Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 52 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.

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A note that David Elkovitz slipped under his Kitzur Shulchan Aruch, which he brought with him to the field early in the morning, for his learning session with Binyamin:

Don’t speak about the subject in Polish or Hungarian. Bernard showed up yesterday. My wife saw him, and as we know, he loves surprise visits to the camp. Let’s start learning, and we’ll switch to Lashon Kodesh.

Both of them drew on sifrei kodesh for their grasp of the language, but Elkovitz’s fluency was very weak. They quickly discovered that it was difficult, if not impossible, to communicate this way.

“Lo re’isiv—I did not see him.” Binyamin glanced over his shoulder into the fading moonlight that was clearing way for the soon-to-be rising sun.

“But I did see him.”

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 51 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.

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In exchange for this paper, products and merchandise with the value of
50 Reich marks
Will be provided
Provision of the goods is conditional on the document being whole and original, stamped by the lager administration, and signed by an authorized figure.

Naomi’s eyes were fixed on the single voucher that fluttered down from the closet, right next to her. She’d never held a voucher for such a huge sum of money. Fifty marks!

“Elky…” She forced herself to look away from the small rectangle on the floor. “Elky, h-how are you doing?”

“Not good,” Elky said, breathing heavily, in an apparent attempt to stem her sobs. “But why did you come into my house without being let in?”

“She’s not in your house; she’s standing outside,” Dror clarified. “We opened the door because you didn’t answer when we knocked. Do you have a sugar cube? If you have so much money”—he hadn’t missed the sight of those vouchers either—“then you probably buy sweets all day, right?”

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 50 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.

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In chalk, on the wooden wall in the room adjacent to the kennels:

Wire is a very useful material –

Make your mother happy with a nice gift for hanging clothes, which will amuse even the little children!

Make a doll figure from the wire, following the sample piece.

Be careful not to leave sharp edges exposed, because they can damage the fabrics of the clothes!

“Thanks,” Yanku murmured at the end of the lesson, as he escorted Binyamin out of the room. The children stood behind them, arguing about who would be the best person to ask for remnants of wire. Yanku’s expression all but screamed, “Please leave as fast as possible, and don’t try to question me again!” Binyamin didn’t argue. He didn’t have a spare minute in any case. He had to be back at the factory before the end of his break.

“Thanks for the opportunity, Yanku,” he said. “Should I come back tomorrow?”

“I want to make sure that we won’t be missing these few minutes at the end of the day,” the younger boy responded. “I’ll check what we’ve managed to finish by the end of today, and I’ll send you a message.”

“Great. See you.”

Yanku sufficed with a nod, and Binyamin hurried up the path to the factory. He wondered if Yanku knew anything solid about Tatte’s mysterious death, or if he’d just heard something and was quick to draw conclusions.

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 49 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.

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A paper hanging on the wall of the rabbit cage:

Attention kennel children!

Anywun who finishes his choors by eleven in the morning can kum to a short, intristing shiur in the back room. It will be given by Binyamin Schvirtz.

It’s worth hurrying; he’s kuming for a very short time.

Yanku

“We need to talk, Yanku,” Binyamin said after he finished reading the note. He glanced into the back room, where about ten boys of various ages were waiting for him.

“About my spelling mistakes?” The boy scowled. “Everyone tells me about them. You want a pen to fix them?”

“No, that’s not the issue at all. Our conversation yesterday, about my father’s matzeivah, was too short.”

Yanku glanced around worriedly. “The boys are waiting for you, in case you didn’t notice. You promised a shiur. And I promised it would be interesting.”

“It will be very interesting,” Binyamin reassured him. “But listen, I spoke to my sister the other day. She found out that I wanted to clean something off our father’s headstone, and she wanted to know what it was about. So I told her that when I scraped off the ink, someone was watching me, and then I spoke to him.”

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 48 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.

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A note, written in the secret code that Binyamin and Naomi had made up together years earlier, was waiting for Binyamin at home at the end of the workday.

________________________________________________________________

 “You just got here, Binyamin.” Rechel was worried. “Again you’re taking extra hours of work? Where are you going now?”

Binyamin lowered his gaze. “Naomi asked me to come,” he said quietly.

“Naomi? What does she want?”

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.”