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The Short Vort
Good Morning!
Today is Thursday the 14th of Menachem-Av 5782 and August 11, 2022
Coming Home
It all began on Succos.
Growing up in a house of a native Yerushalmi, hearing Hebrew and listening to English with an Israeli accent was second nature to me.
So when Aharon appeared in Shul on Rosh Hashanah, and we shared a few words, I quickly realized a lansman had arrived.
My wife made the arrangements, and the Kleins were invited to our Succah for a Seuda over Yom Tov.
It was a second marriage for both.
Both were ex-pats from Israel, and each had their own unique spiritual journey.
Yet, the star of the meal and the most fascinating of the guests was twelve-year-old Ayalah.
After a few moments of conversation, I realized that Ayalah, a pure, pristine Neshama, was attending the local public school directly across from my house.
Before me sat a young girl who was socially and ostensibly intellectually on par with children her age.
Nevertheless, she was shockingly enrolled in a school whose population was 99.9% non-Jewish.
A Jewish girl in a non-Jewish environment? Something was very wrong.
After discussing the situation with her mother, I learned about some educational challenges Ayalah faced.
This led to her mother's decision that these needs could be more properly addressed in the public school with their array of special services.
I was not convinced. However, I realized Ayalah's mother was convinced; therefore, confrontation, which rarely leads to progress, was avoided as I held my tongue.
I remained silent while maintaining a close eye on the family.
Fall turned to winter and winter to spring, and Ayalah remained at Public School Number Three.
Every morning I would see the children, many of them chattering in Spanish, make their way to school.
As I watched the kids entering the school, I davened daily to Hashem to protect Ayalah from the dangers from without and the dangers from within.
Hashem has His time, and we must wait patiently.
Pesach came and went, and the school year was coming to a close.
It was then Ayalah's mother returned for a discussion.
"Ayalah is being bullied and picked on; she hates it there; I made a terrible mistake."
That evening I canceled all appointments and shiurim and met with Ayalah and her mother in my dining room.
My wife supplied water and many tissues (mostly for me) as Ayalah detailed the horrors of her daily journey into a hotbed of hostility.
Tears unabashedly flowed down my face as Ayalah described with gut-wrenching and heartbreaking pain the scorn, ridicule, and outright hatred she was subjected to every day.
Ayalah's daily dose of loathing from classmates included taunts of, "White-girl, you don't belong in our school," along with references to the hopeful second coming of Hitler (yimach shemo).
Every morning Ayalah hid on my block, waiting for the bell to ring allowing the students to enter the building before she dared cross the street to the school.
She hid to avoid suffering the mockery and disdain from her so-called peers.
After dozens of tissues had been saturated with tears and the cry of a Jewish girl had pierced my heart, I made a rare promise to Ayalah.
"Your life of torment is over; tomorrow morning, you will be in Bnos Brocha."
Despite protestations from well-meaning yet, in my opinion, misguided therapists, I held my ground.
I was insistent that immediately, Ayalah be liberated from the torturous tirades of her relentless tormentors.
The public school's supposedly liberal philosophy manifested itself regarding Ayalah as social injustice and identity hatred. This was coupled with a demonstrated belief in non-white privilege, outright bigotry, and antisemitism.
Ayalah had to grin while crying on the inside as she bore the mocking moniker "White Girl."
With a combination of Rebbetzen Weissman's love, Rabbi Yossi Hirth's compassion, and my wife's ingenuity (who procured a uniform within fifteen minutes), Ayalah was fast-tracked back to her birthright.
The next morning Ayalah showed up at Bnos Brocha and was embraced with love and warmth.
At first, Ayalah was hesitant to engage the other girls until a student approached her, hugged her, and said, "You are our sister, welcome home."
Freedom never tasted so good.
What the future holds, only Hashem knows.
However, what we do know is when asked after two weeks, "How is it going? Is there anything you don't like?" Ayalah replied, "I am home, and when you are home, all is good."
Yet, Ayalah had minimal time to speak.
For the first time all year, she was happily engaged with friends as she outfitted herself with proper Jewish apparel at Hosiery Plant.
Update: After spending a wonderful, productive and inspiring summer experience at Camp Nageela under the amazing leadership of Rabbi David and Basi Shenker, Ayalah is presently enrolled in the Tenafly Chabad Academy as this is the best fit for her. She will be starting there in September. We wish her all the best.
“If Not Now, Then When?”- Hillel
Ron Yitzchok Eisenman
Rav
Congregation Ahavas Israel
Passaic, NJ
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