I slowly wrote the rest of my reply, hit send, and opened up a world of possibilities

December 2019

Nat closed his sefer, setting it carefully on the coffee table, then looked down at his chavrusa.

“That’s why we light an additional candle each night of Chanukah,” he explained. “Because as the eight days went on, the neis of the oil was more and more miraculous.”

Silence.

“Are you even listening, buddy?” he asked. “You’ve got a lot to learn, you know.”

On Nat’s chest, our tiny neis stretched, yawned, and went back to sleep. On the nearby folding table, three menorahs glowed with five flames each.

Eliyahu Meir had joined our family three weeks earlier than we’d anticipated, after a difficult and eventful delivery. After a short stay in the NICU, he came home in time for the chagim to start. We quipped that he was such a mitzvah boy that he didn’t want to miss a minute of the holidays. His bris fell out on Tzom Gedalyah. We’d joked about throwing our budget out the window and hosting a lavish affair, but Hashem worked it out otherwise. We served a modest break-fast meal in our shul after Maariv.

“Do you want me to move him to the crib?” I asked from the doorway.

“Nah, he’s comfy,” Nat replied, stroking Eliyahu’s hair. “Why don’t you get some work done? I’ve got him.”

“Thanks,” I said, and walked down the hallway, turning the corner to head into our office.

I sat at the desk and opened my laptop. I had left my teaching position when Eliyahu was born and was working from home now, creating online curriculum materials. I smiled as I caught sight of the Post-its in the corner of the screen — the “sleep on it” note was now joined by notes that read “that cute baby outfit will last three minutes” and “Eliyahu will like the box more than the toy you buy.”

Suddenly, I heard the ping! of an email notification. I opened a tab for my inbox and saw that my former coworker, Allison, had written.

Finance curriculum? the subject line read. Intrigued, I clicked the message and saw she wanted to know if I could send over the materials I had made for my Week Without Walls course. I was about to reply with an enthusiastic “yes,” but then I paused.

Are the students really going to learn that much from a bunch of worksheets?

Hey, it’s good to hear from you, I typed. I’m happy to send the curriculum folder to you, but I wonder if what the kids need is someone in the classroom who can answer their questions and provide guidance when it comes to managing money…

I slowly wrote the rest of my reply, hit send, and opened up a world of possibilities.