The Rabbi and The Rebbetzin (17 page)

“Mr.
Kaplan, do you know if Mrs. Shapiro keeps kosher?”

“As
a matter of fact, she does.” A thought dawned on Shulamit. She had planned to
engage three people to help her. One woman would be a house keeper and cook;
the other would be a personal attendant who would take care of her clothes,
hair and make-up. The third employee would be a man who would be her driver,
take care of security and maintain the apartment. If Mrs. Shapiro was too old to
keep the house clean, she could be given an allowance to employ a maid. The
setup in this home would be very close to her original plan.

“I
would like to see Mrs. Shapiro this morning,” Shulamit said. “Is the apartment
now vacant?”

“It
is,” Kaplan answered. “Most rentals in the university area start from August 15
^th
.”

“Are
you familiar with the layout of the apartment? I would like to have two small
bed-rooms, one large bed room and a living-room, kitchen and study.”

Kaplan
knew the layout and said, “You can have three bedrooms without any trouble, plus
a study and a dining room. If you require a separate living room, you may eat
in the kitchen or in the attached pantry.”

Shulamit
then asked about the rent. Kaplan answered, “The area around the university is
not really a rich neighborhood. Values are held up by transients who wish to
study at the university. Mrs. Shapiro doesn’t drive and her built-in garage is
available. I would guess that you could rent the apartment at $1,500 a month if
you can give her a lease for at least two years.”

Shulamit
answered, “I would give her two years for sure, with an option for a third.
Give her a call and let’s go. You can drive in my car and save some time.”

Mrs.
Shapiro was home and ready to receive company. Kaplan and Shulamit drove over
and Mrs. Shapiro greeted them. She showed them the apartment which had a nice
front porch. In the back of the house was a garden, and in the basement, behind
the garage, there was a storage area.

“Get
me a price and I’ll drive you back to the office where you can prepare a lease.”
To Mrs. Shapiro, she said, “I’ll come back with the lease and we both can sign.”

To
Shulamit, he said, “Go look around the apartment while I talk to Mrs. Shapiro.”
Shulamit went on a tour of the apartment and drew up in her mind a plan for
occupancy. Kaplan sat down with Mrs. Shapiro, who said that she was willing to
take $1,400 a month for the apartment and a $100 for the garage. She claimed
that she could get more for the garage, but it was better for her if she did
not have to rent it separately.

When
he called Shulamit back, he told her the price and added that she would have to
give a deposit of $4,500 for three months. Shulamit said the price was fine and
that she would give Mrs. Shapiro a check together with the lease. She drove Mr.
Kaplan back to his office and walked around the commercial area until the
documents were ready. Thereupon she returned to the apartment.

Mrs.
Shapiro walked her up to her apartment and offered Shulamit some coffee and
cake. They sat at the kitchen table to talk matters over.

“I
have your check for $4,500 and I have the lease documents ready for signing,”
Shulamit said. “You may be wondering why I need so much space if I am only a
single girl. My plan was to have the large bedroom for myself and one bedroom
each for my house keeper and for my personal attendant. I can change the plan if
you will listen to my proposal. I gathered from Mr. Kaplan that you are not
wealthy at the present time but that you do maintain a strictly kosher home. I
am ready to offer you a position as my housekeeper and cook and responsibility
for keeping my apartment clean. If you can do the work yourself, I would pay
you for that separately. If not, I would give you an allowance to hire a maid.
I would also give you extra funds for shopping and payment for your work. Since
you will be living in your own apartment, I would have a free room to house my
driver and maintenance man. I’m looking for a Jewish fellow who could drive
well and has some skills as a handyman. He would not sleep in regularly but
only when necessary. If all that is acceptable, we can work on such an
arrangement. If not, I’ll just sign the lease for myself and my attendants.”

“You
seem to be a wealthy woman, Ms. Levine, and quite religious as well,” Mrs.
Shapiro said.

“Well,”
Shulamit said, “I grew up in a very Orthodox home and an extremely wealthy one.
Our housekeeper who has been with us for twenty years is an expert on kosher
cooking. We have a live-in driver and maintenance man whose wife is our
upstairs maid. I am wealthy in my own right now and my father owns the Telacomp
company, the largest computer supply house on the East Coast. And I have a
romantic relationship with an Orthodox rabbi who looks forward to marrying me
after I finish law school in town.”

Mrs.
Shapiro was very pleased with this information and told her that she would be
glad to consider a position as housekeeper for Shulamit. Shulamit gave her the
check and the lease.

Mrs.
Shapiro signed the lease and returned one copy to her. “By when do you need the
apartment?”

Shulamit
answered, “The agent wrote the lease so that it starts from July 1
^st
of this year and runs to June 30, two years later. There is an option for a
third year after that.”

“As
far as the other occupants of your apartment, I can’t help you find a personal
maid because none of my friends have such things. But I can get you a driver
and maintenance man. At my age, there are some things I can no longer do by
myself, like shoveling snow and minor electrical work. I use a man who is the
son-in-law of one of my friends, Bernie Kleinman. He worked as a mechanic in
one of the Philadelphia service stations which recently closed and left him
unemployed. His job gave him special skills in automotive and electrical work.
If you can work out a deal with him, I’m sure you will be satisfied. He is a
married man in the forties and his unemployment benefits are running out. If it
is all right with you and I ask him to do some work for me, I will reimburse
you.”

Shulamit
was happy to have a lead on a driver. As far as a personal maid, she wasn’t
particularly looking for a Jewish woman. She placed an ad on the Internet explaining
that she was looking for a live-in personal maid. She listed her cell phone
number, and a blog asking applicants to leave a number where they could be
reached and a brief resume of their background and qualifications. She added
that the woman should have a good feeling for clothes and experience in makeup
and hair care. Food and lodging would be provided in addition to a fine salary.

She
got many inquiries for details and a number of applications. She responded to
the most promising ones and set up appointments for the next two nights. She
sensed that most applicants anticipated a rich dowager or a widow. She did not
feel that her youth would frighten the applicants. In the end, she employed a well-dressed
divorcee by the name of Clara Hopkins. She told all of her new employees that they
would be paid from July 1
^st
, and actual work would start when she
returned to Philadelphia in the third week of July to prepare for school.

Having
no further arrangements to make, she headed back to Dunberg to complete her
shopping and undertake reading books that would be helpful in her law school
education. She read Plato’s Republic, selections from St. Thomas Aquinas, and
reviewed her notes on 19
^th
century British and American philosophers
who wrote on legal matters. She then began to pack for her stay at law school.

The
last item of business was an appointment with Marty Goldstein, who was the
chief lawyer at Telacomp and a good friend of hers. She was seeking advice as
to how she should behave in law school to achieve the best results in her
studies. Marty was a Columbia graduate and had worked with Abe Levine for many
years. He was able to give Shulamit a few pointers.

“The
first thing you should know,” he said “is that law school professors are no
longer young. They have sensitive egos that may be readily bruised. They have
repeated the same lectures for many years and are not necessarily up to date in
their chosen fields. If you come across areas where there have been new
developments, don’t embarrass your professor. If he forgets some basic material,
don’t point out his omission. If he calls on you to make a recitation or even
to answer a question, do so routinely and avoid any dramatics. Law school is not
like a college undergraduate class. It is a serious and somber environment. I
am not saying that you should remain unknown on campus. The more students and
professors who get to know you, the higher your grades will be.” Marty
Goldstein shook her hand and wished her luck.

Aaron
Adler was very busy during this period working on his courses for his master’s
degree and planning a thesis. He spoke to Shulamit on the phone but did not get
to see her.

When
Shulamit completed packing her many suitcases, she sent them off with UPS after
labeling the rooms to which they were destined in her Philadelphia apartment.
On Monday July 24
^th
, she placed two of her smaller suitcases in the
trunk of her sports car and left for Philadelphia. She drove at a leisurely
rate and arrived at her apartment six and a half hours later after a few rest
stops. Her big suitcases had arrived before her, and Bernie Kleinman had
already put them in the designated rooms. Personal items and clothing went into
her bedroom. Books and computer equipment went into the room that would be her
study.

On
the next morning, she drove to the campus. At the gate she explained that she
was a new student at the law school and showed the guard an admission card
which was sent to her with her letter of acceptance. The guard told her to park
in the visitors’ area until she was given a permanent parking spot.

The
dean of students, Dr. Charles Krayman, greeted her when she arrived on campus
and she followed him to his office in Silverman Hall. There had been signs
posted in the central courtyard directing students to their destination. She
was not assigned a room because she had made it clear that she preferred to
live off-campus and explained that she was doing so because of her kosher
dietary needs and other personal problems.

Dean
Krayman warned her about off-campus residences. “You never know with whom you
have to share your room and we’ve had some bad experiences on this matter.”

Shulamit
was a little offended. “I will not be sharing my room with anyone else. Nor
will it be a single room. I have rented an apartment from a Mrs. Shapiro with five
and a half rooms.”

The
dean looked at her in surprise. “I know Mrs. Shapiro. In the past, she
frequently asked me if we have any possible faculty people with large families
who need to rent an apartment. She charges about $1,500 a month for it. Can you
afford it, and why do you need so much space?”

Shulamit
answered, “I certainly can afford it. I need the extra rooms for a driver-handyman,
a personal maid and possibly a live-in house keeper. I will need a study,
separate from the living room-dining room combination.”

“What
about your car?” the dean asked.

“Mrs.
Shapiro doesn’t drive anymore, so I will be able to use her built-in garage.”

“Tell
me Ms. Levine, are you really that rich?”

“By
comparative standards I am quite well to do. I am a millionairess in my own
right and my father also has a few dollars of his own.”

 “May
I ask what your father does to keep you in such high style?”

“My
father is the sole owner of Telacomp, the largest computer software and
hardware distributer on the East Coast.

“Your
father is
the
Abe Levine?” the dean asked in amazement.

“That’s
him,” Shulamit admitted. “He has appointed me as the campus representative of Telacomp
at the University of Pennsylvania.”

The
dean made a mental note of the fact that Shulamit was the daughter of Abe
Levine, a multi-millionaire. An hour after Shulamit left his office, he sent an
email to President Crawford of the school and advised him that they had
enrolled the daughter of Dr. Abe Levine, the computer wizard and sole owner of Telacomp.
He suggested to the president that he inform the fundraising department of the university
so that they could attempt to prevail on the multimillion dollar parent to
donate the cost of new facilities at the university.

Although
Shulamit was entitled to one parking space on campus, she waived the privilege
because she did not want to have the car in the student parking lot. Her driver
would take her to school in the morning and drive her back home when she called
him.

 The
dean then gave her a package containing rules and regulations for law school
students. She also received a student identity card for herself and a
windshield sticker for her car. In her introductory package was a note about
elections of a student president for the entering class. Elections were
scheduled to be held on Monday, the 25
^th
of September. On Thursday
night, the 14
^th
of September, eleven days before the elections,
there would be a debate among the candidates. Candidates needed to submit a
petition signed by ten incoming students in order to run for the office of
president.