A gift that doesn’t come wrapped in cellophane
After 30 years of teaching, Mrs. Chaia Frishman has amassed a fair share of end-of-the-year gifts. For most educators, mugs and stationery sets might be cliché, but who doesn’t like a little recognition?
However, during the last week of school this year, Mrs. Frishman’s English Language Arts students at Yeshiva Darchei Torah Middle School gave her something that doesn’t come wrapped in cellophane.
In February, Mrs. Frishman’s mother had passed away suddenly. When the students decided they wanted to do something in honor of their beloved teacher’s mother, they asked their rebbi, Rabbi Akiva Balsam, for ideas. After conferring with him and Rabbi Moshe Leff, the Secular Studies principal, two students, Zev Polakoff and Yisroel Skolnick took the reins and divided up Mishnayos Seder Moed between the students in classes 6G and 6H.
Using a booklet that Rabbi Balsam created, the boys signed up to learn a certain number Mishnayos by the end of the year. The boys stayed the course. It was particularly meaningful that the last student completed the Mishnayos he’d committed to learn over Shavuos.
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