Four years ago, I posted Part One of Lead Like a Girl. Didn't realize back then that it would be a Part One, but waking up this morning, it occurred to me that it must be. The blog fairies are insisting that I write this one today. Part one was written in March of 2016. Today is September 19 of 2020. Today is the first day in a world without Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg left us last night on the first night of Rosh Hashanah, the beginning of the Jewish High Holy Days, The Days of Awe, when the Book of Life is opened and God sits in judgement of how we, as Jews, have lived our life during the past year. We are offered an opportunity to atone for our sins, ask for forgiveness from those we may have wronged, and promise to be better humans in the year ahead. We ask God to inscribe our names in the Book of Life for the year ahead. Today marks the beginning of the year 5781 on the Hebrew calendar.
I heard the news about Justice Ginsburg's death just as we finished watching the pandemic streaming version of Rosh Hashanah services. I took it hard, with disbelief, as if she had been a member of my own family. Many people that I know took the news just as hard. As a Jew, however, knowing that Justice Ginsburg was also a Jew, I remembered that a death during the High Holy Days has a special meaning. It took some searching, but it gave me something to do as I wiped my tears. Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death just as the Days of Awe were commencing, means that God judged her to be a tzaddik, a person of great righteousness, and though she has been extremely ill recently, she was given the full measure of the year 5780. Ruth Bader Ginsburg seems to have been judged by the One True Judge to have been a good and worthy human. I take great consolation in believing that.
A political maelstrom is just beginning to swirl over which party will be awarded her seat on the Supreme Court. My focus here will not be on that, rather on the legacy she left to all of us, especially to little girls. I know we have all seen the baby and toddler RBG Halloween costumes, more I expect this year, and the myriad of elementary and middle schoolers who have chosen the Notorious RBG as their model for wax museum presentations. I'm sure that we will be seeing many more in the coming days. I even heard that Ruth is predicted to be a popular baby name in the months ahead. Why not? Her name is synonymous with strength, intelligence, and fairness. New parents could do worse than that in naming their offspring.
Described as tiny "as a hummingbird", Ruth Bader Ginsburg grew up in an era very different from this one, destined for strength, determination, and power. Her mother's advice to her was to act "like a lady", and not to waste time on useless emotions like anger, resentment, jealousy, or envy. She learned that giving into emotions like that would sap time from productivity and achievement. Some advice as a young bride from her mother-in-law was to be "deaf" sometimes - tune out what might not be necessary or recommended for you to hear. To Ruth, "acting like a lady" meant clear-thinking independence.
As a recent law school graduate and young mother, Ruth wanted to pursue her career in law. She had, as she told it, "three strikes" against her: She was a woman, she had a child, and she was Jewish. Acting "like a lady", or as I like to call it, "leading like a girl", Ruth shut out the unnecessary distractions and time-wasting emotions to become first a law professor, then director of the ACLU's Women's Right Project, then on to judgeship in the US Court of Appeals, and finally an appointment to the Supreme Court. Her entire life was lived in an "eyes on the prize" kind of way. In my opinion, her story is pure motivation and inspiration for our students, male or female.
I just posted a Close Reads resource on Ruth Bader Ginsburg, much like my other Women's History Close Reads. (Also available for Google Drive.)If you'd like to receive some free sample pages to share with your students, be sure to sign up for my mailing list when the little box pops up on this post. You can grab some free Yoga samples at the same time!
If you have some students celebrating the High Holy Days right now, you may be interested in my Jewish Holidays SCOOT Bundle. The cards make for some interesting conversation in person or in an online meeting situation. I've been told that people use these cards while celebrating with family and friends at holiday times. Should work for ZOOM celebrations too. Try it! Fun and informative!
For more September teaching thoughts and ideas, be sure to take a look at these amazing blogs:
