The Lessons of the Lollipops

Honey and very sweet food enlighten the eyes of man. (Yoma 83b)

I have become the lollipop lady.

For the past few years, I have been giving caramel apple lollipops to kids on the first day of school. Besides the idea that all learning, especially Jewish learning should start with sweetness, the caramel apple flavor seemed to fit right in with the holiday flavors. We eat apples and honey, why not apples and caramel? 

And then I learned of the wonderful SImchat Torah tradition the synagogue I am currently working with has of giving lollipops to the students starting their Jewish education. We had a whole gaggle of kiddles on the bimah, covered by a large talit, being blessed by the pulpit as they formally begin their lifelong learning. But, I realized that for many of the community, the only contact they have had with me is through a lollipop.

Once the dancing and the hakafot began, I was approached by child after child to request a lollipop. And, while I apologized to several parents who (I hope) jokingly said they would send their dental bills to the synagogue, I got to meet and talk with (albeit briefly) all the children in the room. I had the opportunity to meet younger siblings of our current school children and to meet many of the LGA and the Gan Keshet students.

I even made some friends. One little girl gave me her half eaten apple to hold while she danced and came back to nibble when she wanted (of course, she wouldn’t give me her lollipop to hold; she hung on tightly to that).One little boy sat next to me for a long while and generously gave me his sticker for my sweater. One older boy was curious about the stickers and three older girls wanted all their stickers to match. Obviously, the lollipops served as a sweet entry point to conversation.  

Besides Shabbat, there are no more Jewish holidays for almost two months. We have started our year with this amazing assortment of holy days. Rosh Hashanah which jump-starts the spiritual journey, Yom Kippur in which we dig deep inside ourselves to find a way to better connect our lives to God, and Sukkot which reminds us of the fragility of life are all followed by Simchat Torah which seems to incorporate all the swirling emotions of the past few weeks.

I had one more wonderful conversation at Simchat Torah because of the lollipops. One girl wanted to look at several of them to find the ‘prettiest swirls’. She looked for the colors and for the patterns and finally chose the best one.  I think we can all learn from her approach. The lollipops lasted through the evening, but the memory of the sweetness lasts longer.

The holidays are over but their sweetness will last for awhile.