Encore: Chapter 11

I

t was the second day of the zeman, but Sholom Wasser felt like it was the hundredth. Being a rosh yeshivah was dizzying, really — like being a baal simchah, being on call, smiling, listening, busy, busy, busy. Today, in the middle of second seder, he’d come into the beis medrash and looked around, and he’d grabbed onto a nearby bench to steady himself.

This was his yeshivah. These boys, 18 bochurim sitting in front of open gemaras, were his talmidim.

And they were great.

They were also exhausted. Two of them seemed unable to wake up for Shacharis, and, working alone, he couldn’t push them out of bed and also be at the minyan. One of them, Lorb, was on a very low level in learning, and another, Tishler, was on a very high level. Both needed work. He felt like he needed five more people on staff just to deal with all the boys and what they needed.

In fact, Mr. Korman had been very clear that they should think about adding staff. He’d even offered to start speaking to people in Lakewood. “One person can’t say shiur and also be sho’el u’meishiv and mashgiach and vekker, it’s too much, we need to get you some help, no?”