Ha Ben Yakir Li
Last Shabbat in our shul I watched a little boy holding his father’s hand in front of the open Aron Kodesh.
His head tilted upward toward the colorful Sifrei Torah.
At first he simply gazed at this holy sight.
Then his tiny hand touched his lips, and he blew gentle kisses toward each Torah, as though offering his love to every scroll resting inside.
A moment later his father unfastened the gold chain, lifted one of the Sifrei Torah, and handed it to the Baal Tefila.
The little boy’s name is Efraim. Three years old, yet to me he is one of the most precious members of our shul.
He represents the kind of child who will grow up loving the Torah, loving Yiddishkeit, shaped by the tender guidance of a father who shows him the beauty of every mitzvah.
At Mincha and Maariv he appears again, his steps small but purposeful.
And when Shabbat ends, and our rabbi, Rabbi Dunner, begins the Havdala ceremony, a tiny, familiar voice rises above the murmurs:
“Hafdala, hafdala.”
It was one of the first words he ever spoke.
The Bridge Between Us
Standing there, listening to his little voice call out with such eagerness, something stirred deep within me.
There was a sweetness in that moment that carried me back across decades, to another young boy wrapped in innocence and song.
My younger brother Tomi.
Before the Chagim, when my dear father served as Baal Tefila, he taught Tomi the haunting, tender tune of Ha ben yakir li, born from the words of the Book of Jeremiah.
A father and son standing together, facing each other, singing of Hashem’s eternal love for His children.
A child’s pure voice.
A father’s strong, steady one.
Two generations joined in devotion, just as little Efraim and his father stand today before the Torah.
Watching Efraim call out “Hafdala,” I suddenly felt the presence of my own father.
The same quiet holiness.
The same thread of love weaving its way from one generation to the next.
And So It Continues
A child can be taught well by a loving parent holding his hand and showing him the way to the Torah.
I saw it then.
I see it now.
And I pray it will continue long after us.
Our sages teach:
Parents who raise their child properly are the true heroes of Jewish survival.
Their work can never be praised enough.
