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Something monumental happened last week. We celebrated the Bat Mitzvah of my precious youngest child, Shai, and it was an extremely special and fantastic experience.
An anecdote to illustrate a little bit about my daughter:
Shlomo, Shai, and I were sitting around before our Friday night dinner. My son is in an advanced electrical engineering and physics program at Tel Aviv University. For some reason I’ll probably never remember, I asked him to tell us a physics joke, knowing full well there was less than a 4% chance I would get it. He proceeded to tell the following joke:
Heisenberg was driving along, when he was pulled over by a cop. The cop said, “Sir, you were driving 90MPH in a 60MPH zone.”
Heisenberg replied, “Great, now I’m lost.”
Crickets (most likely).
Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle
Now, if you giggled, you clearly had a more successful time in your High School physics classes than I did.
For the rest of us… the joke is based on something known as Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle. The idea states that you can know an object’s exact speed, or you can know its exact location, but you cannot know both at the same time. Hence, when the police officer told Heisenberg his speed, at that moment he most certainly did not know his location.
Ergo, “Great, now I’m lost.”
After we stared at Shlomo blankly for a moment, he then explained the joke at length to us, so we could at least get a friendly light giggle out of the deal.
Joke of a Thousand Laughs
But then we thought of a fun idea. Shai would tell this joke at our Friday night dinner and Shlomo and I would crack up while the others at the table would stare in confusion, both at why we got the joke and they didn’t, and at the fact that the joke was was told by an 11-year-old. We had a short window, and started prepping her for the operation, replete with acting lessons and a practice run.
She transitioned into telling the joke seamlessly, and with flawless execution in every way imaginable, told the joke at the table. And the reaction from everyone around was absolutely priceless, as they stared at all of us in utter confusion.
And that’s my little Shai Shai in a nutshell.
Everything she does, she does well. And one of her greatest gifts to this world is her ability to put a smile on anyone’s face.
And she’s been doing it now for twelve years, which is so mind blowing.
I wanted to highlight three things about Shai that stand out to me among a slew of fantastic character traits. The first I’ve already illustrated. She is so darn funny. And I know a lot of people in this world are funny. But frankly, not a lot of twelve-year-olds are. But she’s been cracking me up for years now, and I look forward to many more years of laughter.
Shai is a Curious Little One
The second trait I would like to look at is curiosity.
You can see Shai’s drive for understanding the world in her every facial expression. She is bursting with curiosity, and it’s so much fun to be with someone who wants to experience the world as much as she does.
I can’t think of a time in which we asked Shai to try something new and she immediately shrugged it off as being uninteresting or outside her comfort zone.
So whether it’s helping in the kitchen or going to a line dancing class or going to an escape room or learning how to read from the Torah in preparation for her Bat Mitzvah, every new task or challenge is met with enthusiasm and excitement.
Having someone in your life like that is so wonderful. And inspiring.
I hope the jubilant curiosity never lessens!
Filled with Kindness
Finally, my little Shai has a kind nature that fills me with immense pride.
Several months ago, Devorah was working on a project at our home. She was getting filmed for some online educational videos. Shai was visiting and helped out a bunch while she was there.
At some point, the person in charge asked if she’d be interested in being in one of the videos. Shai, the forever curious one, enthusiastically (and hysterically) participated.
When it was over, the man in charge insisted on paying Shai for everything she had done, and Shai flat out refused to accept the money.
He left the money for her anyway, and we approached Shai with three choices of what to do with the money:
Zero Hesitation
First, she could just keep it and go buy herself whatever she wanted.
Second, we could open up some sort of account for her and she could save the money for whenever she might want it.
Third, she could donate it to the charity of her choosing.
With zero hesitation, she chose the third option. She was so happy and excited to do something nice and good for the world.
The remaining question would be where to donate the money. I had prepared in my mind a list of suggestions, and started telling them to her. The first was a kibbutz I like giving to that helps out Lone Soldiers. I asked Shai if she knew what Lone Soldiers were. She didn’t, and I explained it was soldiers in Israel living here alone, with no family.
Once again, there wasn’t even a quick second of hesitation. Her eyes went wide, and she exclaimed that’s where she wanted it to go, which we took care of immediately.
It takes a very special child to put ice coffees and candy and toys to the side, suppressing the human urge toward selfishness in favor of doing what you can to make someone else’s life better.
And yet at a mere 12 years of age, Shai already has a profound sense of priorities that shocks, intrigues, and delights me.
You Can See the Sparks
Twelve is young. It’s more of a springboard for the rest of your life than actual life itself. Most of us look back and can barely remember the age, if at all. We certainly think of those days as inconsequential. Forgotten in a sea of accomplishments, hardships, and a whole lot of time passed.
Nevertheless, you can still see the sparks. You can see the foundations of greatness.
Shai, this is just the beginning.
There is so much more to come. And so much more amazingness to unfold!
