Miss Goldenberg the seventh-grade Yahadus teacher told her class the story of Mar Ukva and his wife who hid in a lit oven to avoid embarrassing someone. They preferred to be burned than to shame someone publicly. Her pupils were awed.

“That’s amazing!”

“Wow!”

“Unbelievable!”

Miss Goldenberg looked around the class. “Any suggestions as to how this story is applicable to us? We don’t usually have to jump into burning ovens after all!” she said to the girls.

“I guess it means we should be willing to suffer rather than hurt others” said Chani thoughtfully.

“Like if I get blamed for something I didn’t do I could remain silent rather than expose the guilty party” said Miri.

“Good!” said Miss Goldenberg. “Let’s try hard to go the extra mile to avoid embarrassing others.”

That afternoon Chani was about to learn for the Navi test when she remembered that she’d left her book at her friend Shiffy’s house. Groaning Chani snatched her coat and ran down the two blocks. Making her way up the path Chani noticed that something was wrong. Shiffy’s front door was partly ajar and the house seemed to be in total chaos. The floor was strewn with items and in the background Chani heard yelling voices. She froze when she heard Shiffy sobbing loudly.

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