It’s always the highlight of the school year for me, introducing American students to the lovely tradition of sharing the opłatek wafer. The kids love it; the administrators and counselors I invite in love it; I love it.
And I thought that we wouldn’t be able to do it this year. But I’m not one to give up easily when I think it’s something valuable for my kids, so I came up with an alternate plan.
Instead of sharing food, I had kids bring in their own snacks.
“What are we doing, Mr. S?” they asked.
“You’ll see.”
It’s important that they have a bite to eat during the process because that’s what the tradition is all about: breaking bread together.
So the kids divided into two groups, with the inner group rotating in sync, always maintaining social distance, and never touching any other seat.
I showed them pictures from previous years.
“That looks really fun,” one girl said.
Well, it is more fun than what we did today, but perhaps they got a little glimpse of the perfection that is the sharing of the opłatek.