The students from Zilberman Yeshiva Ketana circled around me. They had never been so close to a man wearing faded blue jeans before. Sure they had seen tourists entering the Old City, but a person wearing casual clothes living next door to them was unheard of. They spoke amongst themselves, attempting to find a student who spoke English. An English speaking student was eventually found amongst the young boys and he briefly introduced himself and communicated my intention to study at Yeshiva to the others. Each one of them took a turn to shake my hand saying, "Shalom Aleichem" ("Peace be upon you"). I grinned at the uncanny thought of me being some sort of celebrity. After the commotion settled down, I went back to my dorm and motioned to a fellow roommate, "Those boys live in a prison, hindered from the freedom of life." Without looking up from his Sefer ("book"), my roommate replied, "They believe it is you who has lived in a prison and are now being released and free to roam the potential of the mind." At that moment I realized that indeed I had owned an imagination which had become limited from becoming a victim of lust, a follower of the heart, and it was ironically me who had been confined to the shackles of society.

A Long December (Poetry)