People do weird things sometimes. How we react usually depends on the person. We all have at least one friend who seems to enjoy acting strange in public, usually to get laughs. When that happens, we laugh or roll our eyes and move on. However, when our more “normal” friends and family members do strange things, it makes us feel a bit uncomfortable. This awkward feeling was exactly what Eva’s friends, teachers and parents had been feeling. Over the span of two weeks Eva managed to have three days full of strange behavior, which she couldn’t explain.
On Monday, Eva was having a perfectly normal day, until lunch. At lunch, Eva, who was in third grade, sat next to the fifth-grade table at which Emma Katz was sitting. As lunch came to a close Emma stood up to throw away her garbage. As she turned around to return to her seat, she was shocked to see Eva running right at her with a crazy look in her eyes. Eva leaped at Emma who managed to move away just in time. Eva landed and turned right back around toward Emma. Emma took off running towards the principal’s office, with Eva chasing her from behind. Emma made it to the principal just in time. She didn’t have time to knock, and simply swung open the glass door, slammed it closed and locked it. “Emma, what is the meaning of—” but then Dr. Rosenberg stopped, staring at Eva who was throwing herself against the door to get inside. Eventually, the school security guard came by and moved Eva away from the door and to a safe location. Eva’s mother came to take her home, which just added to the embarrassment.
On Wednesday things got stranger. Once again, Eva was enjoying a nice normal day until lunchtime. This time, she did not target a specific person, but a certain group of people—those who had bananas as snacks. Eva spent lunch moving around the cafeteria, grabbing every banana she could find. Eva took a few bananas right out of other students’ hands and mouths and even reached into garbage cans to collect half-eaten ones. Eva’s banana thieving binge only stopped when she toppled headfirst into a garbage can containing a banana with one bite left. Eva hit her head at the bottom of the can and woke up 20 minutes later in the nurse’s office with her parents and the nurse standing over her, concerned looks on their faces. It took a minute, but Eva eventually remembered what happened. “I don’t know what came over me!” exclaimed Eva, while fighting back tears. “Suddenly, I just needed bananas and couldn’t stop myself. I’m so embarrassed!” Eva’s parents took her home and set up a few doctor’s appointments, but nobody could find anything wrong with her. So Eva headed back to school, with no explanation, but feeling fine. And all was fine, until the following Thursday.
The following Thursday was a beautiful day, and the sun shone clearly through all the school windows. Apparently, Eva really appreciated this sunlight. From the time she arrived at school, Eva began taking short breaks just to stand by the window, turning her face toward the sun. At first, her teachers took no note, but then she started doing this all around the school. For instance, on the way to gym, Eva stood by a window for 10 minutes before Coach realized that Eva had not come to the gym and went to get her. Randomly stopping by windows was not Eva’s only strange behavior that day. As the morning turned into afternoon, Eva began pouring cups of water on her head. Each time she passed a water fountain, or whenever a classmate took out a water bottle Eva filled up a cup and dumped it on her head. This only stopped when Eva accidentally mistook her teacher’s iced coffee for a cup of water and poured it on her head, snapping her back to reality. “Why are you all staring at me? Why am I all wet?” Eva’s teacher asked a classmate to walk Eva to the bathroom and to explain to her what she had been doing.
Needless to say, this was very concerning for Eva’s parents and teachers, who had no idea what to do. Fortunately, it was Parshat Tetzaveh that week, which helped clear everything up. At the Shabbat table, Eva’s abba asked a question: “If Judaism is a religion that prides itself on mitzvot, middot and doing what Hashem wants, we would think that fancy clothing is not important. Yet, an entire parsha in the Torah is dedicated to the detailed description of the clothing the Kohanim wore. Why the need for fancy clothing and why focus on it?” He then explained that the way we dress can affect the way we feel about ourselves and the way we act. If we want the Kohanim to feel that they are doing something special and important they must dress that way.
Immediately, Eva’s parents looked at each other. “Eva,” began her mother, “do you remember what you were wearing when you chased Emma Katz around the school? What about the banana day? Or the day you kept pouring water on your head?” Thankfully, Eva kept a detailed calendar of everything she wore. She ran upstairs and brought it to her mother. Her mom could not believe what she saw! “Eva dear, last Monday, you wore your hoodie with the dog on it. Then on Wednesday, you wore socks with monkeys. Yesterday you wore the shirt with the flower pattern! It was your clothing all along!”
By Yair Daar
