Tales of Treasure: Treasure on the Bench

I knew the first paragraph of bentshing by heart! What’s the big deal you wonder? I didn’t know it was the first paragraph I thought it ended there. That’s all I knew from attending my Jewish-but-not-observant summer camp.

But I didn’t know that I didn’t know.

Not until I spent a year at a school in Israel for students from English-speaking countries. There were kids of all different backgrounds from different countries and different parts of the Jewish spectrum of observance.

School was in English with other overseas students but there were also many tours and trips around Israel and shabbatons. Speakers and rabbis explained things about Judaism I never knew before for example that Shabbos lasted longer than Friday night. And that bentshing was longer than the first paragraph I’d memorized from summer camp.