By Yael Schneersohn
“Shneur, help me with my homework,” said Dovid, as he pulled on Shneur’s sleeve yet again.
“One minute!” said Shneur, without even looking up from the book he was reading.
“But you told me ‘one minute’ a while ago,” insisted Dovid. “Many minutes have already passed.”
“Oy,” sighed Shneur. “How about asking Chani to help you?” he said, trying his luck.
“But Chani is not home! Come on, you can read your book afterward.”
Shneur closed the book in annoyance. He couldn’t concentrate anyway on what he was reading, when Dovid kept nudging him. “Okay, let’s see, what is your homework today.”
Usually Shneur enjoyed being near Dovid, his younger brother, even though he was in fourth grade and Dovid was in second grade. He liked hearing his clever ideas, going with him to school every morning, and feeling like the big brother.
It was usually quite nice being Dovid’s brother, except … when it came to homework. Nearly every day Dovid asked Shneur to help him with his homework. For some reason, he liked getting help from Shneur more than his older sisters. It didn’t always annoy Shneur. Sometimes it was a good feeling to know that Dovid preferred him over the others. And second grade homework was easy and Shneur had no problem with it. But other times, like today, when he was in the middle of reading an adventure book or when he was playing an interesting computer game, he was not thrilled with Dovid preferring his help. Those times, he really wanted Dovid to get help from someone else.
Dovid’s homework was short this time, which made Shneur happy. He tried to help him finish quickly so he could get back to his book, but just as he watched Dovid writing the answer to the last question, as he stood with one foot out of the room and eager to rush back to his book, his mother walked in.
“Hello children. How are you? I see Shneur is helping you with your homework, Dovid. That’s wonderful, Shneur.”
Shneur sighed. He would happily forgo this honor if he only could.
“What happened Shneur?” She had noticed that Shneur did not look pleased, despite the compliment he got.
“I don’t always want to be Dovid’s teacher.” Shneur followed his mother into the kitchen, out of Dovid’s earshot. “I feel that I have to teach him every day. Why is he going to school? And why shouldn’t the girls help? Because I’m the older brother, will I have to spend my entire life teaching him?”
His mother smiled. “Your life sounds so difficult.”
“Yes, of course. He will always be my younger brother and he will always need my help. Maybe, even when I’m away in yeshiva, I will have to come home to help him with his homework!”
His mother listened silently. She thought before she answered.
“I have good news for you, Shneur,” she finally said with a secretive look on her face. “Very soon, Dovid won’t need your homework help anymore.”
Shneur looked at her questioningly.
“Yes,” she said, as she smiled at his astonishment. “Very soon, Moshiach will come and the pasuk says, ‘and no longer will man teach his fellow, for they will all know Me …’ When Moshiach comes, everyone will know and understand the Torah, young and old. Dovid won’t need you to help him answer parsha questions or halacha. He will know it all, just like you. You won’t need to help him. You can learn together without your having to explain it to him. He will understand it all just as you do.”
Shneur listened and was thrilled. He pictured himself sitting with Dovid in front of a Likkutei Sichos, learning and learning, without Dovid tugging his sleeve and saying, “Shneur, explain what it says here.”
“If only it happened already!” he said. “That is my dream. I will not need to explain anything to him, and I will know much more than I know now.”
“So sweetie, how do you think you can make it happen sooner?” she asked with a smile as she worked in the kitchen.
“Um … I need to daven that Moshiach come already,” Shneur said.
“What else?” she asked.
“Um, good deeds need to be done to increase Ahavas Yisroel.”
Shneur stopped himself. “Oh! I get it!” he said while blushing.
“You mean that if now, when we are still in galus, I show Ahavas Yisroel to Dovid and help him with his homework, even at inconvenient times and when I don’t feel like it, that itself hastens the Geula and will help Moshiach to come already. And then I won’t have to teach Dovid.”
“That’s right,” affirmed his mother. “That’s exactly what I meant.”
“That means it’s worth it for me to help Dovid, because every time I help him, I am bringing the Geula closer!” exclaimed Shneur. Suddenly, it did not seem so terrible to him to give up some time from a game or a book to help his brother.
“Shneur!” called Dovid. “Come here for a minute. I have another question that we forgot to answer.”
Shneur exchanged a look with his mother and walked to Dovid’s room with a smile.