Sophie’s Kids

Sophie says that she was born into a family where no one cared about each other. From the time she was a little girl, Sophie was alone. Her parents weren't "real"  – nothing in her life was real – she couldn't depend on people for anything.
 
Sophie's mother drank and "raised" her children without a husband. She constantly had men coming in and out of the house. She would lock Sophie and her sister out of the house everyday when they came home from school. They were not allowed inside the house at that time. They had to find something else to do.
 
One night Sophie's mother came home drunk. It was about 2:30 in the morning. Sophie remembers her mother standing at the bottom of her bunk bed. Her mother, who was in a rage, was whipping her sister with a belt and calling her "filthy" names. Sophie's sister's top bunk  was held up by flimsy wooden slats which cracked – the whole bed came crashing down on Sophie – she blacked out. Sophie told me what she recalled when she came to:  "She had my sister on the ground… I was screaming… my mother was going to smash a light bulb on my sisters head. I screamed: 'you get off of her!… get off of her!…if you know what's good for you…get off of my sister!'"
 
Sophie began to feel more real and connected 19 years ago when she found Judaism.  This caused an irreparable divide between her and her family. Her family yelled and told her that she was going to Hell – but Sophie didn't believe it. She has severed all ties with her family. She said that she has made a study of Judaism and no one can take it away from her because she has found the Truth.
 
I asked Sophie how she knew that Judaism was the truth?
 
She told me story after story about how she saw Hashem in her life, helping her work out one severe test after another. She said, "If you put all of your trust and faith in Him, you'll see how everything always works out for the best."
 
Here are a few examples:
 
There was a time, after her divorce, when Sophie's ex-husband and his mother would call the police and tell them that Sophie was abusing her children – but every time that child protective services came to Sophie's house, they could never find anything wrong.  Sophie knew that she was in the right and had G-d on her side. She said this made her absolutely fearless at those times. "Eventually I got so tired of this nonsense that I literally chased those people out of my yard. I would tell them that this is my home and you're not coming in! You're breaking the constitution of the United States! You have no right to keep coming here!" The police and the CPS workers backed down and just left.
 
"I could really intimidate people then," said Sophie. "I had to in order to protect my kids. I have no fear when I get like that.  I can do the same thing for any kid. There is absolutely no fear in me because I have Hashem with me and that's why I usually win. Especially whenever someone tries to hurt a child. I knew if I stood on the side of justice, Hashem would always back me up."
 
Another time, Sophie's ex-husband grabbed her kids and she couldn't stop him. Her "x" got so drunk that he didn't bring the children to school the next day – but the school called Sophie. Stepping before the Judge, Sophie prayed "G-d help that Judge if something happens to my children because of him." Then Sophie told the  judge that her "x" gets drunk and drives with the children in the truck and that she was there to "put a stop to that." She said, "G-d made me so strong that I could say anything to these people. I didn't care who they were. I was completely without fear.  Laughing, Sophie told me: "The judge usually let me have my way."
 
Then there was the time that a teacher started up with Sophie's daughter. Sophie spoke to the other parents in her daughter's class and sure enough the new teacher was being abusive to their children too. Sophie asked, "Ok, who is going up to the school with me about this." Nobody wanted to go so she said "Okay, I guess I'm going myself." Sophie confronted the teacher and eventually the principle. She said: "how could you hire a teacher like this. You have so many kids here from broken families who are having a hard enough time already; they don't feel any love at home; they don't feel respected; they don't even feel like children and then you hire a teacher like this!" When Sophie found out that that same teacher pushed a special education child and called her "stupid" to her face – that was it. Sophie withdrew her children from that school and home schooled them for six years.
 
Sophie huddled her kids together and told them, "Look kids – I'm sorry but this isn't the way life is supposed to be. You're supposed to have a father who is a good role model; you're supposed to have grandparents; you're supposed to have a mother who is calmer and more soft-spoken than I am." That would be when Sophie would tell them whatever stories she knew from the Torah.
 
"I taught them the best I could from the Torah what the role of men and women are. I tried to teach them how husbands are supposed to behave. I taught my son that it was his responsibility to make an income for his family." Each of Sophie's kids has a Torah and a prayer book. When Sophie's oldest son got married his new wife called Sophie and said:  "I want to thank you" – your son is a wonderful husband – he knows his role."
 
Sophie's heart's greatest desire is to convert to Judaism.  She feels that she must fulfill her promise to Hashem that she made when Hashem saved her child from a terminal illness. At that time she prayed: "If you will spare my life and my child's life I promise you I'll  do the best I can to teach my children your Torah, and I will live it the rest of my life." May it come to pass.
 
This is a true story. Some of the details of the story were changed in order to protect "Sophie's" privacy.