Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 29 of a new online serial novel, Beneath the Surface, by Esther Rapaport. Check back for a new chapter every Thursday or Friday. Click here for previous chapters.

“Brrr! It’s cold!”Sandyshivered in her fur-lined coat. “What did Adina say it was? The third right turn? Come.”

“Did you count three?” Chaya asked.

“I’m counting three: three girls shivering as they walk on a freezing Friday night,” Ditza joked. “When will we be there already?”

“We’re already on the right block!”Sandycried excitedly. “And this is the building, based on the descriptions!” Streetlights cast dim orbs of light on the dark sidewalk. Flickering candles twinkled in some of the windows.

“So, shall we go up?” Ditza urged her friends on.

“Well, what else? Another minute out here and I’ll be an ice statue!”

They climbed the stairs. “Remember? First door on the first floor, and with letters missing from the nameplate. Tell me, is Adina sure that Menuchi is here this Shabbos?” Chaya asked.

“Maybe you could stop asking so many questions?” Ditza admonished. “Let’s just knock and be over with it!”

They knocked. And they knocked again.

And again.

“I’m telling you, they’re not even home,” Chaya said ominously.

“Wait a minute. Are we sure this is their door?”Sandyasked.

“Come on, you nudniks. It’s their door. It says Ostfeld on the tab near the bell. And they’re home. Don’t you hear the baby screaming?”

They knocked again. And again.

And ag—

“Good Shabbos!” A youthful-looking woman smiled out at them as she opened the door. A red-faced baby—apparently the screamer—was cradled in her arms. Keep Reading…

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 28 of a new online serial novel, Beneath the Surface, by Esther Rapaport. Check back for a new chapter every Thursday or Friday. Click here for previous chapters.

“Here’s Simi!” Yehudis cried when the van stopped. She clumsily stumbled down the steps, Adina Baumel right on her heels. There was no reason to rush back to the dorm today; Menuchi would not be giving her regular lesson. No one had seen her since the day before yesterday, the day of the trip. “I have the flu…” she had croaked hoarsely into the phone. “We’ll continue next week, b’ezras Hashem.”

“Hello!” Adina smiled at Simi. They were almost friends already. “We were happy to see Yehudis back with strong, white teeth! Right, Yehudis?”

The child giggled happily. “Morah Z-zahavah told m-me to enj-joy my new fillings! That’s what she s-said.” She grasped Adina’s hand. “Co-me! Come!”

“Where to?” Adina asked, trying gently to extricate her hand from Yehudis’ grasp.

“Home! See the nice p-pre-sents I got! F-from the doc-doctor and Ab-b-ba and Ima and Simi and Menuchi. And Yitzy gave m-me-me a c-crayon!”

Adina pounced on the last sentence.

“I know who Simi is. Who are Yitzy and Menuchi?” Keep Reading…

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 27 of a new online serial novel, Beneath the Surface, by Esther Rapaport. Check back for a new chapter every Thursday or Friday. Click here for previous chapters.

“What happened to Diana?” Julian asked when he popped in to his parents for a visit. “Haven’t you gotten regards?” he repeated when met by his mother’s stony silence.

“Mother won’t answer you; she doesn’t like to talk about it,” his father interjected with forced apathy. “Diana isn’t at Joyce’s anymore. She left London.”

“Where to?”

Roy looked at his wife. She shrugged. “You can tell him. I don’t care and it doesn’t interest me any longer.”

He turned back to Julian. “She flew to Israel. She’s volunteering on a kibbutz there.”

“What?”

Now his mother turned to face him. “And if I was already so happy that her connection to Judaism had been broken off, it’s back, big time.Israel! I mean, really! What is she looking for over there?”

“Something, apparently,”Roy said dryly.

“What do you mean?” She put the enamel bowl she was holding down with a bang onto the table.

“Nothing. But Diana is smart. She knows what she’s doing.”

“Hmph!” Mrs. Molis sniffed and took a big spoon. “You’re too big of a believer in her sense of discretion. She’s not even twenty-five yet, you might recall!”

He didn’t react.

“If she doesn’t come back within two weeks, I will simply go and bring her back!”

Her son raised his eyebrows. “Really? To Israel?”

“Yes! A mother is allowed to know what her daughter’s up to, isn’t she?” Keep Reading…

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 26 of a new online serial novel, Beneath the Surface, by Esther Rapaport. Check back for a new chapter every Thursday or Friday. Click here for previous chapters.

“Yehudis and Tzippy! Sit down nicely! Baruch! I’m closing the window; you’re sticking your hand out!” The boy looked at Adina with interest. He asked her something, but she didn’t understand.

“What?” she asked.

“Say ‘yeladim’!” he said in an almost clear voice. She laughed.

“Yeladim! Everyone sit down nicely!” She glanced out the window. The gray day was cold and windy; pieces of paper and dry leaves blew every which way.

“Children, look out the windows. There’s a big, big tree. It’s so big!” She stretched her arm towards the ceiling of the van. “And it’s so, so sad! So very sad! Why? Because all the leaves went so far away. The leaves are its sweater.  And now it’s cold because it doesn’t have a sweater. What should we say to make it happy?” She pretended to act chilly and shivered.

The children didn’t respond. They were riveted to her little performance and didn’t even consider looking out the window.

Adina continued in her pidgin Hebrew. “Let’s tell the tree: Don’t be sad, tree. Don’t be crying!” She covered her face with her eyes and pretended to weep. A few children tittered. The rest gaped at her in fascination.

The driver stopped the van. “What happened?” Adina panicked for a minute. “Everyone’s sitting so nicely!”

“They are sitting very nicely,” the driver said, leaning back in his seat. He took a crumpled newspaper out of his gray satchel and opened it up. “We’re at the Shlomowitzes’ house.” At that moment, Adina noticed a young boy running down the path.

“Sorry I’m late,” Baruch Shlomowitz’s brother apologized. “Is Baruch here?”

Adina nodded. She understood his question. “Bye, Baruch, have a good day!”

Baruch stopped at the van’s open door but didn’t get off.

“Do you need help?” Adina offered. Keep Reading…

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 25 of a new online serial novel, Beneath the Surface, by Esther Rapaport. Check back for a new chapter every Thursday or Friday. Click here for previous chapters.

A young woman entered quietly. “Shoshana, are our cards ready?” she asked.

Shoshana shook her head in the negative and motioned for her to wait as she continued conversing with the technician on the phone.

“They’re urgent for Naomi. She asked for them right now,” the woman said, walking over to the lamination machine on a side table, near Adina’s chair.

“Hello,” she said pleasantly as she caught Adina’s eye. Adina smiled in response, trying to understand the Hebrew words flying over her head.

Shoshana finished her phone conversation and turned to the young woman. “It’s not such a big deal to take care of,” she said. “But yesterday, when I was peeling potatoes, I cut my finger and it’s hard for me to work the machine. So I guess you can do it yourself, if you know how and you have a few minutes, or Naomi will have to use the cards the way they are…”

“I…can do it…the lamination,” Adina said quickly, and even before the young woman had a chance to react, she switched on the machine.

“That would be a great help! Who are you?” Keep Reading…

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 24 of a new online serial novel, Beneath the Surface, by Esther Rapaport. Check back for a new chapter every Thursday or Friday. Click here for previous chapters.

Copyright © 2011 by Israel Bookshop Publication

Menuchi’s perspective, continued:

The Sculpey clay was finished to the last crumb. We spent the first half of the lesson learning Orchos Tzaddikim, and then sculpted our figures during the second part. The girls had fantastic ideas and there were some really cute figures, but at the end we had a problem. We had to bake the figures and there was no place to do it. Did the Sculpey create a kashrus problem? In case it did, we didn’t want to use the dorm’s oven. We decided that we’d take care of it the next week. (Shragi would have to come up with a solution) and then we’d be able to play the game. I had to leave by then, in any case.

“Just a minute, Menuchi!”Sandycried. “Don’t go yet! We have to take pictures!” She was busy setting up her camera on the shelf.

“What’s that?” I asked.

“Automatic photo setting!” the girls answered almost in unison. They were already posing in front of the camera, each holding her clay doll. “Sandy’s camera takes the best pictures like this.”

“But you don’t need it now. I’ll take the picture,” I suggested, walking over to the shelf. Keep Reading…

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 23 of a new online serial novel, Beneath the Surface, by Esther Rapaport. Check back for a new chapter every Thursday or Friday. Click here for previous chapters.

Copyright © 2011 by Israel Bookshop Publication

Menuchi’s perspective, continued:

“I also have good news,” Shragi said after we finished sharing our excitement about Chasya Ehrentreau’s announcement. “Remember I told you about Dan, my uncle fromBelgium?”

I did.

“In the end, plans have changed. He’s not going to marry the gentile girl!”

“Baruch Hashem! Did you meet your mother at home?”

“No, she was at work. Simi told me everything. Did I tell you at the time that the girl’s grandmother helped raise my Savta Weingarten after the war?”

“You mentioned something like that.”

“So now my grandmother sent a fax of something she got a few months ago. They are the memoirs of that girl’s grandmother from after the war. Simi told me that the description of my grandmother as a little girl is very touching.” He took a spoonful of soup (without zucchini).

“Oh, Simi read it already?”

“No, it’s in English. But my mother sat until one in the morning and read it from beginning to end, and I guess she told Simi the gist of it.”

“What a shame it’s in English. If it was in Flemish you would also be able to read it.”

“I can barely speak Flemish. I don’t remember much of the language from when I was little, and I certainly can’t read it. I speak to my grandmother mostly in Yiddish,” Shragi said. “Besides, it couldn’t be in Flemish. The woman was British.”

“And her granddaughter?” My soup was finally cool enough for me to begin eating it.

“Belgian.”

“Well, when everyone finishes reading these memoirs, I want to be next on line. It sounds fascinating.”

“I think you’ll be able to get it very soon, because it won’t take my father—if he’s even interested in it—more than ten minutes to read it, and Simi never liked reading in English. She hates the language.”

A small bird suddenly landed on our windowsill. Her feathers were stuck together wetly and she looked cold. Shragi spooned out a small piece of carrot from his plate and cautiously approached the window. The bird fled. Keep Reading…

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 22 of a new online serial novel, Beneath the Surface, by Esther Rapaport. Check back for a new chapter every Thursday or Friday. Click here for previous chapters.

Copyright © 2011 by Israel Bookshop Publication

Simi stepped into the stairwell. She lowered the umbrella and her eyes fell on Morah Yavniel, standing next to a flowerpot, where someone apparently had planned to plant something one day.

“Hello, Sima,” Morah Yavniel said, flashing a friendly smile. “One minute; you girls are sisters-in-law, aren’t you?”

“Yes,” Simi replied. “Hello, Morah, hello, Menuchi.”

One last drop dripped from Menuchi’s gray jacket, splashing into the small puddle that had formed at her feet. How humiliating.

“Hello, Simi.” Menuchi decided to use the blessed method of ignoring reality—there was no rain, no puddle at her shoes, everything was dry and gleaming, and the birds were chirping outside. “You bought an umbrella?”

“I did. And I passed here and saw you, so I’ll walk you home with the umbrella. Um…I can walk Morah as well,” she said, suddenly remembering her manners.

Their teacher smiled again. “Thank you, Sima, but it’s fine. I’ll continue to wait here. I’m sure the rain will stop soon.”

They smiled at her and Menuchi bent over to her bag. “Good luck with the kugel,” her teacher remembered. “And you know Sima, you have a special sister-in-law.”

“I know,” Simi said. She smiled and waved the umbrella again. Right. I know. Keep Reading…

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 21 of a new online serial novel, Beneath the Surface, by Esther Rapaport. Check back for a new chapter every Thursday or Friday. Click here for previous chapters.

Copyright © 2011 by Israel Bookshop Publication

Menuchi’s perspective, continued:

“Hey!” the girl said. “Hello!”

I turned around. “Hello,” I answered cautiously and looked at her expectantly. What would she think of my negligence? Had she noticed that the key was in the door—outside?

She had noticed. She took it out of the keyhole and placed it—

In her bag.

“I think…I think that that’s my neighborhood’s key, um, Chasya’s,” I said, stammering badly. All of my English flew out of my mind and I had to scramble for each word to form a coherent sentence. “She…gave it to me…and I think…that I forgot it outside.” I knew that I was blushing furiously. I could feel it.

The girl took the key out, looked at it for a minute and then at me, and then stuck her hand into her bag and pulled out another key.

“Oh, you’re right!” she exclaimed. “I’m always the last to leave and almost always leave the key in the keyhole. I thought it was mine!”

I smiled at her, my forehead and cheeks burning, and studied her with interest. She wasn’t tall, although she was still taller than me, and she had dark hair gathered into a curly bun.

“So Chasya gave you the key?” she asked, and I wondered if I should continue sweeping.

“Yes. She doesn’t feel well. She pulled something in her back.”

I went into the kitchen to put the broom away. She followed me. “Wow! You set the table yourself? So nice of you!” She had a pleasant laugh. “But you really didn’t have to bother. We usually just put a stack of each thing in the middle and the girls take for themselves. What’s your name?”

“Menuchi Ostfeld,” I said as I picked up the broom that had decided to fall. “And yours?”

“Adina Baumel, fromMiami.” We exchanged a few more sentences when I suddenly remembered about the lasagna. I dashed towards the oven. It was completely cold. Of course, Madame Ostfeld. If you don’t turn on the oven, it doesn’t usually turn itself on.

Once again the door to the apartment opened, and more voices filled the kitchen. I heard rapid-fire talking as I concentrated on the oven knobs. “This is Menuchi,” I heard Adina say. “Chasya hurt her back. She’s her neighbor.”

A few people suddenly stood behind me. I had no choice anymore. I pasted my broadest smile on my face and turned around. There were five or six girls there. They all said it was so nice to meet me and shared their names before disappearing into their rooms, still chattering loudly.  Keep Reading…

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 20 of a new online serial novel, Beneath the Surface, by Esther Rapaport. Check back for a new chapter every Thursday or Friday. Click here for previous chapters.

Copyright © 2011 by Israel Bookshop Publication

The drawer was open, revealing the array of colors scattered inside. The eight-year-old child stood in front of the drawer, deliberating.

“Nu, Nati, have you chosen something?” His mother glanced at her watch impatiently. Her son had been standing there for more than two minutes already.

“It’s fine; let him take his time,” Dr. Chani Ostfeld soothed as she picked up the phone. “I think he deserves it, right, Nati?” The child smiled bashfully, and his new amalgam filling gleamed in the fluorescent light.

He hesitantly fingered a small plastic helicopter, but pulled back. No, he didn’t want that.

“Menuchi?” Chani had hesitated and deliberated before dialing. “Menuchi, do you have any special plans for this morning?”

“No, why?” Menuchi’s voice sounded warm and smooth. Chani liked the tones she heard.

“I’m calling from work. My secretary didn’t come in today and didn’t send a substitute either. Do you think you could come in instead of her? It isn’t hard work and today is not a very busy day.” When she was met with silence, Chani added, “It’s only until one.”

In the small apartment, the onions crackled as they sautéed in the skillet. Menuchi stared in dismay at the small pieces of onion that began to stick to the side of the pan, browning quickly. She tried to scrape them down with a long wooden spoon, but they stuck stubbornly to the pan and she didn’t understand why. She would manage with lunch. She didn’t have all that much left to do. That wasn’t the problem.

“Hold on a second,” she said a bit breathlessly. “My onions are burning.” Keep Reading…