The year was 1974 and I was an 'almost qualified' Jewish Studies teacher at King David School in Johannesburg. I was given the honour of teaching a group of year 2 students. In general, these students were not all that keen to learn Hebrew. In particular there was one little boy who was even less keen than the others to learn Hebrew, but was thoroughly gorgeous and adorable - and what a sense of fun and humour he had! And yes, his name was Andre Joffe.
A year or two later, I developed a close friendship with Judy, Andre’s mother (an enduring friendship that remains close to this day) and had the pleasure of meeting up with him again. I had also been his sister, Danielle's teacher - sweet little 'pet' that she was! And through the years I learnt to know and love Andre, and appreciate his awesome personality and the depth of his character. He had such an insightful perspective of the world and he touched the lives of all who knew him.
It is so hard to look at a photo of his beautiful and strong face without tears welling up. He is deeply missed and my heart aches for those who were closest to him.
Carol.
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Hi Carol, it was quite hard, looking at photographs of Andre without feeling great sadness. Having now gone through so many of them to find images to post here it has got much better. Quite therapeutic actually.
ReplyDeleteLovely to hear from you.