The air was thick with kedusha. I literally felt a whiff of Mamud Har Sinai. Yeshiva Bonim  Lamokom was celebrating Kabalas HaTorah in its own unique way. On the Sunday prior to Shavuos the student body assembled in the large Beis Medrash of Yeshiva Torah Vodaath to celebrate a day of fathers and sons learning Torah together. The event was aptly named ‘Uvos Ubanim’.

When I was a senior in college, I met a young man who changed the course of my professional career.  He was in his mid-20s and was in a day service program that I was assigned to as a clinical experience.  He had Down syndrome.  I had never before met anyone with Down syndrome (DS). He had a wonderful personality and enjoyed every aspect of his life.

Several months after my dear mother’s passing, I was very touched to read the Editor’s Message in DSAU #27. I will quote the passage that affected me so profoundly.

Welcome to the world. I’ve been here for 25 years. I also have Down syndrome. I’ll help you get aquatinted with your special journey. Our families are very close.

When our son Avichi was born thirty-one years ago with an extra chromosome in each of his precious cells, I could not anticipate that he would survive open heart surgery, be fluent in two languages, live an hour and a half from me in his apartment with his wife Kirin, of ten years, volunteer two days a month assisting the mayor Shuki Ohana, in Tzfat, and a million and one things no one wrote about or anticipated.

We had a dramatic Shabbos morning experience several weeks ago. We awakened to pouring rain. Our in-house wandering Jew, a/k/a Moishey Sander, had left to shul later than his father and brother did, while the females of the house were still sleeping.