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Balancing act: Young brothers from Clarks Summit juggle their way to smiles, talent competition
Feb 12, 2012 (The Times-Tribune - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
Just when you think you've seen all the tricks Yosef and Avrem'l Rapoport have up their sleeves, they awe you with something new.
At first, the Clarks Summit brothers grab some colorful bowling-style pins and balance them on their noses and chins.
Then, they're digging into the rest of their supplies, and soon the pins, balls, clubs and more are flying through the air as the boys juggle three or four at a time. Under leg and behind the back. Sometimes between each other. Other times with 10-year-old Avrem'l standing on his 12-year-old brother's shoulders.
Eventually, they're practicing tricks with the top hats from their costumes, balancing items on their heads again -- this time it's two soda bottles stacked end-to-end -- and even trying acrobatics, with Yosef cartwheeling over an upside-down Avrem'l.
"Once we get an idea, we try anything," Yosef said.
The boys have an uncle and family friend who juggle, and Yosef, a seventh-grader, first took up the hobby about two or three years ago. After mastering juggling balls, he added pins and other items with money he had saved himself. And when he decided he would like a juggling partner, he found one in Avrem'l, a fifth-grader at Scranton Hebrew Day School who soon learned the tricks, too.
In the air
The secret to juggling is coordination and practice, Yosef said, and the boys certainly are familiar with practicing. Mastering different juggling equipment has taken anywhere from a few hours to several days. Getting the hang of the unicycle took Yosef a couple weeks and Avrem'l about a month.
"What a lesson in perseverance," said their father, Rabbi Benny Rapoport.
And as if just riding a unicycle weren't difficult enough on its own, the boys have worked on riding and juggling at the same time.
"The hard part is you have to concentrate on unicycling and concentrate on juggling," Yosef said. "Master juggling first, then you don't have to think about it."
On a recent afternoon, the boys showed just how strong their juggling skills are. As their younger brother, Shua, himself learning poi, timed them, Avrem'l juggled for three minutes straight without dropping anything. Yosef, incorporating under-the-leg and behind-the-back tricks, lasted about four minutes. And they could have gone longer.
"The hardest part is not falling because your hands get tired," Yosef said.
There are some other challenges that still await them, such as figuring out how to juggle five balls at once.
"Five is very hard," Yosef said.
"It's a big step," Avrem'l added.
The brothers enjoy working together, and their father said his favorite part of the boys' performance is when they pass to each other while juggling.
"They're more of a team," Rabbi Rapoport said.
The new skills they have taken on also have helped them develop others. When Yosef would learn a new trick, he would record video of it and email it to friends. He taught himself how to edit the films on his computer, which came in handy when he and his brother entered the Jewish Kids Got Talent competition last year. They filmed, edited and submitted a video of their different tricks and ended up as one of the top 10 finalists.
"Tons of people submitted video," Yosef said.
Busy brothers
But there is more to their knowing how to juggle and unicycle and cartwheel than just being able to say they are capable of all those feats. There is value in the boys' initiative, dedication and ability to bring joy to others by sharing their talents.
"The fact that you're helping other people is really the key to what they do," said Rabbi Rapoport, who noted how his boys bring life and energy into the community with their performances. "If you're going to help other people, you're fulfilling your mission in life."
The boys perform throughout the community, including in schools, for Jewish holidays and at bar mitzvahs, weddings and senior-citizen residences. They don crisp white shirts, gold-sequined bow ties and top hats.
"We have a whole costume," Yosef said. "We're professional."
Their father also pointed out how it was the boys' own initiative, rather than others pushing them, that led Yosef and Avrem'l to pursue and develop these many skills. Rabbi Rapoport said he is a "proud dad."
"Who knows where this will take them?" he said.
When they perform for other children, Yosef pointed out, their peers "can see what practice can do." And juggling is fun, Avrem'l said.
"It's cool," Yosef said. "It's fun because you can use it in cool ways. You can make people happy."
Contact the writer: cheaney@timesshamrock.comMeet Yosef and Avrem'l Rapoport
Ages: Yosef, 12, and Avrem'l, 10.
Residence: Clarks Summit
Parents: Benny and Chany Rapoport
Education: Yosef is in seventh grade and attends school online. Avrem'l is a fifth-grader at Scranton Hebrew Day School.
Talent: The brothers can juggle objects like balls, pins and discs and reached the top 10 in the recent Jewish Kids Got Talent competition. They also unicycle, balance objects on their heads and do acrobatics.
___ (c)2012 The Times-Tribune (Scranton, Pa.) Visit The Times-Tribune
(Scranton, Pa.) at thetimes-tribune.com Distributed by MCT Information Services
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