N oam was a tough kid from Brooklyn who had seen some serious stuff in his life.
His father had bipolar disorder and had been pretty much out of the picture since the day he left his family and moved back to his native Eretz Yisrael. Noam’s Israeli-born mother hadn’t handled her marriage with much resilience and had turned to drinking. For as long as Noam could remember he’d been shuffled back and forth between relatives. He finally landed with his mother’s cousin goodhearted “Uncle Yoni ” who had taken complete responsibility for the broken child.
Uncle Yoni and Aunt Sylvie raised him well and did their best to serve as surrogate parents. They even maintained a connection between Noam and his mother when she was sober and able to be a part of his life. Noam was no easy child but Uncle Yoni was a big mensch and kept an optimistic smile on his face even when little Noam expressed his artistic genius by drawing on the walls.
Noam made it through cheder but started some bad habits midway through yeshivah ketanah. With a talent for creating graffiti murals that wasn’t exactly appreciated by his rebbi Noam was asked to transfer to a different yeshivah that handled “those types” of boys but that stay was even briefer after Noam spray-painted a wall with a picture of the mashgiach smoking a hand-rolled cigarette. Soon Noam was on his way to getting kicked out of a wilderness rehabilitation program following his spray-painting of a few too many mountain trails with inappropriate graffiti art. With too much anger at the world to make it even in Wyoming Noam finally decided to “get straight” by serving in the Israeli Army after having run out of other viable options.
