The Garfunkel children sat in the living room. They had brought out the box filled with all of the old Toras Avigdor Junior booklets and were enjoying reading them.
“Hee-hee,” laughed Bentzy, pointing at the illustration. “Tzadok Hatzadik is dancing with a cat!”
“My favorite character is Yitzy,” said Shmuly. “He seems so smart. I wish I was as smart as him.”
“You are smart,” Simcha said. “What about that pulley system you rigged up to turn off the light without having to get out of bed?”
“I bet Yitzy would have made one that turns of the light and fills up his negel vasser cup,” Shmuly said with a grin.
“Do you guys think Mayor McGillicuddy is a real person?” asked Shalom, reading his booklet.
“I don’t think so,” said Shmuly. “Who would vote for such a crazy guy?”
“What about the Friedman family in University City?” Simcha asked. “Are they real? University City sounds like a fake town.”
“My friend Yossi said his cousins live in University City,” Shmuly said. “It’s a suburb of St. Louis.”
“Ask him if he knows the Friedmans,” said Shalom.
“Well Tzadok Hatzadik is definitely fake,” Simcha said. “No real person would accidentally shave off half his beard that many times.”
“I want them to put my name in Toras Avigdor Junior,” said Bentzy. “Then I’ll be famous, just like Dudu Manor!”
“Why don’t you write them a letter?” asked Simcha. “Maybe they’ll put your name in.”
“They won’t,” Shmuly said. “I already tried that. They just wrote back thanking me for enjoying the booklets.”
Parshas Pinchas
“What if we write a letter every day?” asked Shalom. “Like how Moshe Rabbeinu davened for 40 days - maybe that will work.”
“Why do you guys want your names in the booklets so badly?” laughed Simcha. “Here, take this pen and write it in yourself.”
“Write in a Toras Avigdor booklet?” Shmuly asked, picking up the booklet he accidentally dropped and kissing it. “How could you say such a thing!”
“Hi kinderlach,” Totty said, walking into the room. “Mommy wanted me to tell you that supper is almost ready.”
“Totty, do you know Anshel Holtzbacher?” asked Shalom. “Maybe he could get them to put our names in a Toras Avigdor Junior story.”
“Anshel Holtzbacher isn’t real,” Shmuly said.
“How do you know?” asked Simcha.
“I never saw him listed as an honoree in any of the dinner ads for yeshivos. Someone that rich would definitely have been honored.”
“You know boys,” Totty said. “It’s great that you want your names published. And these Toras Avigdor Junior stories are great reading material.
But the most choshuv place to have your name mentioned is in the Chumash.”
“But Totty,” Shmuly said. “The Chumash was already written. How could we get our names in there?”
“Great question, Shmuly. But there is going to be another Chumash. One that hasn’t been written yet.”
“Really?” said Simcha. “But why would it mention our names? We’re just kids and we’re not famous or anything.”
“We will be if they put our names in Toras Avigdor Junior,” Bentzy said.
“Boys,” said Totty. “Think about the story of the Bnos Tzelafchad. Machlah, Noa, Chogla, Milka, and Tirtzah. Why were their names mentioned in the Chumash?”
“Because it happened in the Midbar and we learned halachos from that story,” Shmuly answered.
“Okay, but then it could have just said Bnos Tzelafchad. Why did it mention the names of each of these five little girls? And Rav Avigdor Miller explains that if they were mentioned in the Chumash then they were obviously very special people. There were over a million Yidden in the Midbar, yet most of them were never mentioned. The only reason these girls were given the kavod of being mentioned was because they were great people, tremendous baalos midos tovos.
“And Eliyahu Hanavi and Melech Hamoshiach will write a new Chumash, as the Midrash says, people of exceptional character, even kinderlach, could be mentioned there.
“So sure, go ahead and see if Toras Avigdor Junior would be willing to mention your name in a story. But the real work you should be doing is to get your name where it really matters. And you do that by working hard on improving your midos, learning Torah, and doing Hashem’s mitzvos.”
Have a Wonderful Shabbos
Let’s review:
- How can we still get our names to be mentioned in the Chumash?
- Who is your favorite Toras Avigdor Junior character?
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