Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 47 of a new online serial novel, Nine A.M., by Esther Rapaport. Check back for a new chapter every week.  Click here for previous chapters.

Copyright © Israel Bookshop Publications. 

On the paprika label, in tiny letters, in German:

This product was packaged with the highest standards of hygiene, quality, and freshness. But there is the rare possibility of insects getting into the product after it leaves the factory. Checking is necessary.

“Naomi?” Chani, her mother-in-law, noticed her strange position.

“Yes,” Naomi said as she slowly put the glass jar down on the shelf.

“Is everything okay? You…you weren’t offended by anything I said, right?” She fell silent because at that moment, her sons came back to the kitchen.

“What else should we take to the table, Mamme?” Eli asked, and before he finished the last word, the cloth napkins were placed in his hands, along with napkin rings and silver chargers.

“Everything should be folded very precisely!” Chani instructed, and the two boys scampered out again.

“Aren’t they tempted to sometimes taste the food?” Naomi asked, sounding as if she’d just woken up from an afternoon nap and was still groggy and confused.

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 46 of a new online serial novel, Nine A.M., by Esther Rapaport. Check back for a new chapter every week.  Click here for previous chapters.

Copyright © Israel Bookshop Publications. 

ALT – Alanine Transaminase

AST – Aspartate Transaminase

ALP – Alkaline Phosphatase

Total Bilirubin

Albumin

HB – Hemoglobin

RBC – Red Blood Cells

WBC – White Blood Cells

Glucose

Creatinine

“One who begins a mitzvah is told to finish it, Naomi.” Babbe didn’t expound much. She appeared at the preschool less than fifteen minutes after she’d left, when Naomi came back. Now she was holding a small wooden box and a hastily penciled note.

“What is this?”

“These are the vials,” Babbe said. “And here is a list of the tests we need. I would ask you to ask the Wangels to supply us with new vials, because these are our last ones. But right now, I don’t think you should do it.”

“She’ll think I’m asking for new tests, for someone else,” Naomi filled in.

“Exactly. So, are you going?”

“You’ll stay here in my place?”

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 45 of a new online serial novel, Nine A.M., by Esther Rapaport. Check back for a new chapter every week.  Click here for previous chapters.

Copyright © Israel Bookshop Publications. 

Nirtzach (Murdered)

Binyamin leaned over the headstone, nearly pressing his face to the ground, as he passed a finger over each letter. Nun. Reish. Tzaddi. Ches. The ink was long dry, and he had no way of knowing if the word had been written two days ago, a month ago, or more. The last time he’d been here, on Tatte’s yahrtzeit, it wasn’t there.

Who had taken the pains to write this on the side of Tatte’s matzeivah? Was it someone who wanted to convey a message of sorts and was afraid of it being discovered, or did it just express strong pain?

Binyamin sat down on the ground, leaning his head on the large, rectangular stone. He was supposed to be davening. Naomi had asked him to. But his lips were dry. Who knew what had happened to his father? Mamme, maybe. Her fear of speaking about it was telling.

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 44 of a new online serial novel, Nine A.M., by Esther Rapaport. Check back for a new chapter every week.  Click here for previous chapters.

Copyright © Israel Bookshop Publications. 

Sara Liba,

I’m afraid that his liver has been very damaged. In order to know how to treat it and which medications to prescribe for him, I need blood tests. I have nudged Wangel enough in the past few months regarding antibiotics and other medications. Can you ask them to send a blood sample to a private lab, like we did last year for Zuretzky’s son? Stress that we are asking for an urgent liver function test, and let them find a cover story for it.

Annie

“He was hospitalized last night. Don’t spread the news,” Babbe told Naomi in the classroom, showing her the note. “But liver problems need to be treated immediately.”

Naomi nodded, not understanding why her grandmother had come to show her the note in these early morning hours. The little ones were still playing calmly, even a bit sleepily, in the corner of the room. The older kids were heatedly discussing which jobs they should choose at the end of the winter, when they would leave the school framework.

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 43 of a new online serial novel, Nine A.M., by Esther Rapaport. Check back for a new chapter every week.  Click here for previous chapters.

Copyright © Israel Bookshop Publications. 

From the siddur that Chani Klein prepared for herself at age twelve:

The boys sing in shul, and the girls next to the candles:

Lecha Dodi likras kallah

Pnei Shabbos nekablah

“Time and again, I’m amazed at the creativity!” Naomi laughed as she returned the siddur to her aunt/mother-in-law.

Her mother-in-law smiled. “All the girls my age had such a siddur,” she said. “The idea, of course, was Babbe’s, she should be well. She announced a competition for ‘The Nicest Siddur,’ because lots of the girls our age didn’t really daven the whole tefillah. Siddurim were in shul, for the men, from the few things the Wangels were able to save from the Nazi plundering. And a few people had their own siddurim.”

“I heard about the competition,” Naomi said. “My mother told me about it. She also made a siddur, when she got older, but it was smaller, and not so fancy and decorated.”