My Home in Israel

When I went to pick up my older daughter today at her kindergarten, I thought something wasn’t right. The assistant to the morning teacher was at the door.** She asked me to come over, and to have my daughter stay with the group. She had some sad news to share….

The assistant for the afternoon program went into cardiac arrest this morning and died. She was in her 60s. The supervisor for the afternoon program decided to hold off telling the children until after Yom Kippur. (There aren’t any more afternoon sessions until then anyway) On the Tuesday after Yom Kippur they will have a psychologist there to talk with the children.

Part of me wants to tell my daughter, because I feel that death is something that parents need to explain (can it be explained?) but on the other hand, I think they are right dealing with this as a group. Even though we’ve only known this woman for less than a month, it is hard to imagine that she is gone.

UPDATE: This afternoon (Tuesday) when I asked the teachers if the psychologist came, the answer was that they decided not to tell the children, and just say she isn’t coming back anymore. I think that is so wrong. People die, that is life…my daughter has lived through the death of three of my grandparents..one of whom she definitely has memories of. She has been to the cemetaries to see their gravestones, and she has seen me cry. In a country where hundereds of people died during the last war, and most of these children did see the news on television (unlike my daughter, I might add) I can’t believe they are missing this opportunity to teach. Shouldn’t these children at least be afforded the opportunity to send a condolence card to her family? From talking to some people, I think this is a cultural issue. My “anglo” friends agree with me, and the mom I spoke to from the school greatly disagrees. You may think that I could tell my own daughter, but I know her, and she will tell her friends, and then I will have angry parents…sigh.

**Kindergarten only goes until 1PM, after that there is an afternoon program (which you pay for) with it’s own teacher and assistant.

Just a quick note from Yom Kippur. The Little One was looking through the bag of things I had brought to the synagogue (water, snacks, toys etc..) and came upon the change of clothes I brought for her, if she should have an accident. (We are still doing potty training.) She decided that the purple Ariel dress was better than what she was wearing. So what did she do? She peed all over herself so I would have to change her. (No, I didn’t include a change of socks & shoes in the bag)

Can we say manipulative?