Everyone went from being the star to being just another talmid in the shiur
Iwas the best kid at learning Gemara in my elementary school class. Recognizing my abilities, my father wanted me to go the yeshivah of Rav Boruch, with whom he was very close. He brought me to Rav Boruch for a one-question farher on Gittin, the masechta I was learning.
With a twinkle in his eye, Rav Boruch asked me whether someone bringing a shtar kiddushin from chutz l’Aretz has to say “B’fanai nechtav ub’fanai nechtam.” I answered yes and was accepted to the yeshivah on the spot.
When I showed up for ninth grade, I learned that all of the other 25 boys had been the best in their classes too. Everyone went from being the star to being just another talmid in the shiur. Rav Boruch wanted all the bochurim to know that no matter how successful they had been until then, his yeshivah was on a whole different level.
I soon found my place in limudei kodesh, but when it came to secular studies, things didn’t go as smoothly. Physics and chemistry were okay, but my English teacher demanded that we learn eight new vocabulary words every week. This was too much for me to handle, on top of the rest of my workload. But failure was not an option — if you didn’t pass your secular subjects, you didn’t move up to the next grade.
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