Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 20 of a new online serial novel, Dance of the Puppet, by Esther Rapaport. Check back for a new chapter every week. Click here for previous chapters. 

Copyright © Israel Bookshop Publications. 

The last time they’d visited Elchanan’s parents, his mother had asked Yaffa to “keep an eye on him because he’s gaining an awful lot of weight.” Yaffa didn’t know how exactly she was supposed to watch her husband’s eating. She rarely joined his monthly shopping expedition to the supermarket. On the odd occasion that she did, if she saw him toss four bags of potato chips into the cart, was she supposed to take them out and declare unequivocally that they were fattening and that his mother didn’t allow him to eat it? Or when he smeared his eighth slice of bread with butter, was she supposed to grab the knife out of his hand and say, “That’s enough now”?

In any case, Chaya had once told her, incidentally or not, that she and her husband went out each evening for a brisk walk. Yaffa had liked the idea. Elchanan, except for the times that he was tired after an exhausting day at work, didn’t object, and their thrice-weekly evening walk became almost routine—if the two weeks they’d been doing it for could be called “routine.”

“You’re thoughtful tonight,” Elchanan said, as he kicked away a small stone that had gotten stuck between the wheels of Bentzy’s carriage.

“Right,” Yaffa answered, looking at the stone that rolled to a halt in the middle of the sidewalk. She bent over and moved it near the fence running along the sidewalk.

“Is something bothering you?” Keep Reading…

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 19 of a new online serial novel, Dance of the Puppet, by Esther Rapaport. Check back for a new chapter every week. Click here for previous chapters. 

Copyright © Israel Bookshop Publications. 

Dovi Brim looked around the small room. The principal pulled back the curtain that shaded the window and pointed to a chair facing the desk.

“Please, have a seat,” she said quietly. “One moment; there’s only one chair here.” She began walking towards the door, but Mr. Brim turned to his son before she got there.

“Dovi, go bring yourself a chair.”

A mournful silence rang in Dovi’s ears as he walked out to the secretary’s office. He walked over to a chair standing near the wall and picked it up. “There’s only one inside,” he said by way of explanation, tilting his head towards the inner office. “May I take it?”

“Sure,” Chana replied, and went back to what she was doing.

“Good morning,” Mr. Brim began. “Or rather, it’s just about good afternoon. Pleased to meet you. We are the Brims, from Manhattan. We came here because we are aware of the strong connections Rabbi Weinstock has with your school.”

The principal nodded silently, her face somber. She seemed to be apprised of the situation, Dovi mused to himself, and from her expression, he came to the conclusion that the subject was closed as far as she was concerned.

But his father had no intentions of giving in so quickly. “I don’t know if the principal is aware of things as they were until now,” he continued, “but Dovi is an excellent talmid. Last year, in shiur beis, they were very pleased with him in the yeshivah. He learns well, is very respectful, and is well liked by his friends. True, he also knows how to play the flute beautifully, and he even played for the yeshivah on Purim night. What happened over summer vacation was really a very big mistake on our part that simply…got out of hand at one point. Dovi, perhaps you should describe how Mr. Aberfort called you and how it all began.”

Dovi complied, and the principal listened attentively as he spoke, her eyes fixed on the pen in her hand. Dovi stopped short at describing the concert itself. He wanted to add something, but at the last minute decided not to. Keep Reading…

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 18 of a new online serial novel, Dance of the Puppet, by Esther Rapaport. Check back for a new chapter every week. Click here for previous chapters. 

Copyright © Israel Bookshop Publications. 

Yaffa was gratified to find the hallways empty. What if they would have been teeming with students just then? What would she have been expected to say, do, respond? She walked with smaller steps than she had taken on her first day at the school, but at least now she knew where the office was.

Three pairs of eyes turned to her as she appeared in the doorway: Yael, Chana, the head secretary, and Faigy, her assistant.

“Good morning, Mrs. Levinsky,” Yael said naturally, lifting her head from a large sheet of paper spread out before her on the table. She took the page and stepped into the inner office, switching on the light as she did.

Yaffa hesitated for a moment. “Good morning,” she finally replied, forcing herself to smile at the secretaries, who were clearly sizing her up. She followed Yael into the other room.

Yael was already sitting on the black chair, the same kind that the teachers’ room had to offer, and was continuing to peruse the paper she was holding. She raised her eyes after a few seconds. “Why aren’t you sitting down?” she asked Yaffa, pointing to the brown leather chair on the other side of the desk. “These are the class lists for the ninth grade, and I want you to look them over to see if they’re okay.” She pushed the page toward the empty brown chair and then turned to the door, where Yaffa was standing.

“Nu?” she said with a smile.

“This is very hard for me, Yael,” Yaffa said, a blush rising in her cheeks. “If I have to look at that paper, you can give it to me here.”

“Absolutely not,” Yael said, sounding like she was trying to suppress a smile. “That’s your chair for now, and there’s no reason for you to stand.”

The situation was so comical that even Yaffa’s lips curved upward in a smile. “Is that how you usually talk to the principal?” she asked.

Yael chuckled. “Now you sound like a real principal,” she declared. “Good for you, Yaf—em, Mrs. Levinsky. You’ll go far, b’ezras Hashem.”

By now Yaffa was standing directly behind the brown chair. “But it’s still delusional,” she said quietly, not realizing that she was quoting her sister Chaya’s exact words. “It’s unbelievable to think that I’ll be sitting in this chair, at this desk, and will tell you if the class divisions look alright. I don’t understand anything about these things, and I…” Keep Reading…

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 17 of a new online serial novel, Dance of the Puppet, by Esther Rapaport. Check back for a new chapter every week. Click here for previous chapters. 

Copyright © Israel Bookshop Publications. 

Faigy Krauss, the assistant secretary of the high school, listened in silence to the tirade coming through the phone.

“It’s totally crazy, I’m telling you,” Chana raged repeatedly on the other end of the line. “And then he kept explaining to me how I have to give her all the backing and authority to make sure the job is done effectively and that there is continuity, blah blah blah.” She paused for a second. “Isn’t it ridiculous, Faigy? I’m asking you, is this normal? Principal! If Malka or Yael didn’t want to take on the job for whatever reason, couldn’t they have given it to one of us?”

“Why?” Faigy asked.

“Why? Because you and I at least have a vague idea of how the school runs, which this little girl does not!”

“That’s exactly what they wanted, Chana.” Faigy was calm. “They would never have given you the job of running the school, precisely because you know how to do it too well.”

“And you?”

“I would never take such a thing on myself.”

“So what do they want? Someone to run the place without knowing how?”

“No.” Only as Faigy said the words did she grasp how true they were. “They want someone to sign all their forms and to be presentable enough, but they will manage everything through her.”

“Presentable?” Chana huffed into the phone; it sounded almost like a snort. “Come on, Faigy.”

“Presentable from a legal standpoint, I meant, not that she’s going to speak at parents’ evenings or anything.”

“But why—” Chana wasn’t ready to give up so fast. Keep Reading…

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 16 of a new online serial novel, Dance of the Puppet, by Esther Rapaport. Check back for a new chapter every week. Click here for previous chapters. 

Copyright © Israel Bookshop Publications. 

“Can I speak to the princ—er, to Mrs. Yael Braun, please?”

Yaffa put down the receiver and walked over to the principal’s office. The board members were seated around the large desk with Malka Mann and Yael Braun, while Mrs. Kotzker’s chair remained empty. Yaffa knocked lightly, and all heads turned in her direction.

“I’m sorry to disturb,” she said in a near whisper. “Mrs. Braun, you have a phone call.”

Chana, the second secretary, walked into the office at that moment. “You shouldn’t bother them there, Yaffa,” she said to the younger woman’s back. “Is it urgent for now?”

“I told her to transfer all calls to me. They could be important,” Yael said as she emerged from the principal’s office and picked up the receiver. Yaffa returned to her desk and went back to the student roster, comparing the written information with the entries in the computer.

“Are you managing there, Yaffa?” Yael asked when she finished her conversation and headed back to the principal’s office. “How’s the computer program? Is it easy to work with?”

“Yes, and thanks for the explanations. Now I see that it’s not as complicated as I thought.”

“It’s not complicated at all,” Chana remarked from her seat, following Yael with her eyes as she returned to the board meeting. She could see that the discussion in the inner office was getting more intense; the atmosphere there was clearly loaded. Keep Reading…