Rabbi Mendel teaches mornings at the Maimonides School in Albany NY. One of his classes is TNT/MC (Torah and Technology, and the Maimonides Community newsletter) which he prepares with students each week, with reporting on their learning, photos from activities etc, communal events – it is well-read by many each week in the Albany community. One weekly feature this year is called “High-5” which students submit on a specific concept, or period in history, or area of learning.
This past week’s “High 5″ was: Five Life Lessons learned from Snow! Since then, the 15” (or so) that we had here in the Capital Region melted due to the rain and warming temperatures, but the lessons are still quite applicable! Most these lessons are from students in grades 4-8, though #4 is from a Twitter friend of Rabbi Mendel, and #5 was Rabbi Mendel’s idea.
(1) No two are the same! This may be cliché, but it’s true about snowflakes and it’s true about people. Each snowflake (when seen under magnification) has splendid design and is quite different, each one is unique. No two snowflakes (or people) are the same, even if you might not realize that without a closer look. On the other hand, snow also has a unifying sameness, a pure and uniform color. While white is usually a boring, bland color, the brightness and pristine look of fresh snow makes any landscape look so beautiful, no matter what is underneath.
(2) Snowflakes stick together! As we should… And while they fall so softly and gently, they can become quite hard and strong when packed together. It can also be compared to little tidbits of information that we learn each day, fresh, soft and new, that accumulate as we grow and become something solid.
(3) Snow on Failure: Falling is easier in soft snow & we get back up quick. Important in life when we’re down. Sometimes we (kids) get upset when big fun snow piles melt and disappear, but can be comforted that as long as winter is around, it will snow again. If you build something and it breaks? Just build it again! There’s an opposite lesson in that, too. Snow won’t be around all year, we ought to take advantage and make the most of it, while we have it – literally at our fingertips!
(4) “He gives snow like wool” (Psalms 147, from the daily morning prayers). Not just that they’re both white, but that they both insulate (think igloo). @RabbiShaul (on Twitter – who remembers Rabbi Rubin asking him where do we find snow in davening): Reason snow & wool are good insulators is because of the pockets of air between flakes/threads” similar to Rabbi Mendel’s theory on Matzahball physics on floaters vs. sinkers!
(5) Leaving Tracks, Making an Imprint! Snow (or soft earth) highlights the fact that our comings & goings leave tracks and make an imprint. You can look out the window in the morning and tell right away if someone walked out in the snow yet, if it was a person or animal, big steps or small, you can even see specific shoeprints and tire-tracks. Dry concrete or pavement doesn’t visibly show how our steps change our world.