“…the kindness, concern and care that he demonstrated with me on that phone call is one that I have not and will not forget forever.”

Story by: Eli Nash

I’ve often reflected on how seemingly minor interactions can leave lasting impacts. While this is true for negative or painful interactions, this is also true for positive ones.

One such interaction that I know had a profound impact on my life was with the Dean of the Yeshiva I attended when I was 18 years old.

The Yeshiva had restrictions on what we did for summer vacation between 2 school years. As I had no intention of coming back the following year, I made summer plans that violated these restrictions.

After summer vacation, I went to a new Yeshivah. Within a few days, it became clear to me that the Rosh Yeshivah of this new school was not fond of me. We had a couple of negative interactions in which he clearly expressed his disappointment with me and his frustration with his choice to accept me into his Yeshiva.
Within 3 weeks, I was expelled from the Yeshiva.

Out of options, yet still desiring to attend Yeshiva, I reached back out to the Dean from the previous school to see if he would consider reaccepting me into his school.

He immediately let me know that he would make sure I was in Yeshiva over the coming year. He was not sure how he would get it done, but he would. He was upfront about the fact that coming back to his Yeshiva would be extremely difficult considering that I had violated their rules with my summer plans. He did, however, make clear that if I was not able to find a suitable Yeshiva anywhere else, I had a place in his – despite the fact that he was neither the only, nor primary, decision maker.

As it happened, I did not go back to his Yeshiva that year and was able to find another one willing to accept me. However, the kindness, concern and care that he demonstrated with me on that phone call is one that I have not and will not forget forever.

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