-alotcha opens, Aharon is lighting the menorah in the portable tabernacle, the mishkan. Rashi says that the word “beha-alotcha,” which means “as you rise up” describes how Aharon and the priests physically ascend a stair in order to reach the menorah. Today’s program cover, designed by 8th grader Ancel Cooper, captures this idea beautifully!
Now, I happen to think stairs are a great invention, but like most humans, I like them most when they are going down. Up is a bit less fun. And even though I’ve seen some of you, eighth graders, ascend the stairs two at a time, recently your student council representatives made a great case for an end-of-year elevator privilege, which we graciously granted--but only in the upward direction.
Last year, on our seventh grade Staycation we also took an elevator--all the way up to the One World Observatory. We did not consider for even a millisecond the option of climbing the two thousand stairs up to the top. So up we sped covering 102 flights in 47 seconds, ears popping. We stepped out of the elevators into an incredible 360 degree view of New York City and beyond. From this vantage point, the world seemed a beautiful, safe, and breathtaking place, and all human problems looked small.
That day was Monday, October 2, 2023, and the month of October was beginning on a high note--having fun on our Staycation, building community, and being on top of the world. But by the end of the week, things had changed. The news from Israel on October 7 was serious, shocking, and terrible. At school we entered a cycle of frequent news updates--along with prayers for Israel, the hostages, and the IDF.
One morning in Tefillah I asked you to raise your hands if there was anyone you were praying for personally--any friends or family currently serving in the IDF or impacted by the war. So many hands went up, so many names, so many close relationships. Your identity as a class with a very strong connection to Israel was cemented in my mind.
This close connection with Israel was reaffirmed on our trip a few weeks ago. We had some serious moments on our Israel trip, hearing heartbreaking stories of loss and survival on and after October 7. But we also saw firsthand that Israel is a resilient country. Daily life goes on, with its ordinary challenges and celebrations. Children still play--and the nation of Israel LIVES - עם ישראל חי!
So, we allowed you to play. It was our last afternoon of the trip, and finally--after two weeks traveling all over the country--we were spending some quality time in Tel Aviv, strolling along the beach boardwalk. We stopped for a break at the Frishman Beach, but what caught your attention wasn’t the sunny sky, the endless sea, the inviting sand--or even the bathrooms that had initially drawn us in. No, it was none of the above; it was the playground. It took no effort to convince you to climb up the huge rope structure or to jump up onto the hanging seesaw. What a beautiful site: Heschel students at play in Tel Aviv. The nation of Israel LIVES - עם ישראל חי!
Something I miss from the Israel trip is waking you up each morning to the “Boker tov” song. Some of you loved the song enough that you volunteered to do wake-up duty on the last morning in Jerusalem. And some of you hated the song and were not embarrassed to share your brutally honest feelings with me, which was also okay. But one way or another, everybody got up in the morning.
A late addition to the wake-up song was a short line that went something like this, “vertical is awesome, horizontal’s not.” With this line, sung in a spirited manner, I was trying to persuade you to get out of bed.
However, weeks later, back at school when I was teaching linear equations in math class, this song took on new meaning.
Okay, eighth graders: I really need your attention now. We’re going to take a short break from my speech for a quick math quiz. Fill in the blank. If you draw a horizontal line on a graph it has a slope of? (zero). If you draw a vertical line on a graph, it has a slope of? (undefined). For those of you who answered correctly: kol hakavod! A vertical line has an undefined slope.
So vertical is undefined.
AND vertical is awesome!
Therefore, undefined is awesome!
What is so awesome about being undefined? Let’s review the opening lyrics of the song you just sang, “Unwritten” by Natasha Beningfeld. Fill in the blank:
I am unwritten
Can't read my mind
___________ (I’m undefined)
Eighth graders: you are undefined. But there is no doubt that as you grow and learn you will take on more definition. You will lean toward some things, and away from others. I hope that through the ups and downs, the line of your life will take you on a mostly positive slope, one leading you to health, happiness, love, and peace. I hope you will revel in the up moments of your lives, and will not allow the negative in this world to bring you down. I hope you will continue to be closely connected with each other, the Jewish people, and with Israel.
We read this week about how Aharon climbs a stair to light the menorah in the tabernacle. So now, beloved students, it is your turn to take a step up. Going up might be hard sometimes, and so I pray that you will always have the energy to keep climbing.
As you take those stairs one by one, hold in your hand a small flame of wisdom and generosity; use that flame to light the menorah that has been waiting for thousands of years at the top of the steps. Because in this imperfect world, that menorah *is* waiting for you; waiting for you and that small flame in your hands to shed some light, and to bring more light to the world--one step at a time…one light at a time.
עלו והצליחו
Go upward, and find success on your journey.
