A Mentchen Convention

Honorable mentchen
At a convention
Did I mention
With one intention

To grow
To learn
To teach
To yearn

To ensure that
The young ones learn
When to be gentle
When to be stern

Converse with those
Who duly chose
A lifetime pledge
A child grows
And mesorah
Believes and knows

To bask and hear
From yesteryear
Unbroken chains
Direction clear
They come again
Year after year
To hear, to bask
To seek, to ask
Because they care
To speak, to share
Year after year

From all across
The fruited plain
How to impart
How to explain

So children shall
Always remain
Their heritage
They will sustain
As never old
Never arcane
Always new
Never mundane

The challenge met
Head on each day
With meek support
And little pay

Few bonuses
No corporate checks
And bailout funds
No one expects

And yet they come
Back each day
To teach our children
Our way

And once a year
A respite for
Those who accept
Their holy chore
To nurture those
They all adore
And they come back
To look for more
To teach the next
And future dor

The sweetness of
Our holy Torah
Thank you
Torah Umesorah