"Moo," said Alan, to their delight. Not to my delight, though. I was there to learn.

On second thought, no I wasn't.

One day the teacher announced that she was going to Israel to pray by the Wall and asked us for wishes on paper slips.

I scrawled mine out on a Shabbat afternoon while my ima (mother) was in the bathroom. First I stared at the candlesticks hard, and saw them move.

Later, I handed my teacher the paper as we left the classroom. The teacher opened up the paper, her wig slipping to the side. Her eyes scanned the quick words: "I want magic powers."

She looked at me. "Anybody else?" Nobody else — only me like when they all laughed and she said, "If you know what's good for you you'll take lessons from Noam."