Yitzy lifted his head and looked around the room. The twins had fallen asleep on the couch, but the rest of his family was still saying Tehillim. He looked up at the clock. He couldn’t believe it. He had been saying Tehillim for a whole hour. He had never said so much Tehillim in his life.

Rabbi Levinson put down the Tehillim he was holding and picked up his phone. He called Rabbi Brody back. After speaking softly into the phone for a few minutes, he hung up and put the phone back down. There was a puzzled look on his face.

“What happened, Tatty?” Yitzy asked.

“It’s strange,” answered his father. “Rabbi Brody called all three of the local hospitals, and they all said the same thing. No patient named Irving Greenbaum was brought in today.”

“Maybe he’s still in the emergency room,” said Mrs. Levinson.

“I don’t think so,” sighed Rabbi Levinson. “Rabbi Brody is a hospital chaplain. He makes regular visits to all of these hospitals. He knows all the nurses and doctors. He asked them to look in their emergency room listings, and none of the emergency rooms have seen Mr. Greenbaum today.”

“That is strange,” agreed Mrs. Levinson.

“What do we do now?” asked Dassie.

“We keep saying Tehillim,” answered her mother.

The family went back to their Tehillims. Yitzy thought about poor Mr. Greenbaum, sick and all alone. He asked Hashem to make his old friend well again.

Suddenly, he felt a tap on his shoulder.

He looked up to see his father quietly motioning for him to follow. He followed his father into the kitchen.

“You know, Yitzy,” he said, “Learning Torah is a great zechus. Maybe we should learn some Mishnayos, as a zechus for Mr. Greenbaum to have a refuah sheleimah?”

Yitzy’s first reaction was to be upset.

Here we go again, he thought to himself. Once again, someone wants me to prepare for that contest.

Then he thought about poor Mr. Greenbaum. He knew that his old neighbor would be very happy if he would learn.

“That’s a good idea, Tatty,” he answered.

Father and son sat down and each one opened a Mishnayos.

Rabbi Levinson said the first Mishnah aloud. Yitzy did try to pay attention for the first ten seconds, but then he began remembering Mr. Greenbaum being wheeled out on the stretcher. He had looked so sick. Yitzy felt bad that he had been upset at Mr. Greenbaum on Shabbos for reminding him about the Mishnayos contest.

Suddenly, Yitzy remembered that he was in the middle of learning Mishnayos with his father. He was supposed to be learning as a zechus for Mr. Greenbaum to get better, and here he was daydreaming again.

“Um… Tatty,” he stammered, “would you mind starting that Mishnah over again?”

Rabbi Levinson was stunned. Yitzy had never taken enough interest to ask him to repeat something before.

He looked into Yitzy’s eyes. The boy really looked eager to learn. Rabbi Levinson smiled.

“Of course, Yitzy,” he answered, and immediately, went back to the beginning of the Mishnah.

Forty-five minutes later, the phone rang.

Rabbi Levinson read the name on the caller I.D.

“It’s Rabbi Brody,” he said.

Rabbi Levinson said hello, and then listened quietly for a very long time.

(Excerpted from Mishpacha Jr., Issue 749)