I don’t remember having much to do with Shira at first. We lived in different areas and went to different shuls.

Then, when I was in 5th grade, there were circumstances that caused my classmates to make fun of me a lot, even girls whom until then I considered my friends.

I can still picture in my mind the precise spot in the classroom where I was standing when someone sought a girl in the school with special needs to imitate me, and the way everyone else was standing around and laughing.

Needless to say, it was extremely painful. It still hurts when I think about it 15 years later; that feeling of shame never fully left. I know not everyone said those hurtful words, and perhaps they didn’t even all laugh. But no one stood up or said anything.

Shira was the only one. I don’t remember much of what she said to me at those times, but that year she became my friend. It was definitely not the popular thing. But her small group of friends became my friends too.

Shira and I became close friends in the subsequent years. We studied for all of our tests together, did all our reports together, and went to each other’s homes for Shabbos. If not for Shira I don’t know how I would have healed from the pain and shame of being bullied. I don’t know how I would have made it through those turbulent and sensitive teenage years without a friend.

Thank you, Shira. Thank you, Yocheved for inspiring us, and inspiring me to write this. Thank you to Dini and Avremi and Eli Nash for doing this. May Hashem send you the comfort you seek.