This was her 31st year teaching, but her heart still quickened at the sight of this new group of young women, and the knowledge of what this year held in store for each of them

There’s nothing in the world like sunrise in Yerushalayim.

Tammy perched on the bare mattress in the dorm room, rubbed her burning eyes, and smiled as she saw the first rays of dawn glowing in the eastern sky.

A new day. A new year.

She pulled her gaze away from the window and back to the dorm room she’d been checking one last time. The girls should be landing in — she glanced at her watch — about an hour. Passport control, luggage, a short food break, and then onto the Kosel… that meant the girls should be arriving at the dorm in, what? Five hours? Nervously, she opened a closet door, running a finger over one shelf. It came up clean. Everything had to be perfect.

Tonight, these closets would be lined with clothing, the rooms filled with chattering, excited, apprehensive girls, wondering what the year had in store for them. And she, Tammy, would play a role in that year!

Satisfied with her inspection, she reached into her big shopping bag and pulled out three cellophane-wrapped mini baskets filled with chocolate chip cookies. Placing one on each bed, together with a welcome note, she stepped back, threw one last smile at the glowing window, and walked out.

She yawned as she passed through the lounge area. One of the couches had stuffing peeking out of the left cushion, and she briefly considered running home for a sewing kit; why should the girls be greeted by a ripped sofa?

As she stood there wavering — her own apartment was still filled with so many boxes, she had to inhale to squeeze through the living room, and sleep did need to happen at some point — she was startled by her phone’s ringtone.

At six in the morning? Who…? She located her pocketbook on the floor next to the ripped couch and grabbed her phone.

A baby was wailing on the other end.

“Tammy?” Yehuda’s voice cracked with early-morning hoarseness. “Where in the world are you?”

She blinked. “Uh, I’m still in the dorm. Getting things ready.”

“You mean you’ve been there all night?”

Her shoulders tensed. “I’m coming home now. Be there in five.”

“Good, ’cuz someone wants you really badly,” her husband grumbled as Shimmy shrieked in the background.