Serializing a new novel.
Chapter 13: Mir Yeshiva (April 2001)
Dean-Daniel has been accepted by Rav Dov into the Mir
Yeshiva if he agrees to learn with a young man who needs a
supportive chavrusa. He has made remarkable progress while
living with Rav Dov's brother-in-law who suffered a
stroke.
Part 2
In this way Daniel entered Mir. His chavrusa was a
young man who did everything at a slow relaxed pace. He very
rarely came up with original thoughts or striking insights.
However, he had a vast knowledge of the Chumash that
he could quote from unerringly, at just the right moment. He
had a beautiful reading voice. When he read out the piece
they were about to study that day it sounded like poetry.
Daniel found that they complemented each other. When he found
something original to say he had an attentive and admiring
listener. On the other hand, the great gaps in his knowledge
were quietly filled in for him, in a manner that was helpful
and without a hint of condescension.
The only problem that arose was one he hadn't anticipated.
While he had worked with the old man in Bnei Brak his days
had been long and tiring, filled with the physical activity
that is a part of caring for someone ill and not totally
mobile. When nightfall came he slept soundly and then woke
early, and immediately went to see if he was needed. Not only
had he slept well, but also his days were too busy to find
time to think and wonder about the future.
His worries about his parents had communicated themselves to
the man he had cared for and his troubles were immediately
shared. One morning they went together to a small shul,
quite a distance from where he was based. When questioned
about this he had been told, "We are going to a special man,
a great man. You will tell him about your worries."
The result of the meeting had been that now each day, after
davening, he had begun to say special Tehillim
suggested by the famous rabbi. Saying them calmed him.
The rabbi had assured him they would safeguard his parents.
His calm demeanor had discounted fears that it was too late
for such actions. In Bnei Brak everything had seemed
possible. Now, in a strange new environment, doubts and fears
once more crept into his mind.
He found he didn't sleep well at night. So late, after
learning, he would go for a long walk around Meah Shearim.
Yet still his sleep was restless and disturbed. He would wake
in the early morning when the sky was still dark and think
once more of that day when he had fled from New York.
One morning he woke early, just as the sun was rising, when a
soft gray light overtook the night blackness. Instead of
tossing and turning in his bed, he got up and peered out. In
the street below a few figures made their way purposefully
down the street. Dressing quickly he went outside and
followed and so began to daven with an early
minyan. It was too early to return to yeshiva, so he
walked around the cool gray streets, enjoying the fresh early
morning air.
This became his daily routine. It was on one of these walks
that he saw an old man open his grocery shop and begin to
drag in the heavy deliveries outside the shop. "Wait. Let me
do that for you," Daniel said, matching action to words he
pulled the deliveries into the shop.
"Young man, why are you doing this? I can't pay you. I only
just make a living here."
Daniel laughed. "Once, long ago, I used to go to a health
club and lift weights. It kept me fit. I guess this is as
good a way as any of keeping fit. See? You are doing me a
favor. You don't even charge me for it like the health club
used to!"
The old man gave a wry laugh, but he found that after that
morning Daniel always arrived to help him.
In this way Daniel kept himself busy from early in the
morning until late at night. In this way he was able to put
aside the uncertainty and terror that had dogged him since
that morning in New York, when he had feared for his life.
Daniel was afraid to make calls to people in New York, not
knowing who was friend and who was foe, and if the call would
be used to trace him. At regular intervals Rav Dov made
discreet inquiries through acquaintances in New York, but no
news of Daniel's parents surfaced.
