“Mistakes are the portals of discovery” – James Joyce

Our portion this week, Ki Tissa, is full of memorable moments: raising funds to build the Mishkan (Tabernacle), Israelites are instructed to keep Shabbat, receiving the Ten Commandments, worshipping the golden calf, and Moses smashing the tablets.

Throughout the portion, we’re provided with examples of people making mistakes, people reacting to mistakes, and how mistakes can help shape who we are. While maybe the biggest mistake is Aaron and the Israelites’ creation and worship of a golden calf, Moses also illustrates a number of mistakes from potential gaps in leadership and instruction to Aaron and the Israelites to his reaction to their mistake when he smashes the tablets. 

Oftentimes, when we look at mistakes, we look at them negatively and focus on the fact that they happened or how they shouldn’t have happened. Unfortunately, due to a variety of factors, many grow up with the misconception that mistakes are inherently bad. Some of that is by design. Our brains are wired to remember negative experiences more than positive ones. The reason for that, though, is that it is a survival mechanism. It’s thought to have evolutionary roots for us to be able to remember negative experiences, like mistakes, so that we can learn, grow, and be less likely to repeat them. So, while mistakes may have a negative feeling, they’re designed to be held onto as a positive, growth-oriented tool.

When reading the portion in that light this week, I’m reminded of my time as Camp Director and working each summer to teach and train my staff about the power of mistakes. We would talk about the importance of not always swooping in to rescue because if we solve things for young people, how do they learn to do this on their own when we’re not there? 

A key piece of that was helping teach and model mistakes for our campers. We focused on how to use challenges and mistakes as opportunities to teach problem solving and learning by helping teach smart things to do and say when making mistakes and solving problems. We would spend time talking about how handling mistakes in a positive and constructive way is an essential life skill, how we can better model how to make mistakes and how to react to them when we make them. Reacting to mistakes “skillfully” – acknowledging or owning the mistake and keeping a growth mindset about them. I’d often say: “It’s not just whether we make mistakes; it’s what we do when we make them.”

In Ki Tissa, we read about the Israelites and Moses all acknowledging their mistakes, returning to the path they intended to be on, and how they learned from their mistakes to grow and kept reminders to not make the same ones.

An American industrialist once said, “the only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing.”

Even if not working at camp, we can all continue to work to react to mistakes more skillfully.  Even if not modeling for kids around us, acknowledging or owning our mistakes is something anyone around us can learn from — it helps foster trust, and maybe most importantly, can help reframe mistakes for ourselves. This Shabbat, let’s all try to focus more on the positive outcomes that mistakes can bring and work to find the ways we can continue to learn and grow from them.

This week at the J, the Purim festivities continued! How did you celebrate?!

On Sunday, PJ Library families with little ones ages 0-2 had a pre-Purim Bring Your Own Baby Playdate  with costumes, snacks, and goodies — and many new friends and connections made! 

Our teens in BBYO gathered for the second-to-last Better Together program of the school year with residents at Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging where they made Purim masks, exchanged mishloach manot (Purim gift baskets), celebrated their Jewish pride, and enjoyed one another’s company across generations. 

On Wednesday, we partook in one of our favorite traditions of the year: the Early Childhood Education Purim Parade! The costumes were cuter than ever, groggers were shaken energetically, many parents joined in, and the sun came out to shine on the celebration! And Thursday, participants in our Taglit program had the pleasure of listening to a complete reading of the Megillat Esther (Purim Story) in Hebrew by Arik Shem Tov from Chabad of Tucson, done in an astonishing 18 minutes! 

Donned in costume today, kids in Spring Break School Days Out wrapped up the week with s’mores in the Sculpture Garden — a tasty end to the holiday week which also included field trips to Ben’s Bells, Dave + Busters, lots of games and sports in the beautiful spring weather, and so much more! 

It’s a busy and exciting time of year here at the Tucson J and there’s so much to do this season — including stopping by and seeing us at the Festival of Books this weekend (there’s a Flash Sale and Refer-a-Friend Special not to be missed!). As we make our way from Purim to Passover next month, we encourage you to join us for more events and programs like our Community Passover Seder. 

After a wonderful week of celebration, we are wishing you a weekend of rest and renewal. Shabbat Shalom. 

CHALLAH ORDERSMembers can pre-order challah for $6 each week in advance of Shabbat. Orders must be made by 10pm on Monday. Orders may be picked up from 5am-6pm at the Front Desk and/or Sports + Wellness Desk on Thursday and Friday. If you have a child/dependent in one of the J’s childcare programs or Taglit, we can send your Challah order home with them.  Contact Member Services at membership@tucsonjcc.org or mark the boxes on our online order form to set up a standing order or to purchase a new 10 pass for weekly challah at a discounted rate of $55.