After experiencing a beautiful Shavuot in 5784, many people wished each other “a gitten zimmer.” This customary bracha is the unofficial start of summer in many communities. However, it is also another way of saying, “Our next Yom Tov is Rosh Hashanah.”
When people wished me “a gitten zimmer,” my “Amen” was said with a little more focus and intensity than most years. This is because in our family we had already circled the entire month of Tishrei on our calendar. There is only one reason why we would do this in our home—because Tishrei of 5785 was going to be the month of three, three-day yamim tovim in the Diaspora.
When I was a child, I enjoyed these yamim tovim—the extra days were like a bonus as we would now have less school than we would in a regular year. However, after experiencing harrowing yamim tovim with Shaul (see All the wrong reasons to make aliyah), three-day yamim tovim were anything but pleasant.
Each time they would come, we would try a different method to help Shaul (and ourselves!) make it through the three days without being terribly miserable. However, no matter what we said or did not say, Shaul would be inconsolable and make all those around him wish for a merciful end to the Yom Tov.
Then came this past Rosh Hashanah. Somehow, some way, Hashem put it into my head to change the script and say words which became magical—“First Yom Tov, then Shabbos, then computer.” When I first started using the words, I didn’t have confidence that they would be effective. However, Shaul latched onto them like a lifeline and we (Shaul and I) used them repeatedly as a lifeline. This worked for Rosh Hashanah and again on Sukkot. It was nothing short of a revealed miracle.
When asked by relatives why these words worked when so many others through the years had not, I answered, “Perhaps Shaul’s understanding of the passage of time has improved as he has grown older.” After all, he is 23.
Incredible. While most children master the passage of time before the age of 10, it took Shaul until his early 20s. However, instead of being depressed by this, I am extremely encouraged. The conclusion I have come to is that this young man is capable of learning things which just a few years ago seemed impossible.
It is so easy to give up hope when year after year one’s efforts meet with the same results. However, Hashem taught us that he could send salvation in a blink of an eye—it won’t even make sense but, to us mortals, it doesn’t have to—it just has to make sense to the One Above.
May Shaul continue to learn on his own timetable and we be zoche to appreciate his successes for many years to come!
Rabbi Yehuda Minchenberg is a fifth-grade rebbe during the school year and teaches Torah at Camp Regesh during the summer. At home, he (together with his wife, Laurie), is the parent of six children, four of whom have varying special needs.
