Your Email:

Friend's Email:

Note: (optional)

Subject:

Message: <br /><br /> If you are having trouble reading this email, you may view this article online at: http://www.jweekly.com/37894/full/37894/the-boy-wonder-and-me/ <br /><br /> <b>The Boy Wonder and me</b> <br /> Thursday, April 23, 2009 | by dan pine <br /><br /><p>If ever I enjoyed doing a story more than my piece on the little Torah savant, Mishael Hibshoosh, well, I can’t think of one. <a href="/article/full/37882/boy-wonder-hes-only-8-but-he-chants-from-the-torah-like-a-pro/" target="_blank">(Read the story here.)</a></p> <p>He may be a Torah-chanting expert. He may be a keeper of the flame for Yemenite Judaism. But to me, he is perhaps the most adorable child I’ve ever met (my own son, now 25, excluded).</p> <p>The cover story details Mishael’s highly polished skills at layning  (or, chanting) Torah. It is indeed impressive. The kid isn’t shy, and he has a palpable self-confidence that allows him to do this grown-up task with ease.<br />Not to take anything away from Mishael or his abilities, but I have to say upon reflection that it shouldn’t surprise anyone that an 8-year-old boy could pull it off.<br />My own son, Aaron, when he was 6, could name ever dinosaur in the paleontological pantheon. The son of a good friend of mine, at the same age could detail all you’d ever want to know about air conditioning ducting.</p> <p>Boys just like to master stuff.</p> <p>I viewed Mishael’s mastery of Torah chanting somewhat along those lines. Unlike my son, however, who never needed to know the difference between a brontosaurus and triceratops again, Mishael will no doubt flower into a skilled and dedicated observant Jew when he grows up.</p> <p>That is to say, he has mastered something useful.</p> <p>I don’t often tape record interviews, but luckily my interview with Mishael was entirely caught on tape. Through the miracle of digital audio, we uploaded a few precious snippets of him on the j. Web site.</p> <p>Check ‘em out and enjoy! As if I have to ask…</p> <p><strong>Hear Mishael chanting Torah:</strong></p> <p> <object data="http://www.google.com/reader/ui/3247397568-audio-player.swf?audioUrl=http://www.jweekly.com/images/uploads/audio/Mishael.mp3" height="27" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="400"> <param name="quality" value="best" /> <param name="wmode" value="window" /> <param name="flashvars" value="playerMode=embedded&play=true" /> <param name="src" value="http://www.google.com/reader/ui/3247397568-audio-player.swf?audioUrl=http://www.jweekly.com/images/uploads/audio/Mishael.mp3" /> <param name="bgcolor" value="#ffffff" /> </object> </p>

Please enter the letters and numbers you see in the image below: