Yibaneh was our firstborn. In short, the day we walked home withhim, sat down on the rug, and looked down at him and up at eachother, we didn't have a clue as to how to raise a child. Here's the explanationwe gave at his Brit, when we gave him the unusual name Yibaneh.

He had the difficult job of raising his six younger siblings.Today, he's out of the house a lot, off at high school.Lots of questions about whether it's a good idea to send a kid thatage out of the house. It's a mixed blessing. They were very roughyears for his father, being at home. He's in a fine educationalenvironment, with a group of highly motivated peers. It makes thetime he does have at home (shabat, holidays, summer) all the moreprecious.

Until suchtime as Yibaneh decides that he'd rather write this for himself, I,his father, am the author. So I get to describe him in mywords. Education has been one of our highest goals, and ourchildren are the product. Yibaneh is considerate and sensitive toothers. At this point, when he is almost my height, when he's going through the demanding time of adolescence, it is a pleasure to see how warm he is, how good a big brother he usually is to his siblings, and how serious he is about what he's doing.