By Rabbi Yechiel Spero
For the past few weeks Benny had been miserable. During recess, Eli, one of the bigger boys in their school in Efrat, would spend the entire recess period making fun of Benny in one way or another. Benny refused to make an issue of it, decided not to tell his rebbe or the principal, and made sure his parents didn’t find out. He even went so far as to wait a moment before re-entering his school or his house in order to wipe away his tears. But one day he was caught.
The Bike Ride
It was a beautiful spring day and Benny was eager to try out his new bike - an afikoman present. He rode his bike to school-what a ride! Sure enough, though, as soon as Eli saw the boy, he got onto his own bike and followed Benny, trying to make him fall off his bike. It was just too much; Benny came home, ran past his mother, sat down on the couch, and just cried.
His mother had heard him enter and noticed how upset he was. In fact, now that she thought about it, she realized that he had been anxious and edgy over the past few weeks, very unlike his usual demeanor. Not wanting to pry too much, she called to him from the next room, asking how his day had been. When there was no answer, she walked into the living room and saw Benny crying his heart out over his Tehillim.
She assumed that one of his friends was ill, such was his anguish. “Benny,” she asked, “who’s sick?”
Benny replied that no one was sick, but the look of pain on his face told her that she had to find out what was going on, no matter what. He didn’t look away; instead, he collapsed onto the couch, and looked at the floor. “Benny, please tell me, what is it?”
Benny’s eyes were red and swollen; he had held the pain in for a long time and now finally he was letting it all out. “Mommy, I am not praying because someone is sick. I am praying because there is a bully who keeps picking on me in school. So, I am asking Hashem to be my Bodyguard.”
The Ten-Year-Old’s Emunah Peshutah
His mother was at a loss for words; she felt terrible that she had not known about the bully who was ruining her son’s school year. But she was even more amazed at her 10-year-old’s emunah peshutah. He had a problem and was turning to Hashem to be his Bodyguard. It was really quite amazing.
She hugged Benny and told him that everything was going to be all right. And then, as soon as she left the room, her son went back to his praying, so she picked up the phone and called her next-door neighbor, Chaya. Chaya was a trusted friend who viewed her friend’s family as her own. She had not been zocheh to have children of her own, and because of that she took special joy in her friend’s simchos. In just a few moments, Chaya arrived at her friend’s apartment. She walked up the stairs quietly and watched from the doorway as the “adorable” 10-year-old poured out his heart and prayed that Hashem should protect him.
Then, Chaya stepped into the room and asked Benny if she could speak to him for a minute. Benny stopped what he was doing and looked at the woman who was like his second mother. She told him that she had heard about the bully in school and felt terrible that he was in so much pain. But she just wanted a small favor. Could he have her in mind as well? She had been married for seventeen years and had never been blessed with a child. “Could you ask Hashem to be my Bodyguard as well?”
Benny wiped away his tears and smiled.
Within a few days Eli stopped bothering Benny.
Amazingly, within one year’s time, Chaya became a mother.
There was no doubt in her mind whom she had to thank.
Benny and his Bodyguard.
Reprinted from the Parashat Noah 5785 email of Rabbi David Bibi’s Shabbat Shalom from Cyberspace. (Excerpted from the ArtScroll book “Touched by a Prayer.”)
