Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 19 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:

As the clock indicated six minutes to four, the door closed. I looked around a bit helplessly, knowing that I had a few hours ahead of me with absolutely nothing to do in them.

Two plates, two forks, two knives, a bowl, and a spoon rested comfortably in the fleishig sink. Should I wash them now? I could, in theory, but if I would finish the dishes, what would I do in another hour?

What a funny question. Anyone who has what to do right now and asks what she will do later has no faith. I went over to the sink and slowly and deliberately washed each dish. I didn’t bother scrubbing the counter. I had done it yesterday and the day before; it wasn’t dirty.

Four-oh-seven. Technically I could go rest, but I don’t like resting in the afternoon. If I’m tired, then a rest is great, but when I feel as fresh as a crisp lettuce leaf and no less bored than that leaf, then afternoon rests just make things worse. So what could I do?

There wasn’t a book to be had in the house, except for a sefer I’d received for my wedding. But my parents already had that sefer, and I’d read it more than once during my engagement.

What else? A CD.

I didn’t have any.

But I could borrow!

From whom?

Neighbors.

But I didn’t have a CD player!

Actually, getting to know a new neighbor right now sounded like a nice idea. The problem was that I’m really not the initiating type who introduces herself and invites people to come over so everyone could get to know each other over coffee and cake. Maybe the neighbor would be busy but wouldn’t feel polite refusing me? And maybe she wouldn’t know if she could trust my kashrus? I could show her that I have a closed package of cookies. But what about coffee? I didn’t have it in the original container—all I had was a small amount of it in a clear sandwich bag which Ima gave me yesterday, to last until we’d get a chance to buy a jar of our own. Keep Reading…

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 18 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

Shimon Feder strained to read the English words and then raised his eyes.

“I’m happy I asked you to show me every letter she sends you,” he said slowly. “She lives in a world whose concepts are, baruch Hashem, very foreign to you. I really do prefer that this correspondence be supervised.”

He pondered for a moment, and then added jovially, “But I’m only heading the kashrus agency temporarily. From the first of Cheshvan, b’ezras Hashem, the responsibility will be transferred to your husband. And personally, I suggest that you slowly cut off ties with her. Stress again that she should go learn in a serious place and not suffice with our responses. In any case, if Shragi won’t want you to correspond with her—and I’ll understand if he doesn’t—then you can give her some addresses where she can send her questions. There are plenty of places that can help her.”

“Or we can leave our address and you will answer her, without her even knowing that it’s not me.” Menuchi folded the paper into four.

“But someone will have to translate the letters into English.” Rabbi Feder’s forehead creased. “So why not direct her to the people who can answer her, and who speak English? That can also prevent mistakes that might happen in the translation.”

“And what about her question in this letter?”

“The question is what she means by ‘sin.’ Does a gentile girl who marries a Jew fall into the category of one who serves avodah zarah or violates any of the other seven mitzvos of Bnei Noach? I have to find out. But one thing is clear: nothing good can come out of causing a Jew to sin.”

“Do you think we can sit on this tonight?”

“Tonight? I’m afraid not.” He picked up his hat. “I have to run out, and I doubt I’ll be home before eleven. We have to find an evening when I’m free and not too tired.”

“Will there be such a night before my wedding?” Keep Reading…

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 17 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

“It’s been three weeks since your engagement, Diana, and for some reason, you don’t look happy at all,” Maria, Diana’s sister-in-law, remarked as she pushed the stroller with her two-year-old son.

“I am happy,” Diana said, raising her eyes to the pale blue sky. The summer sun stood high in the sky, surrounded by a lighter halo, but the sky was still not as blue as Diana had ever seen a sky. “The sky in Israel is so blue,” she grumbled, following her sister-in-law as Maria turned left onto a small side street.

“He wants to live in Israel?” Maria queried.

“Dan? No, of course not!”

“So what’s the connection between what I asked and what you answered?”

“I didn’t mean that there was any connection,” Diana replied as she stroked her nephew’s hair. He sat in the stroller, taking in everything around him with wide open eyes.

“Here’s the store. Come,” Maria said as she pulled open the wide glass door. Diana followed her inside the carpeted store and sat down on a velour bench, glancing around at the tastefully designed interior.

“So, what do you say? Are they nice?” Maria asked, holding a tiny pair of shoes.

“Very nice. Really cute,” Diana murmured, taking the right shoe. It was made of blue suede and had light blue laces, with green embroidered flowers on the side. She hadn’t heard how much they cost, but Maria’s wrinkled nose told her enough.

“Julian will be angry,” Maria said as she fit one shoe onto her son’s foot. “He always says that he can’t keep up with the prices I pay for things. But aren’t they sweet?” She put the second shoe on. “I can’t let my son walk around in rags.”

Diana opted to remain silent. Keep Reading…

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 16 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

“Diana? I’m going to the cafeteria!” Ruby stuck her head into the room.

Diana slipped her pen into the back flap of her loose-leaf. “Go and enjoy,” she replied blandly and walked out to her friend.

“Aren’t you coming?” Ruby asked.

“No. I have no appetite, I’m too tired, and the truth is, I don’t have time, anyway.”

“What now? You gave in the psychometric report this morning, if I’m not mistaken.”

“You’re not, but I have other things that I’m busy with besides school.”

“Oh. I forgot.” Ruby’s voice had taken on that tone of oozing scorn that was becoming so common whenever she spoke to Diana. “What’s up? You haven’t finished planning the wedding menu yet? Or are you going to choose a necklace? Be careful that his mother doesn’t convince him to buy you an ugly Star of David-shaped pendant.” Keep Reading…

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 15 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

Belgium

Diana slowly walked past the rows of trees. Lights from homes behind the trees twinkled alternately as the foliage thickened and thinned. Small, unripe fruits that had fallen to the ground turned into sticky mush as she unintentionally stepped on them.

The words in Menuchi’s letter gnawed at her brain. It was obvious that Menuchi hadn’t realized that she was not Jewish, and, indeed, she had intentionally been trying to conceal this tidbit of information. She doubted the girl from Israel would continue to correspond with her if she would reveal the truth. And this correspondence was very important to her right now. Very.

Only when she was standing in front of the ornate door, looking at the elegant, carved, wooden nameplate hanging on it, did she begin to doubt the effectiveness of her plan.

Yes. Knock! Diana urged herself firmly.

Maybe not? the fearful side of her doubted.

Don’t do anything hastily. Think first! yet a third side of Diana said to her. It was actually her mother’s voice. Diana couldn’t listen to all the voices in her mind. But her firmness won out and she lifted her arm to knock at the door. Keep Reading…

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 14 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

“Will you be going to Shragi’s wedding, Mother?” Once again, Dan had taken a few days of vacation from university.

“What’s the question? And you’re coming, too!”

Dan shook his head in uncertainty. “I’m not so sure. When does it come out?”

“In November.”

“Well, we’ll see what kind of exams I have then.”

“When you want to, sweetie, you can always arrange for yourself to have a little vacation, can’t you? Or maybe you don’t want to go?”

“I didn’t say that,” Dan murmured evasively. “But it is true that I’m afraid I’ll feel strange and different at this wedding.”

Lara looked reprovingly at his bare head. “If you show up at the hall the way you’ve been looking recently, then of course you’ll feel different. Or perhaps you mean you’ll be different because everyone there who’s your age is married already?”

He smiled thinly. “You can’t know. November is still a long time away! Even I can be married by then.”

His mother fixed him with a penetrating gaze. “You know that that will make me very happy. To whom?”

“Oh, I was just talking theoretically.” He tried to sound nonchalant, but knew that it would take more than that to fool his mother.

“You weren’t talking theoretically at all. I know you too well. Who is the girl you are planning to marry?”

He sighed resignedly. “You don’t sound all too happy, Mother, as you promised you would be a moment ago.”

“What did I promise?”

“You said that my getting married will make you very happy. Why aren’t you happy?”

“Because your evasiveness is worrying me. I hope it’s a good family.”

“A very good family. You know them very well.” Keep Reading…

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 13 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

Back in Belgium, Diana Molis ascended the black marble stairs. She stuffed the white envelope into her pocket. She would look at it soon. Not now. Not here.

“What’s doing, Dee?” her mother asked.

“I have a hard exam tomorrow,” Diana replied tersely. “I have to finish studying.”

Her mother frowned. “I thought that since the university is so close to home, and that you’re even sleeping at home, I’d see you more than if you would be living elsewhere. As time goes on, though, I see that’s not exactly the case.”

“Well, you want her to take her studies seriously, don’t you?” Diana’s father interjected as he blew rings of smoke into the air.

“Yes, but she’s overdoing it. And when she finally has a few days of vacation, she flies off to Israel, instead of spending time with us here.”

“Well, soon she’ll be getting married and will be moving out for good, Dora,” Diana’s father remarked, tossing the evening newspaper onto the low wooden coffee table. “You know, Dee, we’re waiting for news from you.”

“News? Of what type?” She vigorously rubbed the glass face of her watch, determined to remove a nonexistent mark. Keep Reading…

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 12 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

Chani finished the conversation with her sister and walked out of the room, passing the nurses’ station. True, she had seen the baby just an hour ago, but even that was too long for her. For her own peace of mind, she had to see how he was doing, up close. She entered the nursery, passing rows and rows of screaming babies.

One of the nurses greeted her at the entrance to the neonatal unit. “How are you Chani?” she asked. “Don’t come every minute! You’ve got to rest!”

“Not every minute…” Chani said with a wan smile as she peeked into the incubator on the left side. “It’s been fifty minutes since I was last here!”

“My, what a long time ago that was!” the nurse said with a laugh and moved out of the way. “Come as much as you want. For the baby, it’s excellent. The question is, what’s with you?”

“For me it’s also excellent,” Chani said and slipped inside. Most of the nurses here knew her well. After all, she’d parted from them tearfully just a year and a half ago.

She bent over the miniscule face, and a wave of love overwhelmed her. The tiny closed eyes twitched for a second, but didn’t open. “Sleep, darling, sleep well,” Chani whispered, stroking the thin wrist with her pinky. “You need to grow, and b’ezras Hashem you’ll have a lot of koach!”

“Oh!” Chani suddenly heard an exclamation to her right. An unfamiliar-looking nurse opened the drawer of cloth diapers. “Is that your son? He’s our ‘giant’ in the ward now! One kilo, eight-hundred-eighty grams—bli ayin hara!” Keep Reading…

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 11 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? Letter for you!” Miriam tossed the envelope onto the table. “Hey, it’s in English? Do you have a pen-pal from abroad?”

“If you would take a closer look, you would see that it’s not an international letter,” Menuchi said, glancing at the sender’s name. “It says here it was sent from Tzefas. The stamp is local and so is the postmark.”

“That’s all I need,” Miriam said, trying to sound plaintive, “to examine my sister’s mail…”

“I didn’t tell you to look at what’s inside,” Menuchi replied and tore the envelope open. A few stamps fell to the floor. “Just at the address on the envelope.” It was enough that by tomorrow morning four or five of Miriam’s friends would know that she had received a letter from Tzefas. She did not need them to know what it said. But what did it say? She extracted another sheet of paper from the envelope, forgetting about the stamps on the floor.

“And what’s this?” Miriam bent down. “Are you trading stamps with some anonymous person? I thought you’re too old for that. You gave me your collection, if you recall.”

“I didn’t forget,” Menuchi said as she folded the paper. She would read the note when she was alone in her room. “I didn’t forget at all. It shows, by the way, that I’m not such a bad sister, even if I don’t share every last one of my secrets with you, right?”

“Sure, but what about these stamps?”

Menuchi suppressed a sigh. She’d be better off giving an answer now if she wanted to get to her room in the next half an hour. “I lent someone money, and I guess she’s returning it.”

“Returning stamps? Very funny.”

“Not funny.” Menuchi fingered the paper in her pocket. “It’s a pretty accepted way to send money in the mail.”

Finally, she was sitting on the bed in the room she shared with Chaya’le and could read the letter. A dictionary rested on the bed near her, in case she wouldn’t understand something. But the words were quite simple.

Dear Menuchi,

English is not your mother tongue, nor is it my primary language, so I will be brief. I wanted to ask you something. If you remember, I mentioned on our trip (which I very much enjoyed in your company) that Judaism interests me recently and I have a lot of questions. Would you agree to answer me? If so, please send your letter to the address below. And before I forget, thanks for the bus fare. I hope the stamps arrived safely. Keep Reading…

Israel Book Shop presents Chapter 10 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

“Jewish law and concepts have really begun to interest me in the recent past,” the foreign girl said slowly. “My fiancé comes from an Orthodox Jewish family. He himself does not observe Jewish law, but I would be interested in becoming a bit more familiar with his background. That is why I came for a visit here.”

“That’s a good idea,” Menuchi said, fumbling for what to say. “It really is.” She suddenly smiled. “I didn’t think you could be engaged already. You look so young!”

“I really am young…” The corners of the girl’s eyes crinkled when her broad smile crossed her face again. “I’m only twenty four. And you?”

“Twenty.”

The bus groaned as it chugged up the bottom of Shmuel Hanavi Street and Menuchi sought out someone who might be able to answer her question. “Excuse me,” she turned to a woman across the aisle. Something about the openness and self confidence emanating from the passenger on her left seemed to have rubbed off on her. “This girl needs to get to…” She peeked at the note the girl had given her, “Epstein’s Bakery in Meah Shearim. Could you tell me when she has to get off please?” Keep Reading…