Mommy heard me out. She heard the desire and hesitation in my voice

Did you ever hear that Rav Hutner ztz”l credited his mother with keeping him away from the clutches of the maskilim, the Reformers who tried taking the heart out of Judaism and just leaving the outer trappings of “tradition”? She did it with a beautiful dress. One day, when Rav Hutner was 11, he mentioned to his family that he had just finished learning Maseches Bava Kama. The next day, he was shocked to come home from yeshivah and find the table set, candles lit — and his mother wearing a beautiful new dress that the whole family knew she was saving for Yom Tov! She explained that as much as it wasn’t Yom Tov yet, her biggest joy — the best thing in life — was watching him devote himself to growing in learning. He knew then how much she valued his Torah.

With that image before him all his life, nothing could succeed in swaying him from the truth.

That was one of the stories we heard over our Shabbos in Tifrach. Limud haTorah is all that matters, and as women, we learned, infusing our homes with a love for Torah would be our job.

But coming in for a landing after Havdalah meant facing reality. Which involved the fact that committing fully to Torah learning automatically meant being prepared for the possibility of living life on a much simpler physical level.

Luckily, I had Mommy to call.