My Son, the Genius
By: A Yiddishe Mama (a.k.a. Sara Rosenhan)
From the moment I laid my eyes on him, I knew he was destined for greatness. The crinkles on his forehead, the lifted chin and high cheekbones gave such indication. Time did not prove me wrong.
At the young age of five he surprised us all with his first word! We hadn’t expected it until much later.
It was at that time that he showed us the unique way his brain processed things. When the house rules dictated that no chairs can be brought into the kitchen (to avoid the experiments my genius loved to perform), he brought in a table and used that to climb on. Absolute prodigy!
His knowledge of halacha is unsurpassed by anyone else. He learned that haircuts are not allowed on Shabbos and deduced from that, that he can cut hair during the week! He made excellent use of this halacha one weekday on his younger siblings.
His emunah is not to be minimized either. When told that he now has a new baby brother, he replied that he already knew. Since he had davened for it, he knew we would have a baby.
His logic is impeccable. When I explained to him that because he is coming out of bed too many times, I will not be able to bake a cake with him the next day, he thought for a second and said that he will then have to bake it alone.
When, during Chanukah, he is tired in the morning from all the parties and refuses to get out of bed, the simple logic that he won’t be able to come home early (because of Chanuakh schedule) if he doesn’t go to school will get him up and running!
He takes Yomim Tovim very seriously and thinks about all the chagim often. From the day after Succos he thinks about his Purim costume. When others walk around holding food, he is quick to remind them that, despite being the summer, Pesach is around the corner. He’ll practice his shofar blowing in Sivan and will make succah decorations in Shvat.
His safety education is distinctive. When he was at a young age, I explained to him how to ask someone to cross him over the street. He looked at me in shock and explained that under no circumstances will he speak to strangers. In fact, he assured me that it is much safer for him to cross the street alone than speak to someone he does not recognize. What other child would be so smart to think this way?
My son knows how to get around things in ways that no one else would think of. When he could not listen to music during the three weeks, after a moment of thought, turned the page in the calendar! Brilliance at its best. Who else before him has thought of such a simple way to have time pass so quickly?
He has such a knack for finding lost objects, especially the ones that he caused to be lost. His favorite mitzvah is hashavas aveida on items he takes.
His medical knowledge goes beyond the textbooks. When looking at the scans of his heart, he pointed out to the doctor that his heart is so big because it’s full of the mitzvos that he does.
Since he knows that labeled objects belong to others, he has come up with a simple, yet wondrous solution to acquiring objects – he simply writes his own name on them! Such an insight to a perplexing issue! At once, anything he fancies can belong to him!
Sometimes he will share his exclusive knowledge with others. But the anav that he is, he will never let anyone know it’s him. As an elf during the night, he will write his chiddushim and homework answers into others’ notebooks. Aside for his distinctive handwriting, there are no other clues as to who it was.
My son, the genius. Unfortunately, not everyone has such nachas in their lifetime.