Class 5A was soooo close to earning an ice cream party. And not just any ice cream party, but an all-day, all-you-can-eat, record-breaking, super-sundae-with-all-the-toppings ice cream party. Yes, thanks to Sammy Bender, whose parents owned and operated Minnie and Moses Ice Cream, 5A was primed for the party of their lives. However, with the class only 37 points away, their teacher, Rabbi Last, went into quarantine. Fortunately, Rabbi Last wasn’t sick (and neither were any of his family members). However, the school was asking teachers who had not yet quarantined that year to spend some time teaching from home. They felt that if some students’ education suffered due to quarantined teachers, it was only fair that everyone had to.
Having a teacher in quarantine did not automatically mean the class couldn’t earn points. The rules were exactly the same, and another teacher was in the room to keep track. The class still earned one point each time a student asked an “amazing” question, two points for each time the entire class did their homework, and three points for not complaining for an hour. Throughout the time Rabbi Last taught on Zoom, 5A earned close to as many positive points as they had when he was there. No, the problem was not with the positive points; it was with the negative ones.
During the 10 days Rabbi Last taught from home, the class earned 122 positive points. This would have been more than enough to earn an ice cream party, even with a few mishaps. However, during this time, the class earned 117 negative points, putting them still 32 points back of their record-breaking party. Making matters worse was the approaching deadline. It was only one day until Rosh Chodesh, at which time the points would reset. Rabbi Last was finally coming back, so they’d probably earn fewer negative points. However, it wasn’t likely that 5A would earn enough positive points in one day to make it. When the class finally realized their predicament, things got desperate.
That night, the entire class went home and thought of questions they could ask Rabbi Last to gain extra points.The plan was to start class by bombarding their rebbe with questions and not to stop until they hit their goal. Although this sounded like a great idea, it didn’t exactly go as planned. After tefillah ended, the class got their stuff ready and sat quietly in their seats. Rabbi Last was pleasantly surprised to see such perfect behavior, but it seemed a bit suspicious to him. Then, at exactly 9:00, his suspicions were confirmed when 30 hands shot into the air at once. (There were only 21 in the class, but some students raised both hands.)
Rabbi Last smiled knowingly. “OK boys, Chumashim open. We will have time for amazing questions later.” “But Rebbe! I can’t wait for this one!” blurted Aaron, without thinking. “Aaron, is that complaining I hear?” asked Rabbi Last. “Great job Aaron!” responded Lior, sarcastically. “Is that shaming and blaming I hear?” asked Rabbi Last.
Fortunately, the class kept to themselves after that. Then, after 45 painful minutes, Rabbi Last opened the floor for questions. Unfortunately, most of them were not amazing. “Did Moshe have any toys with him in the basket?” “Could the mann taste like spicy fries?” “Did Bnei Yisrael keep any of the frogs as pets?” This went on a few times during the morning, resulting in the class earning a few points here and there. Finally, with all the questions exhausted and with five minutes until lunch, 5A was still nine points short of their goal. The boys looked defeated. Rabbi Last took a look around at the sad faces and began to speak. “Boys, just let me share a quick idea with you. I think you’ll like it.” No reaction, so he continued.
“In Parshat Acharei Mot we hear about what the Kohen Gadol would do on Yom Kippur to gain forgiveness for Bnei Yisrael. It starts by saying that the Kohen Gadol is almost never allowed into the Kodesh HaKodashim where Hashem appears in a cloud. Why is this description of Hashem appearing important and what does it have to do with forgiveness?” At the word “forgiveness,” some boys started to perk up, hoping.
Rabbi Last continued. “Hashem appearing in a cloud is His way of saying, ‘I can never fully appear to human beings. I use a cloud of smoke—something that usually blocks sight—to give some version of appearance.’ By saying this, Hashem is acknowledging that human beings can never be perfect, because we can never fully be in Hashem’s presence. This is why He forgives Bnei Yisrael every Yom Kippur.” A big smile then spread across his face. “If you weren’t listening before, listen now. I learned from this that I can’t have the same expectations from you guys if I’m not actually present. Yes, Zoom is a way I can sort of appear, but it’s not the same. Therefore, I think I can forgive some of the negative points, maybe NINE of them?”
The class burst into cheers.
Yair Daar is the middle school dean of students at Yeshivat He’Atid. He can be reached at [email protected].
