In Medieval times, children coming to heder (Jewish school) in Europe for the first time would lick honey from the Torah or a slate with the Hebrew Alphabet. The impact was to associate learning with sweetness. We think the message still applies in our time, and we revived the ceremony (with help from Dan Nichols’ Song Sweet As Honey and Lawrence Kushner’s Talmudic Blessing Translation) for our daughter Shalva’s first day of Kindergarten at Krieger Schechter Day School in Baltimore.
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