Baltimore, MD - September 2, 2026 - Today is the second day of school, at least for me.  Some of our children and Mechanchim have already been in school for over two weeks.  It is also a milestone year for me in chinuch that I still can’t believe I’ve reached, and it’s a bit unreal to ponder as to where the time has gone.  I wake up at the crack of dawn, literally before Olos HaShachar, and hence I write this. I also go to bed quite early now because teaching preschool is extremely physically exhausting at the beginning of the year. I feel like my students who shared with me yesterday, on the first day, that they too woke up when it was still dark. My son also starts his day early as well as he has to catch the bus to Yeshiva (of Greater Washington) that leaves from BJSZ before 7.  And so it goes, a new year, new schedules, and juggling once again after a glorious summer in the rhythm of our lives.  It is the twentieth day of Elul.  In ten days, we will be in shul davening for all good things as we greet, by the grace of G-d, another Year.  It is an awesome thought and a bit unnerving as well. Rosh Hashanah is literally around the corner.  You, or at least I, feel it in the early morning air.  While it hasn’t been quite crisp and fresh yet, it is  September in muggy Baltimore ya’ know, there is still that feeling with the loud chirping of the crickets, and the occasional nip, that the seasons are changing, and Something is about to change as well. We pray that it is for only good things. As a teacher, there hasn’t been much time for introspection.  I have been in my classroom, “making Pesach,” schlepping furniture, setting up and freshening up for my new students.  My head is in what projects need to be cut out and when are we doing what, and beginning the long process of molding children.   I have not cooked nor baked, with barely any time to think of a menu, however I did appreciate those long teacher meetings for giving me an opportunity for that. And still, I am greeting the King in the Field in my own way. There is nothing like teaching the concepts of Elul and Rosh Hashanah and the other Yomim Tovim throughout the year that gets you in the state of mind for that upcoming Chag or Moed. My profession, and gratefully so, naturally allows for Shloshim Yom Kodem HaChag as I teach the children, prepare the projects etc., that gets me in that state of mind. I imagine it is this way for the other people of our Anatevka town of Baltimore, whether they are the butcher, the baker, and the candlestick-seller, as other people (not myself) are crowding the stores for their yom tov needs. Rosh Hashanah is indeed coming. My family experiences Elul even more so. We have Yahrtzheit for my father, on the first day, and my grandmother on the second day. Ten days later is my grandfather’s.  It is a heavy time of year to say the least. For my mother, my brother and myself, Mi Yichye U’Mi Yamus is not a theoretical concept but a real one, very much so. We pray in their memory and zechus for another Happy Healthy Year for ourselves for our families, for the Jewish People, and for the whole wide world.