Then he thought of his parents. They had been so nervous about the rent. If he won the building, they would never have to pay rent again. He had to win the building. He must get a hundred on the next math test!

Yossi was amazed. “Yitzy, what happened to you? I never saw you pay attention at all during class. But today you were flying. You answered two of Rebbi’s questions and even asked one of your own. What did you eat for breakfast today? I want to have some too.”
Yitzy didn’t know what to answer, so he just smiled and shrugged his shoulders.
The truth was that Yitzy himself was surprised. He would never have imagined that he could pay attention to his rebbi for so long. He never thought he would know enough, or have enough nerve, to ask a good question of his own. He kept wondering if the morning’s Mishnayos class had been just a dream and he would soon wake up to find he was the same Yitzy he used to be.
He didn’t have that much time to think about it though, because his math class was about to begin.
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