Perhaps you have had moments in your life that have taken your breath away. My teacher, Rabbi Eliot Kleinman, calls these “wow moments”. Maybe these moments included experiencing the wonder of nature, such as:

- seeing a rainbow
- seeing the Grand Canyon
- watching a gorgeous sunset
- seeing our gorgeous Michigan fall foliage

Other “wow moments” can be ones of great joy, such as:
- your wedding
- birth of a child or grandchild
- getting your driver’s license
- reaching retirement age
- seeing your child ride a bike for the first time
- going to the kotel, the Western Wall in Jerusalem
- falling in love
- taking your child to college

Finally, we have moments that take our breath away because they are powerful times of loss or illness. These can include:
- hearing that you or a family member is terminally ill
- death of a loved one
- finishing chemotherapy
- divorce
- death of a beloved family pet
There are actual blessings for all of the above. (If you are interested, you can find them in The Book of Jewish Sacred Practices: CLAL’s Guide to Everyday and Holiday Rituals and Blessing, edited by Irwin Kula and Vanessa Ochs, Jewish Lights Publishing, Woodstock, Vermont.)

We spend a lot of time teaching blessings (b’rachot) to our students. But the truth is, we need a new blessing when we don’t quite know what to say, but we know that we have experienced the “wow moment”. So, here it is; I think you’ll find it easy to memorize:

Baruch ata Adonai, Eloheinu Melech ha-olam….WOW!

Use the above when you know you’ve experienced something amazing and you want to acknowledge the event in a Jewish way.

May our lives be filled with blessings every day.

Uncle Ben helps fund WOW MOMENTS!
Did you know that the Jewish Federation’s Ben Teitel Fund matches money saved for an Israel experience
(the ultimate teenage Wow moment )?

For every $150 you set aside for your child, the Teitel Fund will match it with $100 for a maximum of seven years,
provided that the child continues with religious school.

To pick up an application, please call Keren Alpert at 248.865.0612.

Click on any of the following links to read some of Keren's interesting articles on education.
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OUR HOUSE
ANOTHER MEETING
CHECKING THE PULSE
LIVING TORAH
BIG STORY ON THE LITTLE TOWN
THE BAGEL MAN
NOBODY'S PERFECT
LESSONS ON FILM
BOXES OF SHABBAT
HEBREW HAPPENINGS