“Thank you, Hashem!” he whispered silently. “Thank you for giving my rebbi the idea to review the first perek"

As he walked to yeshivah, Yitzy sensed that there was something different about today. He was feeling something new. That feeling was confidence. After learning with his father the previous night, he felt that he knew the Mishnayos. Maybe he didn’t know it perfectly, but not as badly as he had thought. There was now a glimmer of hope that maybe the Mishnayos competition was not so impossible for him to win.

On the way into yeshivah, he met Yossi.

“Are we learning together today, Yossi?” he asked.

Yossi looked shocked.

“You mean you really meant it when you asked me last night?” asked Yossi.

“Of course I meant it!” exclaimed Yitzy. “Did you think I would make something like that up?”

“I wasn’t sure,” answered Yossi. “When I got home last night I kept wondering if I actually imagined the conversation we had. After all these years of not wanting to learn, I couldn’t believe that you suddenly wanted to.”

Yitzy had to admit that his friend had a point.

“Well, I did mean it,” he answered.

“Okay, okay,” Yossi laughed. “Let’s meet in the Bais Michoel shul at seven thirty.”

“Great,” answered Yitzy.

When he first walked into class, Yitzy felt confident. Unfortunately, once his rebbi started teaching, his confidence began to fade. After so many days of sitting in his seat and daydreaming, he didn’t know if he would be strong enough to pay attention for a long period of time.

“Today,” began Rabbi Davis, “we will be doing chazarah. We are going to review the first perek.”

Yitzy had to hold himself back from shouting for joy.

“Thank you, Hashem!” he whispered silently. “Thank you for giving my rebbi the idea to review the first perek. That’s exactly what I learned with my father last night, and that’s exactly what I wanted to review with Yossi tonight.”

The entire class, including Yitzy, quickly opened their Mishnayos to the first Mishnah.

“Succah shehee gavoah yeser ma’esrim amah, a succah that is higher than 20 amos is not kosher…”

Wow! Yitzy thought to himself. This is so interesting. What would happen if I became the owner of my building, and I wanted to make it into a giant succah? Would it be kosher? Hmmm. I wonder.

Suddenly, an alarm went off his Yitzy’s brain. Wooo-oooo, wooo-ooo! screamed the alarm. You’re not paying attention, Yitzy! He snapped to attention and sat up straight in his seat.

The boy sitting behind him jumped back in fright.

(Excerpted from Mishpacha Jr., Issue 757)