NOV. 5, ‘25 // Where Am I? (I) Surrounded by green grass, he took care of his flock, day after day. His sheep were his world, and though refined and pleasant, he was illiterate – a simple shepherd. His parents were converts, who couldn’t provide him with an even basic education. Life was hard and demanding, and there was no time for the luxuries of yore – learning and scholarship. And so he lived his quiet life, tending his herd near the rolling hills, under deep blue skies. He knew little and needed even less, as he wandered the pastures, his eyes reflecting integrity, purity, and deep inner nobility. It seemed as if he was incapable of hate, unfit to loathe. It was true, with one exception. He did not like Torah – Scholars. He despised them. It came to pass that the daughter of his rich master saw his sterling qualities and married him with one condition: He should dedicate his days to learning Torah. At forty, he didn’t even know the Alef – Beis. How realistic was it to expect him to turn into a learned student? He was a middle – aged man, as educated as a three year old – who would teach him? Besides, he hated Scholars, would he now become one of them? He pulled himself up by his bootstraps. The ignorance, the shame, the revulsion, he fought it all. Together with his young son, he came into the Kindergarten class to start from the beginning; Learning the Aleph – Beis. He held on to one side of the board while his son held onto the other side of the board. As one, they studied and memorized: Aleph, Beis, Gimmel… Twenty four years later he returned, at the head of twenty four thousand pupils, a venerated sage. Where would we be today without his strength, his 148
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTY1MDA0