It’s been over three years now that he’s been coming to us for Shabbos.
We had watched as the famous saying of how drops of water can eventually wear down a stone actually played out on his previously cynical-hardened now softened face. His actual features expressions and actions. His every move has changed since he started learning. And not just learning but constant learning. Never leaving his sefer never wasting a moment.
His life had not been an easy one. Though he’d gone to a Jewish religious school the other boys had not been kind to say the least. The clenching of a few fingers was the only small sign of the larger pain and trauma he’d suffered. From small bits of stories he shared I believe it was a sad mixture of public shame and constant taunting that had semi-closed his eyes and made his face pale and drawn. A constant fear and panic had closed him deep inside himself almost unable to see or feel for anyone else.
He himself would easily admit he’d not recovered and that the small five-year-old hurt boy who still lived inside was unable to give.
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