KIEV—I’ve experienced it 24 times since my husband and I first came to Kiev, where we lead the Simcha School and a beautiful community in the eastern part of the city. Every year, on the first of September, I wish once again that the school year in Israel would open the way it opens here in Ukraine.

In Ukraine, the opening day of the school year is a real holiday. Everyone troops solemnly in, dressed in white shirts, laden with bouquets for the teachers and ready to celebrate the “first bell.”

Excited incoming first-graders ceremoniously march in as everyone—fellow students, parents and guests—applauds them. The ceremony ends with the ringing of an ornate bell, and only then are the children dismissed to their classrooms. I have no doubt that this festive opening day affects the rest of the year, giving the feeling that every day you come to school is a holiday.

But today, in contrast to our long tradition, there was little celebration.

And instead of the 400 sweet students who had previously filled the school corridors with excitement, we opened the school year with only 150 students, hoping and praying for the Redemption and for the end of the war. We have no idea how the school year will end, but we can hope.

In the place of the celebration in the large courtyard, the students trained on what to do when sirens go off.

During the summer, new shelters were built to accommodate the children. We equipped them with furniture so that the schooling can continue uninterrupted, and I hope they remain fresh, unsullied and unused.

Don’t get me wrong. This was not a depressing day by any stretch of the imagination.

The fact that the school year opened and that the students have arrived at the school building, which has been empty since the outbreak of the war, is a real celebration!

As in years past, students and their families came together for the first day of school, a usually festive occasion.
As in years past, students and their families came together for the first day of school, a usually festive occasion.

We have lost many students, who have gone to Israel and elsewhere. But we have also gained some students, refugees from Kharkiv, Mariupol, Kherson and Eastern Ukraine.

As emissaries of the Rebbe, who taught us to sacrifice for the good of others, we will celebrate the very fact that our school has opened, that Jewish life continues to thrive here in Kiev. We will celebrate the fact that despite the difficulty of coming from neighborhoods all over the city during wartime, the parents did not give up on giving their children a Jewish education. We will celebrate the fact that we remained steadfast despite the stormy winds. As the Rebbe taught us, educating the younger generation is the promise of the Jewish future.

Even though we did not ring the opening bell this year, we did blow the shofar loud and clear for parents and children to hear, as we do every year.

The Jewish year of 5783 is upon us, and we pray to G‑d that it will be a good and sweet year, a year of peace, and a year of Redemption!

As he has done every year for the past 24 years, Rabbi Mordechai Levenharts blows the shofar for parents and students on the first day of school.
As he has done every year for the past 24 years, Rabbi Mordechai Levenharts blows the shofar for parents and students on the first day of school.

A news article on the first day of school in Ukraine can be found here.