The Rabbi and The Rebbetzin (13 page)

On
the adjacent table, Rabbis Weiss and Bernstein and their wives took their
places. The chairman announced that Rabbis Weiss and Bernstein were members of
the faculty of the Yeshiva Ohr Moshe of Pittsburgh. Cynthia Farber then
explained that she and her husband would be sitting with them as well as the mayor
of Dunberg and his wife, Mr. and Mrs. Arnold Schwartz. Another round of
applause was heard in the hall when this table of guests entered the dinner
hall.  

The
chairman raised her voice and said with some excitement, “And now we will be
honored by the entry of the first family of the Dunberg Jewish community who
will be seated at the head table. Malka and Esther Levine, the teenage
daughters of our president and first lady, are coming in. Next in line will be
Sammy Levine and his bar mitzvah instructor, Rabbi Shalom Pinkes, from the
Yeshiva Ohr Moshe. Sammy will be bar mitzvah in February and we are all looking
forward to celebrating this great event with the Levine family. Following them we
have the president of our congregation, Mr. Abe Levine, and his beloved wife,
Chana. Last but not least, we have the president’s lovely daughter, the
princess of Beth Israel, Shulamit, escorted by our devoted and charming spiritual
leader, Rabbi Aaron Adler.”

A
strange thing happened as the young couple entered the hall and walked to their
seats. Thunderous applause erupted from one end of the hall to the other, and
everyone rose in honor of the new arrivals. The standing ovation lasted for
several minutes. Shulamit who was experienced in such matters waved to those
who were cheering and whispered to Aaron that he should also wave to his admirers.

Aaron
was overwhelmed by the reception, but he did not feel that the crowd was
applauding him personally. He did allow that they might be standing in honor of
the congregational rabbi, a mitzvah required in the Torah. In his heart,
however, he knew that they were really applauding the good-looking and popular
Shulamit. It then dawned on him that they may have been looking upon them as a
couple who might someday be the rabbi and rebbetzin of Beth Israel.

When
the audience settled down, the chairman resumed the program. She announced that
the national anthem and
Hatikva
would be sung by Shulamit Levine, and
the congregants should remain standing while Rabbi Shalom Pinkes lit the Chanukah
candles.

Aaron
had been correct when he had warned Shalom that there would be women singing at
the dinner, but he did not anticipate that the singer would be the woman whom
he had escorted to the occasion. He knew that Shulamit had a beautiful voice
for which she was well-known on campus. She whispered to him that she had sung
the anthems at the Chanukah dinners in past years and it was expected of her.
As was the custom in most Orthodox synagogues, the American flag was standing
against the front left wall and the Israeli flag on the right wall.

Shulamit
gave a powerful rendition of the “Star-Spangled Banner” and an emotional one of
Hatikva
. The day school where she had studied was in a pure Sephardic
style, and she sang without an Ashkenazi accent.

When
the applause subsided, Shalom Pinkes walked to a small table displaying five Chanukah
candles. After chanting the
brachot
, he lit the first candle himself as
required. For the next three lights he honored Rabbis Adler, Weiss and
Bernstein, in succession. The honor of lighting the last candle was bestowed
upon Abe Levine. Shalom then sang the hymn
Hanerot Halalu
(“These candles
that we light”). Finally he called upon the audience to join him in
Maoz
Tzur.
The band that frequently played at Jewish weddings was able to
provide him with musical accompaniment.

Mrs.
Farber called upon the congressman to be the opening speaker of the evening.
She realized that the Christmas season was a busy time for him and that he
would not relish hearing about a Jewish holiday for the whole evening. The
congressman spoke about his efforts as a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee
to recruit support for foreign aid for Israel. He also described his efforts
for social welfare legislation. Mrs. Farber knew the state senator personally,
and she felt that one who was a traditional worshipper at synagogues would enjoy
a little Chanukah culture. After allowing Rabbi Weiss to speak on behalf of
Yeshiva Ohr Moshe, she gave the audience a break and let the opening courses of
the dinner to be served.

Rabbi
Adler’s turn came before the main course, and in keeping with Rabbi Bernstein’s
instructions, he avoided deep sermonics and kept his message brief. He compared
the modern Israelis to the ancient Maccabees who achieved their independence from
their Syrian persecutors.

Between
courses, Rabbi Pinkes led the audience in Chanukah songs and the singing was
quite spirited. The entertainment program was more professional and kept the
audience interested. The grace after meals was led by Rabbi Bernstein.

When
the dinner was completed, Shulamit drove Aaron back to Pittsburgh. This gave
him a chance to praise her singing. He did not mention that he was not supposed
to be listening to a woman singer. He simply followed the example of the other
rabbis present and assumed that they knew of some leniency in the laws. He did
tell her that he enjoyed being her escort and that he would be happy to do so
again, anytime she needed one.

In
the weeks after Chanukah, Aaron resumed his emails to Shulamit. One of her
replies came back with a line of ‘exes’ under her name. Not knowing the
significance of the symbols, he inquired of Shalom what they meant.

“Boy,
are you innocent!” Shalom exclaimed. “You know that modern computer speak has a
dialect all of its own. The X stands for a kiss. Since Shulamit knows that you
will never kiss her unless you’re married, she took a safe way of indicating
her desire for one. I suggest that you better start thinking of a deeper
relationship before it’s too late. Make sure that you appoint me as your best
man and no one else.”

Aaron
was happy with the explanation and rejoiced in the fact that he and Shulamit
were entering into a more serious courtship.

The
Chanukah dinner was the turning point in Shulamit’s attitude. She realized that
there were some benefits of being married to a rabbi, even though there were
some very heavy costs. She would be gaining honor, recognition and public
approval, at the expense of privacy, intimacy and strict religious living. She
resolved to follow two courses. One was to get to know Aaron better so that she
could be certain that her problems with him would center only on religious
practices and nothing else. The other was to seek outside guidance on what
course of action to take. She would have to have long talks with her parents as
well as with school and private counselors. She had been enjoying a carefree social
and cultural life and didn’t know whether she could go back to the ‘Middle Ages.’

Without
referring to any computer symbolism, Aaron simply remarked that he was pleased
with the friendly tone of her letter and his feelings for her had become
warmer.

He
then reported the latest progress in Sammy’s preparation for bar mitzvah. Sammy
had mastered the Biblical readings and the Rosh Chodesh prayers. In general, he
was familiar with the davening, because the day school had stressed liturgy and
started each day with prayer services. The next event in his training schedule
was the matter of putting on Tefillin each morning. Shalom Pinkes had gone to
the book store with Mr. Levine to purchase the Tefillin and a special Talit for
the bar mitzvah. It was a medium-size silk Talit worn only on the day of the bar
mitzvah and for photography. Otherwise, in the Ashkenazi custom, the Talit was
only worn by married men.

The
first donning of the Tefillin was usually marked by a special ceremony. After a
week of practice, Sammy mastered the art. Levine scheduled the Kiddush for a
Sunday morning when the congregational members could attend. The shul had often
sponsored father-and-son Tefillin breakfasts, and delegated the sisterhood women
to provide the bagels and lox. The Tefillin Kiddush meant that only six weeks
were left before the bar mitzvah
.

Towards
the end of January, Aaron got an email from Shulamit telling him of her
progress at school. She had completed a Kaplan course and applied to take the
LSAT in February. She had taken several sample tests provided by Kaplan and had
scored quite well. She had every reason to believe that with her extraordinary
grade point average and an LSAT score of 175, she could get into any law school
in the country. So far she had broken 170 twice in the sample tests and 175 was
within reach. Since application fees were unduly expensive, she would limit her
applications to a selection of seven schools concentrating on the Eastern seaboard
of the U.S. She avoided schools in the mid- and far West.  

Aaron
was happy with Shulamit’s ability, but was concerned that if she entered a
school far from home it would affect a possible marriage. The only possible
solution would be for Aaron and Shulamit to live in the city of the chosen law
school. This would mean a serious change in Aaron’s future plans. Abe Levine
had told him that after
Semicha
he could always work at the Levine company
and serve as rabbi of the Dunberg synagogue simultaneously. If he had to leave
the Dunberg area that would no longer be possible.

To
get some grasp of his future possibilities, Aaron had to speak to the Duquesne
authorities to see what could be done to expedite a college degree. Many Catholic
colleges allowed up to 30 credits for work done by religious seminary graduates.
When he applied for the holiday position in Dunberg, he already had 85 credits
and had registered for six more in the fall semester. The yeshiva would allow
him no more than six credits per term. If he were to continue in the spring
semester he would earn six more credits and have a total of 97.

He
arranged to see the guidance counselor at Duquesne who was quite encouraging.
He scheduled a faculty meeting to evaluate Aaron’s credits. He needed 120
credits to graduate and decided to apply for 25 credits above what he already
had. He hoped that he would at least be granted the 23 credits that he needed
as a minimum.

In
drawing up a schedule for credits, he decided to claim six credits for Jewish
history from the history department, and six credits from the foreign language
department for his knowledge of Yiddish, Hebrew and Aramaic. He asked for six
credits for religious studies in anticipation of his forthcoming ordination.
Philosophy was his strongest area, and because he was well versed in
philosophical works from Maimonides to Spinoza, he decided to ask for nine
credits in this subject. He was confident that the departments would be willing
to consider his requests because Duquesne offered equivalent courses on their
own campus, although Aaron had felt no need to take any of them. The counselor
said that he would invite a member of each department mentioned to serve on
Aaron’s committee.

A
week before the bar mitzvah, Shalom felt that Sammy had finished his
preparation and was ready to recite his work. He asked the Mashgiach for
permission to use the yeshiva synagogue on Monday and Thursday when the first
part of the Torah section for the coming Sabbath would be read. He wanted Sammy
to gain the feel of reading from a genuine Torah scroll before a large
audience. He also scheduled a dress rehearsal for Thursday night for the
benefit of Mr. and Mrs. Levine and Rabbi Kurland. At the rehearsal, Sammy would
offer the entire services including the liturgical and sermonic parts. The
recitation was virtually free of errors, and those who attended heard the
entire service, even though they sat in the back of the synagogue.

Aaron
sat with them when, much to his surprise, Shulamit arrived to attend the
rehearsal. Afterwards, she told Aaron that she did achieve her 176 test score
in her LSAT and would mail her applications to various law schools before the
February 15
^th
deadline.

Mr.
and Mrs. Levine had sent out invitations for the bar
mitzvah containing
a Hebrew text approved by Aaron and Rabbi Weiss. These invitations were for the
synagogue services at Beth Israel. A separate set of invitations were sent out
for the bar mitzvah reception scheduled for Sunday night at one of the major
hotels in Pittsburgh. Levine didn’t even bother inviting Aaron to the reception,
nor Rabbis Weiss and Bernstein. He sought to save the rabbis the embarrassment
of having to decline attending an affair, even though it was being sponsored by
the synagogue president.

Making
an affair to meet the standards of the rabbis would be impossible without
alienating his guests and members of his own family. Among his guests would be
any number of gentile customers and suppliers of his business, people that he
had dealt with over the years. Even his Jewish invitees would be unwilling to
attend an affair where they could not sit with their wives or dance with them.
There would also be a disk jockey who would be playing the latest rock music
and a well-known band.

The
bar mitzvah on the Sabbath was attended by Rabbi Kurland and two other faculty
members. Reverend Martin chanted the morning prayers and Sammy read from the
Torah, and chanted the Haftorah. He then chanted the prayer for the new month.
Aaron delivered the sermon and the charge to Sammy. At the conclusion of his
sermon, Aaron presented Sammy with an inscribed ArtScroll
Chumash
from
the congregation. When Sammy concluded his blessings, he was showered by
candies thrown from the women’s section of the shul. After the prayers were
over, there was a lavish Kiddush for members of the congregation.