[The phone rings at the Mendelson house. Tamar picks it up.]

  Tamar: "Hello, this is Tamar."

  Rebbetzin: "Hello Tamar, it’s the Rebbetzin. I was hoping to speak with Ruth or Miriam, but maybe you can help me with something instead."

  Tamar: "Of course—what’s on your mind?"

  Rebbetzin: "It’s about Thomas. He reminds me of Shoshana in a way. He comes across as confident, composed—but too much attention, and you can see him start to retreat inward to process it all."

  Tamar: [pauses knowingly] "Yes… after Rosh Hashanah, he was practically catatonic. Everything kind of hit him at once."

  Rebbetzin: "That doesn’t surprise me. Nothing went wrong today, not at all. He handled it beautifully. But I found him sitting quietly in the yahrzeit room after the service, like he was gathering himself."

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  Tamar: "Ahh. My husband let the community know it was his first time putting on tefillin, and, well, he got a lot of positive attention afterward."

  Rebbetzin: "Exactly. And because he looked so at home—so natural up there—no one even realized it was his first aliyah. No one thought to offer him help with the Torah blessings."

  Tamar: [chuckling softly] "I was a wreck my first time. You’re saying he didn’t bolt from the bimah?"

  Rebbetzin: "No, not at all. He followed along like a deer in headlights—but he followed Shoshana’s lead, start to finish. Then he quietly sat back down and stayed through the rest of the service."

  Tamar: "He’s probably going to need a quieter experience soon. I don’t think he’s had a single Shabbat or holiday where he wasn’t navigating something entirely new."

  Rebbetzin: "You’re right. Even today, Shoshana guided him through greeting people on the way in, and again on the way out. There was a whole group waiting to congratulate him."

  Tamar: [softly] "It’s funny. For all the things he’s doing—for how capable he is—I think part of him still doesn’t believe people truly accept him."

  Rebbetzin: [gentle sigh] "And yet he keeps showing up. That says something."

  Tamar: "It says everything."