The doctor finished examining little Chaim, wrote out a
prescription and then turned to Chaim's mother. "You are
looking pale, Mrs. Reuben. Are you feeling alright?" he
asked.
"Well, I'm feeling very tired," she replied. The doctor
turned back to his pad and wrote out another prescription.
"Here, Mrs. Reuben, try this; it should take away the
tiredness."
"But, doctor," said Mrs. Reuben, pushing back the piece of
paper. "I should be feeling tired. I go to bed after 2
o'clock every night and I have to be up by seven to get the
children off to school. The only way the medicine you are
giving me can take away my tiredness is by stimulating
something which should not be stimulated. I accept my
tiredness and I know that the real way to get back to normal
is by going to sleep at a normal time."
I remembered Mrs. Reuben's story when we were sitting with
Shimshi Levi to discuss what to do about his increasing
problems.
At cheder every week they learn about one page (two
sides) of gemora with Rashi and Tosfos. They are
tested every week and after they have learnt six pages, they
are tested on all six pages. They also learn and are
regularly tested on Kitzur Shulchan Oruch, Chumash,
Nach, spelling/grammer and math. Cheder finishes
at 5:45 and then most of his class goes on to Masmidim
until seven o'clock. However, Shimshi goes home and then from
7:20 p.m. until 8:00 he has a private tutor because he
usually does not understand the gemora.
Apart from the extra lessons, Shimshi has to go to a
physiotherapist because his physical coordination is not
sufficiently developed.
He wants to be a big talmid chochom when he grows up
and he knows that great talmidei chachomim go to bed
late, so he feels guilty if he gets to bed before ten
o'clock. The school bus comes to pick him up at eight in the
morning.
Shimshi explained that the first lesson after davening
is usually light because the teacher knows that most of the
children are still half asleep. The teacher complains that
Shimshi cannot sit still for the one-hour sessions of his
lessons and that he does not understand the gemora as
well as he should.
Shimshi is ten and a half years old. He has a full working
day and is severely deprived of sleep. He gets very little
exercise during the day and has little time to play. He runs
out of the house in the morning and usually eats his sandwich
during the first break at 10:30. That means that until that
break, Shimshi has not eaten for nearly fourteen hours.
The question facing Mr. Levi is whether he should try to
remediate all of Shimshi's problems. And that is when I
remembered Mrs. Reuben's story. Considering the conditions
under which Shimshi is working, it is perfectly normal that
he should have all the problems he has. It might be possible
to give Shimshi a schedule of remediation and medication
which would enable him to complete each day as is expected of
him. But what would be their long term effect? And if we do
not attempt to help Shimshi, what will be the long term
effects of his not producing the quality of work which is
expected of him?
What is really best for Shimshi? What should Mr. Levi do?
