“Anonymous donor? Come on. Send me the wire info and I’ll tell you who it is in ten seconds flat. Give me a break”
“Shimshy, what can I say? You’ve arrived. You made it. I know it and I think you know it too,” Rabbi Wasser said.
“Did you notice,” he went on as he lifted the blinds, purposely allowing sun into the room so that he could pretend he didn’t notice that Shimshy Lieber was crying, “did you notice that no one laughed or made comments when you were there at seven o’clock this morning? Do you chap that people are taking it seriously?”
Lieber nodded, not yet able to speak.
“That’s what I mean, Shimshy,” Rabbi Wasser said gently. “Real respect doesn’t come from compliments and it doesn’t come from kavod, that’s fake. It’s not about words. It’s about moments like this, you rolling in half an hour before Shacharis today and the guys who were there — Jacobs, Tishler, and Sutton — not even giving you a second glance. No one said, ‘You, Lieber?’ That’s a big deal.”
“Whatsamatter Lieber, you couldn’t sleep?” Shimshy spoke up in an exaggerated mocking voice, and the rosh yeshivah laughed.
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