Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 15 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. 

The Pri Megadim explains that we are machmir on a problem of a lung, based on the Rashba and those who pasken like him. And there is also an explanation that…the lungs are a problem both in chayos and beheimos…

“What are you busy with now, Binyamin?” A shadow fell over the notebook. It was his cousin, Aryeh, rubbing his hands, which were wet from washing them before davening. “What are these notebooks?”

“They’re my father’s, zichrono l’vrachah. About the subject of treifos and lungs.”

Wide-eyed, Aryeh studied the stack of notebooks, Binyamin, and then the stack again. “Oh, yes. I remember, he used to write a lot.”

For a moment, Binyamin raised his head in a questioning motion; then he went back to the notebook. He finished reading the last page and closed it with a sigh. There was just one left.

“You don’t look like you slept much last night,” Aryeh commented.

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 14 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. 

We are gratified to invite the members of the community to the engagement celebration of Mordechai, son of Reb Elimelech Kush, and Elka, daughter of Reb Shmelke Cohen, which will take place b’ezras Hashem after work hours, women in the sewing room, and men in the factory hall, second floor.

“That girl who’s engaged—she’s your friend who was here, right?” Katy asked Naomi as she swiped a rag over the floor of the kindergarten room. “She works in the offices, doesn’t she? Hey, why don’t you?”

Naomi looked at a few of the children who had gathered around them, excitedly singing “kallah-kallah-kallah-chasunah!” and replied, “What does that mean? I don’t work in the offices because I really love working with the children in the preschool!”

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 13 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. 

To Naomi Schvirtz.

Due to complaints about a violation of the status quo with regard to the education of the children in the kindergarten, you are invited to the camp committee office tomorrow at ten in the morning to discuss the division of jobs in the preschool.

Respectfully,

Leo Sherer, Work Manager

“Binyamin will come with you,” Rechel said as she studied the official paper with the Samson Lager logo on it. “You won’t go alone.”

“Okay.” There was a small crease between Naomi’s eyes. “But I’m not sure that I understand what it says here. Who complained about a violation in the status quo? Me, regarding the future assistant, or Mila? Maybe she tattled to them that I announced that, ‘Anyone who wants to bentch should come’?”

“What do you mean? What did Bilhah do?”

“She would say, ‘Rabbi Schwartzbrod’s group, come and bentch.’”

“And do the children from the other group come to bentch when you invite them all?”

“Quite a few of them do.”

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 12 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 bulletin board at the entrance to the shop:

Assistant required in the preschool for at least five hours a day.

Those interested should submit their candidacy to the Samson Lager office by the end of works hours this coming Wednesday.

“Elky, pack me up six hundred grams of white sugar, please.” Anika didn’t even try to conceal her unusual purchases, made possible because she was the oldest of the three Sherer daughters. She leaned on the counter and studied the shiny green bag from which Elky scooped out the little mounds of white crystals, pouring them into the paper bag on the electric scale. “And I also want a container of the cheese that we produce, and a tin can of pickles. You’ve been left alone to spend your daily hour here, huh? But you’re managing just fine, I see.”

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 11 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. 

Yaakov began and said, “Ribbono Shel Olam, did I not withstand twenty years in Lavan’s home? And when I left his home, the wicked Eisav tried to kill my children, and I was ready to die for them after I raised them like chicks of a hen, and I suffered the pain of raising children over them. And now, will You not remember this for me, and have mercy on my children?”

There was silence in the back room of the hut that housed the shul, as Babbe Sara Liba raised her eyes from the page in front of her. “We all try to advocate good for Am Yisrael in their difficult time,” she said, her low voice echoing off the walls. “A time of galus, of churban, when we don’t know who will survive and how. So Avraham Avinu came to defend Klal Yisrael, and he mentioned the merit of Akeidas Yitzchak. Then Yitzchak came, and he also mentioned the merit of the Akeidah. And which merit did Yaakov bring with him, that was equal to the Akeidah? His mesirus nefesh for his children, and the fact that he agreed to give up his life for his young ‘chicks.’ The pain of raising the twelve Shivtei Kah…” She fell silent for a moment and looked around. The women and girls of the community all sat listening attentively. Naomi was also sitting in the audience, listening closely to her grandmother.

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 10 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 wall at the entrance to the kindergarten, next to the pictures of the flowers, were large, light blue letters that spelled out:

Good morning to you, sun! Good morning, world!

Good morning to Bilhah and to all the sweet children!

The children sang this morning song each day. Some of them were still confused and sang “Bilhah” instead of “Naomi,” even though it was already their new teacher’s third day here. Naomi sat in front of fifty-eight pairs of eyes, scanning her gaze over them all. Mila was at the table on the side, slicing loaves of fresh bread into nice, precise slices and smearing half of them with cheese and the other half with blueberry jam.

When they began to daven, some of the children stood up and went to the food table. “This is from the blueberries we picked yesterday on our outing, right?” a boy asked excitedly. “Naomi, who cooked them into jam? Your grandmother?”

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 9 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. 

Binyamin’s Heart – A Composition Written by Naomi at Age 9

The sun rises brightly as Bilhah, the preschool teacher, and I walk to the bakery. Today is my turn to help her bring the loaves of bread to the kindergarten. Suddenly, on the hillside, we see a commotion: noise, screaming, the boys running every which way. “What happened?” Bilhah and I ask each other. We don’t have an answer. We listen and hear calls: “Here he is!” “There he is!”

“One of the animals must have run away,” Bilhah says, and continues on her way. The aroma of the bread has already reached my nostrils, but I stop. I want to see my brother Binyamin. What is he doing at this hour?

Am I seeing right? Is that the blue shirt that Babbe sewed…? Yes, it is my brother. But why is he running in the opposite direction of all the other boys? I stop and watch. I see that he is bending down and hiding next to a bush. Why?

Bilhah calls me to hurry, and I continue on my way with her, wondering about my dear brother’s behavior. It’s not like him to be different from everyone else!

At home, I ask him about it, and he explains: “I didn’t want to chase after the poor lamb that escaped; it was so frightened! But the boy in charge of us screamed to me to help catch the lamb, so I went to hide. And what was there, among the branches of the bush that I ran to? That little lamb. I sat next to it, and we hid together, quietly. No one found us.”

It’s just like Babbe and Mamme always say: Binyamin has the most sensitive heart. He acted just like Moshe Rabbeinu! Maybe Binyamin will be the one to take us out of this galus, when he grows up—the way Moshe Rabbeinu took the Jews out of galus Mitzrayim???

=============================

How many years had passed since Naomi had written that piece? Binyamin did not remember exactly. Since then, Naomi had written lots of stories, songs, and essays; Mamme asked Katarina for paper, and she provided it as a token of appreciation for Mamme’s excellent sewing skills. Sometimes Katarina also asked for copies of the nice stories, though Binyamin had no idea why she needed them. In any case, Mamme did not give her all of Naomi’s work—and certainly not that composition. Mamma kept it deep in her closet; it was testimony to her children’s kind hearts, and it was precious to her.

Why was he remembering this now? Not because of the compliments that Naomi had showered him with at the end of her cute piece, but because of that feeling of being pursued that he felt right now, as he silently got off the chair and cautiously walked backward. Just like that poor lamb.

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 8 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. 

Approval to be outside

Date: May 5, 1993, issued at 8:00 p.m.

In order to complete his work hours, Binyamin Schvirtz hereby has permission to be outside his place of residence beyond the regular hours, for the next two days. This permit is valid only for the factory area, the residential area, and the route between them.

Signed,

Leo Sherer, Foreman

=============================

“Don’t waste electricity,” Leo said, his eyes piercing into the youth as he signed his loopy signature at the bottom of the page. “There’s no need to activate the entire generator just for you, especially as nothing is allowed to be seen from the outside. How much light do you need?”

“My small lamp will be enough for me,” Binyamin said.

“And you should know that this was criminal negligence; I have no other definition for it. You weren’t able to do the finishing because the furs were thicker than usual! It sounds like an excuse, and excuses at your age are a form of contempt.”

“Oh, no, I tried very hard to do everything correctly,” Binyamin replied quietly. “But…it just happened, I don’t know how. Apparently, failure is something human.”

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 7 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. 

Weekly work hours report for Binyamin Shvirtz:

Sunday 5/2/93 – 12/12

Monday 5/3/93 – 12/12

Tuesday 5/4/93 – 12/12

Wednesday 5/5/93 – _______

Thursday 5/6/93 –    _______

Friday 5/7/93 –           _______

=======================

Again a siren!

Well-trained as they were, the workers hurried to the huge storage room two levels down, deep under the factory. In the distance, they could hear Schubert’s Symphony that had stopped them in the middle of whatever they had been doing. They were all used to the odor in and around the factory, and for the most part, they hardly smelled it. But here, in this closed, dim place, it was especially strong, and Binyamin couldn’t even think in learning. Instead, he pulled out his work report and scanned the information he’d filled in the night before.

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 6 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. 

A sign hung on the door of the hut. It read:

Clinic

Please do not disturb the patients.

Do not enter without permission.

Do not enter in groups, only one person at a time.

=========================

Behind the door of the clinic stood Bilhah’s four married children, conversing quietly. Naomi walked ahead, feeling awkward as she passed them. Bilhah’s three daughters nodded at her in greeting; she nodded back and then walked inside, cringing at the oily yellowish-white walls. The large room in the clinic contained eight metal beds, only one of which was occupied.

“Come, Naomi,” her grandmother said as she emerged from behind a curtain with a tray in her hand. “Don’t be afraid.”