Ordinary heroes abound. They live with us every day, nurturing or restoring our faith in humanity—as the case may be—and teaching us something about ourselves in the process. One recent example is Sydney Engelberg, a Hebrew University professor in Jerusalem who did something both remarkably simple and extraordinary: he picked up a crying baby from the arms of the distraught mother, a student in his Master’s class, and soothed it without interrupting his lecture. In one instant, he had conveyed the message that a crying baby is not a hindrance but a gift from life, and that pursuing higher education while having children is the right thing to do, and that support can be found in most unexpected ways. How many young women who hear this story will feel empowered to go for their dream?
