"All a child needs is one grown-up who believes in them." (Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach)
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People keep asking me why the children's book Lee the Flea is so important to me.
I'll share a very personal story that will explain it in a few sentences... I hope you'll understand!
So, after I recovered from a terminal illness, I decided to leave a keepsake for my children and for other children — one that would make them, and their parents, believe that they are capable of achieving their dreams! And dreams are meant to come true.
I decided to leave it in the form of a story! And since my daughter was 7 and my son was 3... a children's story fit best.
Lee the Flea in the story is actually me!
And Trampoline — is actually Sami and other good people who were there along the way!
And the story behind the story is...
When I was in high school, I kept getting expelled. It was a process that built up over many years... I became a worse student day by day, and the less people believed in me, the "worse" a student I became.
The vice principal couldn't stand me — honestly, I couldn't stand him either — and he kept throwing me out of high school. Even my brothers joked that my mom came to school more often than I did...
After I started in the computer track (a 15-unit major) and made their lives miserable, with an attention disorder they didn't know how to handle, one day they officially told me that at the end of 10th grade — because I was a disruptive kid — I would not continue at the school. After a story I won't detail here, I moved to a vocational school, and I really did sink low — the lowest I could imagine academically.
A few years later, I met the person who went on to change my life...
One day I came to a private high school intending to complete my matriculation, and I planned to register for 3-unit math... At that time there was a principal named Sami, a military veteran.
While I was talking to the secretary, he walked in and asked her and me, "Which matriculation exams did you come to register for?" I told him 3-unit math — and here comes perhaps the most important sentence, the one that changed my belief...
Rabbi Carlebach said, "Every child needs one grown-up who believes in them" — and Sami was the first who believed in me!
Sami is actually Trampoline (the ant) in the story.
He said to me, in these exact words: "Lior, I have a feeling you should be in the 5-unit track, and unfortunately you can't study 3 units here!!! You can go somewhere else — if you study here, it's 5 units only."
From a place where I had never once received encouragement about my studies, suddenly came a person who, in that one sentence, told me I was capable. And that is the key to change... one person who believes in you!!
And I studied, and by the end I scored almost 100 on the 5-unit exam, and later I completed a master's degree in the hardest subject at university...!
And today I understand that this is largely thanks to Sami, the principal!
See how much power the words and the people around us have to change our lives...
The book's role for you — parents and children — is exactly what Sami was for me.
If you have a dream or a wish to achieve something, don't wait for someone to bring it to you — just take action, and the world will help you achieve it.
To download the book and the materials about the flea:
Download the book and all the free materials here
With great love,
Lior
=============================
People keep asking me why the children's book Lee the Flea is so important to me.
I'll share a very personal story that will explain it in a few sentences... I hope you'll understand!
So, after I recovered from a terminal illness, I decided to leave a keepsake for my children and for other children — one that would make them, and their parents, believe that they are capable of achieving their dreams! And dreams are meant to come true.
I decided to leave it in the form of a story! And since my daughter was 7 and my son was 3... a children's story fit best.
Lee the Flea in the story is actually me!
And Trampoline — is actually Sami and other good people who were there along the way!
And the story behind the story is...
When I was in high school, I kept getting expelled. It was a process that built up over many years... I became a worse student day by day, and the less people believed in me, the "worse" a student I became.
The vice principal couldn't stand me — honestly, I couldn't stand him either — and he kept throwing me out of high school. Even my brothers joked that my mom came to school more often than I did...
After I started in the computer track (a 15-unit major) and made their lives miserable, with an attention disorder they didn't know how to handle, one day they officially told me that at the end of 10th grade — because I was a disruptive kid — I would not continue at the school. After a story I won't detail here, I moved to a vocational school, and I really did sink low — the lowest I could imagine academically.
A few years later, I met the person who went on to change my life...
One day I came to a private high school intending to complete my matriculation, and I planned to register for 3-unit math... At that time there was a principal named Sami, a military veteran.
While I was talking to the secretary, he walked in and asked her and me, "Which matriculation exams did you come to register for?" I told him 3-unit math — and here comes perhaps the most important sentence, the one that changed my belief...
Rabbi Carlebach said, "Every child needs one grown-up who believes in them" — and Sami was the first who believed in me!
Sami is actually Trampoline (the ant) in the story.
He said to me, in these exact words: "Lior, I have a feeling you should be in the 5-unit track, and unfortunately you can't study 3 units here!!! You can go somewhere else — if you study here, it's 5 units only."
From a place where I had never once received encouragement about my studies, suddenly came a person who, in that one sentence, told me I was capable. And that is the key to change... one person who believes in you!!
And I studied, and by the end I scored almost 100 on the 5-unit exam, and later I completed a master's degree in the hardest subject at university...!
And today I understand that this is largely thanks to Sami, the principal!
See how much power the words and the people around us have to change our lives...
The book's role for you — parents and children — is exactly what Sami was for me.
If you have a dream or a wish to achieve something, don't wait for someone to bring it to you — just take action, and the world will help you achieve it.
To download the book and the materials about the flea:
Download the book and all the free materials here
With great love,
Lior
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