God's Perfection
(Chush)     

In Brooklyn, New York, Chush is a school that caters to learning
disabled children. Some children remain in Chush for their entire school career, while others can be main-streamed into conventional schools.

At a Chush fund-raising dinner, the father of a Chush child delivered a
speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended. After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he cried out,

"Where is the perfection in my son Shaya? Everything God does is done with perfection. But my child can't understand things as other children do. My child can't remember facts and figures as other children do.  Where is God's perfection?"

The audience was shocked by the question, pained by the father's anguish and stilled by the piercing query.

"I believe," the father answered, "that when God brings a child like
this into the world, the perfection that he seeks is in the way people
react to this child."  He then told the following story about his son Shaya:

One afternoon Shaya and his father walked past a park where some boys Shaya knew were playing baseball. Shaya asked, "Do you think they will let me play?" Shaya's father knew that his son was not at all athletic and that most boys would not want him on their team. But Shaya's father understood that if his son was chosen to play it would give him a comfortable sense of belonging.

Shaya's father approached one of the boys in the field and asked if
Shaya could play. The boy looked around for guidance from his
team-mates. Getting none, he took matters into his own hands and said
"We are losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess
he can be on our team and we'll try to put him up to bat in the ninth
inning."

Shaya's father was ecstatic as Shaya smiled broadly. Shaya was told to put on a glove and go out to play short center field. In the bottom of
the eighth inning, Shaya's team scored a few runs but was still behind
by three. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shaya's team scored again
and now with two outs and the bases loaded with the potential winning
run on base, Shaya was scheduled to be up. Would the team actually let Shaya bat at this juncture and give away their chance to win the game?

Surprisingly, Shaya was given the bat. Everyone knew that it was all but impossible because Shaya didn't even know how to hold the bat properly, let alone hit with it. However as Shaya stepped up to the plate, the pitcher moved a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shaya should at least be able to make contact.

The first pitch came in and Shaya swung clumsily and missed. One of
Shaya's team-mates came up to Shaya and together they held the bat and faced the pitcher waiting for the next pitch. The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly toward Shaya. As the pitch came in, Shaya and his team-mate swung at the bat and together they hit a slow ground ball to the pitcher.   The pitcher picked up the soft
grounder and could easily have thrown the ball to the first baseman. Shaya would have been out and that would have ended the game.
Instead, the pitcher took the ball and threw it on a high arc to right
field, far beyond reach of the first baseman.

Everyone started yelling, "Shaya, run to first. Run to first." Never in
his life had Shaya run to first. He scampered down the baseline wide-eyed and startled. By the time he reached first base, the right fielder had the ball. He could have thrown the ball to the second baseman who would tag out Shaya, who was still running. But the right fielder understood what the pitcher's intentions were, so he threw the ball high and far over the third baseman's head.

Everyone yelled, "Run to second, run to second." Shaya ran towards
second base as the runners ahead of him deliriously circled the bases towards home. As Shaya reached second base, the opposing
short stop ran to him, turned him in the direction of third base and
shouted, "Run to third." As Shaya rounded third, the boys from both teams ran behind him screaming, "Shaya run home." Shaya ran home, stepped on home plate and all 18 boys lifted him on their shoulders and made him the hero, as he had just hit a "grand slam" and won the game for his team.

"That day," said the father softly with tears now rolling down his face,
"those 18 boys reached their level of God's perfection."

 

This story was originally titled "BASEBALL HEROES" and was written by Rabbi Paysach Krohn, a public speaker & published author of inspirational stories and parables.

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