Kedoshim Tehiyu

It's 8pm.  I was out all day with the boys visiting their great grandmother.  When we got home, Chana went to trapeze.  Now it's late and we are just getting started.

Chana asked me for a few words.  She's quite grouchy.  When I reminded her that the word "rei'ei'hu" is "re'ah" not "ra" (bad) but "re'ah" (friend) she said she doesn't remember that at all.  I said we did it a few times.  She said we didn't.  I said back in Bereshis.  She said, "How am I supposed to remember that?!"  Grouchy.

She told me she was grouchy and I asked her why.  She said she doesn't know.

When she came over to do new pesukim, she requested that I sit next to her, not be distracted, and not look at Rashis (that's often how I "prepare": I sneak a look at Rashi as she does the pasuk and see if it will be suitable).  I felt this was a mature and straightforward request.

She couldn't remember which pasuk she is up to.  She complained that this is taking a long time, it is very boring, she can't understand it, she doesn't remember the words, and it is boring.  (Did I mention she's finding it boring?)  For the first time in... maybe ever, she asked me to just read the pesukim and explain them to her.  She said she knows so few of the words she's finding it incredibly frustrating.  I did 4 pesukim, reading Hebrew and translating phrase by phrase into English.  The first pasuk was so confusing to her I did it twice.  The second time with no Hebrew, just pointing to each Hebrew word as I translated it into English.

She grudgingly said she can do the last pasuk of the aliyah.  She zipped through it after a brief complaint about how the letters were very squashed.

I think this interaction demonstrated remarkable maturity and restraint on her part.  At one point, when I asked her to please speak to me nicely, she changed her tone immediately.  Considering that she's operating under extreme grouchiness, I am really impressed.

The derech eretz we practice in our interpersonal relationship while we learn Torah together is as important as the pesukim.