"Dovid," Rina Green said, adjusting her handbag onto her
shoulder, "I'll be late for the PTA meeting if I don't hurry.
Would you please put the twins to bed?"
"Where are they?" Dovid Green asked, looking up from the
gemora in front of him.
"I think I hear them coming home from masmidim."
Rina opened the front door just in time for nine-year-old Uri
to dash in with Reuven, Uri's identical twin, hot on his
heels. Reuven looked up from his shtender while his
wife's hand was still on the doorknob as the two boys raced
in. In the presence of their father, they stopped
abruptly.
Rina took in the sight before her. Uri's shirt was ripped at
the sleeve as well as missing three buttons. Reuven looked
like he'd rolled in the mud.
"Reuven! You look like your shirt is MADE from dirt." She
sighed, waved goodbye to her husband, and saying, "Good
luck," she stepped out the front door, shutting it quietly
behind her.
"What exactly have you two been up to?" Mr. Green asked,
stroking his beard.
Red-faced, Reuven pointed an accusing finger at his brother,
"All I did was ask for some of the candy he got in
masmidim. His pekele was a lot bigger than
mine! So he pushed ME and then I ran after him. Tattee, he
can't get away with things like that!"
"It was MY candy!" Uri hissed. "He downed his in two seconds
and then expects me to give him all of mine!"
Mr. Green looked at his son, "So you pushed Uri into the
mud?" Reuven looked down uncomfortably, "Yes. But I ended up
in it somehow..."
Mr. Green continued to stroke his beard thoughtfully while
his sons stood fidgeting before him. Mr. Green was thinking,
"How can I get these two to stop fighting so often? We've
spoken to them so many times already. We've tried charts with
prizes. We've tried punishments. We try to keep them busy
enough that they won't have time to fight. But here they
are..." He looked at Reuven's filthy shirt. What had his wife
said? That Reuven's shirt was made from dirt... He smiled.
Both boys relaxed somewhat.
"Sit, both of you. I want to tell you something interesting I
learned lately."
They each took a chair and sat.
"Fighting is a pretty bad thing to do, isn't it? The opposite
of sharing and caring. We've spoken about it often enough,
no?"
The boys looked at each other and then down at their mud-
splattered shoes.
"I learned that if a Jew sins, at that moment he's clothed in
the opposite side of holiness! That means, by way of a
moshol, that the front of Reuven's shirt is made out
of anger, his sleeves are made out of jealousy, and his
pocket is filled with not listening to his father. Uri's
ripped sleeve is made from a certain amount of selfishness.
The missing buttons perhaps imply a certain 'missing' or lack
of ahavas Ysrael. What do you say?"
"Honestly!" Uri muttered under his breath.
"Not to mention," Mr. Green continued, "the back of the
collar that is made up of chutzpa."
Uri looked towards the back of Reuven's shirt without even
thinking, then stopped himself. They both began to giggle.
Mr. Green smiled, "Sounds pretty strange, doesn't it? Now
what are your pants made out of?" Uri smeared some of the
dirt near his knees, "Boredom, maybe. Wanting to fight for no
real reason."
Reuven put his hand over his mouth, trying to stifle a laugh.
"Let's go change."
Upstairs, Uri helped tug off Reuven's shoe, they were both
careful to put their dirty clothes in the laundry basket,
then Reuven got the broom and began sweeping up the dirt that
had crumbled onto the clean floor . . . A short while later
the twins came back, arms intertwined, dressed in matching
green and blue plaid shirts tucked neatly into their dark
blue pants, their tzitzis hanging in orderly fashion
over their belts.
"Look Ta," Uri said, "Reuven's shirt sleeves are made from
chessed, since he helped me to find my shirt."
"And the back of Uri's shirt is made from doing what's right
since he apologized to me."
"And both of you," Mr. Green pulled them each close to
himself, "are made from goodness and teshuvoh and
mitzvos! Not to mention that as clean as your outer
clothing is now, it matches with the good middos
you're displaying, which is a lot more important than just
wearing clean shirts!"
Right then, Mrs. Green opened the door, carrying groceries.
"I stopped by the store on the way home." She put the bags
down. "Well, don't you two look clean and nice! And you're
dressed to match as well!" The twins smiled at the double
meaning that their mother wasn't even aware of and ran to put
the groceries away.
