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As a parent, we are all proud of our kids, but every once in a while they do things.. little things.. that just make you step back and marvel how blessed we are to have kids like these.

I drink a lot of coffee. I mean A LOT of coffee. I take a large thermos and a 16oz cup to work. All in all it’s 70+ ounces of STRONG.. Hot.. & Black coffee. No Maxwell House or Instant coffee here. I am a coffee snob by fault. I am very picky in the way my coffee is prepared, so I usually end up brewing my own. All that being said, my normal morning routine it to make my coffee for the day (i.e. the coffee I’ll be taking to work) before I Daven. Time being what it is, I’m always rushing around in the morning to make the coffee.

Well today I come downstairs and my 9yr old says to me, “Teach me how to make coffee”. Ok, I’m game.. I take him over to the coffee machine and notice that it’s sparkling clean. Then I open the filter compartment and notice there is a new filter already in place. I take the pot out to fill it with water when I notice my son giving me a look. Yup, he’s filled the water reserve as well.

So after a few safety instructions about the coffee grinder and fingers (repeated 2 or 3 times), we grind a nice batch of Starbucks Pike’s Place blend. That’s 4 grinder full’s, filling the beans to the pan line, 10 seconds a shot. He then flips the coffee maker on. I also show him how I position the handle to it’s out of reach of his 2.5yr old brother.

But here’s the kicker… My Son says to me “Cool, now I can make the coffee for you so you don’t have to worry about it before you daven!”. WOW! What a Mench! Talk about a very Chassidisha concept. In the Alter Rebbe’s work “the Tanya” (as well as other sources like the Shulchan Aruch & Talmud) we learn that whoever helps a torah scholar is credited with the merit that the Scholar earns during his study. There is a story how Rav Moshe Feinstein used to ask his daughters to bring him his Gemara for him so they would share in his merit of his study. Coincidently, Yesterday we also learned in the Talmud Mesecta Sotah 22a that someone who studies Torah & Mishna but doesn’t support a torah scholar is an ignoramus.

It’s really beautiful to see children internalize understanding of wisdom passed down through the ages by our sages. Talk about the Yiddish world Kvell. May my son receive 10 fold the meager merit I receive while davening/studying.