Alone, fourteen-year-old Shraga goes into the empty Slonimer shul in Bnei Brak, where he sees a 95-year-old Yid davening. Little does Shraga know that the Yid is Reb Osher Arkovich. After the Yid finishes, he asks the young boy his name and why he isn’t in school.
“I haven’t had luck in any school system,” the boy replies, embarrassed. “I was expelled from eight schools already, and I’m now forlorn.”
Growing up, Shraga had a hard time sitting still in class, and school after school would expel him. Exasperated, the boy’s father would punish him harshly in the hope of correcting his son’s behavior, but after the eighth school had expelled him, the father had sent him to Eretz Israel to stay by some distant cousin, because he could not deal with him any longer.
Reb Osher looks in the boy’s eyes with pity and says, “You know, we say every day in Ashrei: ‘Lehodia livnei ha’adam g’vurosav—Hashem wants to tell people about His strength.’ The Maggid of Lechovich offered an additional interpretation to this pasuk: Hashem wants us to make our fellow brethren aware of the strengths that rests within themselves, as if to say, ‘Teach every person his glory and holiness.’
“Hashem is perfect. And what that means is that He did not make a mistake when He created you. Your creation is testimony that the world is incomplete without your contribution! So, Shraga, whatever happens, never forget your own power.” Reb Osher finishes his uplifting words, and they part ways.
Over the next few months, with the help of Reb Osher, Shraga tries a few more options of schools. But six months later, he is expelled from what he was sure was his last chance. Now, at fifteen years old, rejected from ten schools, and with no understanding father to call, he feels so alone, lost, and broken. He decides to end his life. He climbs a tall building in Yerushalayim and steps onto the edge of the roof, ready to jump out of his agony.
Suddenly, he has a flashback to the conversation he had with that 95-year-old man, Reb Osher. He decides he has to make himself aware of all his strengths before he destroys his gifts. “That must be part of the equation,” he thinks, “and I can’t just ‘jump’ into it.”
He climbs down from the building and starts reflecting on where he is and where he’s going in life. He starts getting his life together, determined to utilize whatever gifts he was given. After much resolution, he starts seeing fruits from his labor. He continues with that fiery passion and grows to heights he did not realize he had. Several years pass, and he is redt a deserving shidduch. He gets married, has children, and builds a successful business — reaping the benefits of holding on to his inner pride.
Believing in his inner worth brought him true pride.
