Presence

My nephew Zevi, turns eight today. He ate lunch at my house last Shabbos, and on the way home, he came up with some pearls that were so precious, I had to write them down.

Zevi is into Bionicles. I discuss them with him frequently, mostly because I love kids toys, having many fond memories from my youth of playing with Star Wars action figures and Transformers. Zevi showed me a new Bionicle he had , and told me this one was a bad guy.

"Who decides," I asked, "who is good and who is bad? Perhaps the bad guys are fighting for their survival, and view their cause as just. How do you know who is truly Good, and who Evil?"

"Easy," Zevi replied. "The Official Bionicle Book. It says who is Good and who is Evil." Not the answer I was expecting, I'll admit, but a good one.

A bit later, as we were walking home from shul, I stopped to talk to someone I hadn't seen in a few years. We schmoozed for about five minutes. Afterwards, as we continued to walk home, Zevi turned to me and asked, "I thought women were the talkers."

"What?"

"I thought women were the ones who talked and talked, always making you late?"

Happy Birthday Zev, we love you.