I was telling my wife about an interesting story about R' Yonason Eibschutz (great story, for another time). The story involves a man who was sincerely pious, but then got upset when he got r'vi'i (the fourth aliyah) on Yom Kippur. At that point my wife stopped me and asked, in all innocence and sincerity, "What's is there to get upset about? Any aliyah is chashuv! Every word of Torah is chashuv." (That's the problem with my wife, she listens to what I say and reminds me at the most inopportune times...) I started to explain how some aliyahs are considered more chashuv than others, and how he felt slighted, and... and.... My voice sort of trailed off as I realized she was absolutely right. I couldn't explain why the man got upset precisely because there was no cause at all for him to be upset. In fact, he should have been thrilled beyond words to have been called up the to torah on Yom Kippur for any aliyah. In fact, we Jewish men should be thrilled beyond words just because we can get aliyos, daven from the amud, and even be counted in the requisite quorum to allow the recital of d'varim sh'b'k'dusha! It took my wife, who does not have those opportunities (she has others, of course), to remind me of what I can be. Thank you, honey; I'll daven a little better tomorrow because of you.
Two scenarios: Scenario I: A young boy awakened in the middle of the night, placed in the back of vehicle, told not to make any noise, and the vehicle speeds off down the highway. Scenario II: Young boy playing in park goes to see firetruck, turns around to see scary man in angry pursuit, poised to attack. I experienced and lived through both of those scenarios. Terrifying, no? Actually, no; and my picture was never on a milk carton. Here's the context: Scenario I: We addressed both set of our grandparents as "grandma" and "grandpa". How did we distinguish? One set lived less than a half hour's drive; those were there "close grandma and grandpa". The other set lived five hour drive away; they were the "way far away grandma and grandpa". To make the trip the most pleasant for all of us, Dad would wake up my brother and I at 4:00AM, we'd groggily -- but with excitement! -- wander out and down to the garage where we'd crawl
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