The years since World War II have seen an extraordinary wave of Jews returning to their roots on an unprecedented scale
Since the Torah is the blueprint for the entire Creation, it inherently contains within it allusions to everything that will ever exist or occur in the universe. The Vilna Gaon explains that the Torah’s recounting of the episode of Creation contains the events that transpired in the first 1,000 years of history, with the second 1,000 years hidden in the remainder of Sefer Bereishis, the third 1,000 years in Sefer Shemos, the fourth 1,000 years in Sefer Vayikra, the fifth 1,000 years in Sefer Bamidbar, and the final 1,000 years in Sefer Devarim (Rabbi Ozer Alport, Parsha Potpourri).
Her name was Anne, and my brain immediately dubbed her Anne of Green Gables. She had a narrow, slightly freckled face and wavy, dark-reddish (auburn?) hair. Her eyes twinkled; her personality sparkled.
Yet like Anne, she had anything but an easy childhood before entering my classroom.
A Jewish child of a mixed marriage, she’d grown up in a typical Midwestern farming town where she rarely, if ever, saw a Jew. (Proof: there wasn’t even a Chabad center!)
Still, her active brain and emotional acuity accompanied her throughout elementary school, assuring her there was a bigger and greater world out there waiting for her.
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