Do you have an ometz lev?

The story of Hanukah is always a fascinating tale for 5 and 6-year-olds. It contains archetypal characters:  a mean ruler, heroes, a battle (involving elephants no less), and a surprise ending. But at its core, it's about courage. It's about having the strength to stand up for yourself and others, just as the Maccabees stood up to King Antiochus.

Sometimes it's hard to be courageous. You might be very scared or feel as if your voice doesn't matter. But deep inside each one of us is an ometz lev. These Hebrew words mean "heart-strength," a brave heart. 

It was a surprise to our kids to discover that each one of them has an ometz lev. We asked, "Is courage something you're born with, or is it something you learn how to do?" The kids decided it was something you learn. No one's courage is the same. But, you can practice having courage. 

What is courage? 

How can you practice having courage? 

One way is to follow these 3 steps: 

Stop

Breathe

Figure out what to do

The class wanted to wake up Fuzzy Bear (a puppet for those of you who haven't met him), and ask him about courage. The problem was, he wouldn't come out of his sleeping bag. He had just had a bad dream about a T-Rex trying to eat him. Several children told him that he needed to have an ometz lev and that he needn't be afraid since dinosaurs are extinct. They explained to Fuzzy how to stop, breathe, and figure out what to do. He tried it, and felt much better.  

Why is sometimes hard to have an ometz lev? 

Anne held up a piece of paper. She invited kids to try and see if the paper could hold a book on top of it. Each time a kid tried, the book would slip to the floor. 

Anne then rolled the paper into a tube and carefully placed the book on the
open end of the tube. 

It worked! 

At first, the paper didn’t seem strong - it seemed weak - easy to crush. Sometimes people don’t feel strong, they feel weak. If they have a problem, they feel like they don’t have the courage to take care of the problem. But they can practice courage and try different approaches - like rolling up the paper - and then they can turn their weakness into strength!

When might you need an ometz lev? 

What if you see someone saying mean things to someone else? The kids thought about this and then drew their own ometz lev scenarios.

"The top picture is the courage of meeting someone new. One person is happy, one is shy." "The 2nd picture shows Evelyn is helping Asher climb the rock wall." "In the 3rd picture I drew me learning how to write v  and w, the new letters." 

"I drew a picture of someone giving bread to someone who's hungry. He's saying, "Here you go." And he's saying, "You're so kind."

The day after we introduced the idea of ometz lev, a child came to school and told this story: "My mom was being really mean and yelling at us. She said we weren't doing what we were supposed to be doing! But she was wrong. We were doing it (getting dressed). I had an ometz lev and lots of courage and I told her to stop because we were getting dressed. She didn't know that!"

On this Hanukah, it's our hope that we all realize that we each have an ometz lev. We can use it to bring light into the darkness that sometimes pervades our world. We can be brave for ourselves and courageous for others, speaking out when we see injustice.

Postscript:

CBI Kindergarten kids were delighted to discover the name of Rabbi Rachel's dog. It's none other than Ometz Lev, the perfect name for a rescue dog.