Serializing a new novel.
Chapter 18: The Next Meeting in Jerusalem (October
2001)
Esther and Daniel have met, and they are to meet
again.
Esther faced the second meeting with a feeling of optimism.
That was until her mother had insisted that she ask directly
about Daniel's family. She didn't want there to be any
feeling that she was interrogating him. The first meeting had
been so relaxed, and the conversation had simply flowed along
different subjects. She felt that when the time was right,
Daniel would discuss his family. She felt it was wrong to
force the conversation in that direction. However, her mother
had been most persistent and she was in a quandary about what
to do.
Daniel was worried that so sweet a girl was getting involved
in complications that should play no part in her life. He
wanted to ignore the advice of Rav Dov and simply tell her
everything.
As soon as Daniel entered the house he saw that Esther was
tense. She asked him how his day had been and then she said,
"We haven't spoken of our families. My father is in learning.
My mother works part-time as a bookkeeper for a ladies dress
shop. I have three sisters, all younger than I. The oldest
has just completed her year at seminary and is looking for
work. The other two are still in elementary school."
She smiled at him and then she was silent. It was clearly
time for him to tell about his family. Daniel opened his
mouth. Instead of telling the whole complex saga of his
sudden arrival in Jerusalem he found himself telling her
exactly what Rav Dov had advised him. "My father is a
businessman," he said.
Well that was true. "My mother helped him for the first few
years but then when her help wasn't needed she mostly spent
her time on charity work."
Well, that too was true. "My family mostly ignored the
mitzvos, and so did I until I came here."
Then it all came out in a burst. "I am not at present in
contact with my family."
How strange all this must sound, thought Daniel. Now the girl
would refuse to see him again. Why had he listened to Rav
Dov?
Esther felt his hurt. How terrible it must be to have no
siblings, to have parents that didn't share your way of life.
She wanted to say something to bring comfort to him but found
herself afflicted with her old enemy, tongue-tied shyness
wracking her. They spoke for a while of other things —
that the weather was beginning to cool down, of his ideas for
education, of her education at Bais Yaakov — but the
meeting went badly and finished early.
Esther forced herself to speak to her parents, telling them
of what she had been told, adding in a tight sad voice, "If
he wants to meet me again, I will see him. But he won't want
to see me, I am sure."
Daniel called Yehudit. "If she will see me again that is
fine. If she doesn't want to then I understand."
He wished that he had never begun this process. It had
started him thinking of how much he wanted his own home. It
brought his longing for his parents and his intense worry for
them back into sharp focus. Even after his walk late at
night, tired though he was, he tossed and turned and could
not get to sleep.
Both Esther and Daniel were surprised to find themselves once
again facing each other. Esther kept as far away from matters
of America and his family as she could. They spoke of
attitudes to life, almost as if they were attending an
academic convention.
Slowly they forgot the hurt of the previous meeting and they
spoke frankly and found they had the same views on the
importance of learning, the type of atmosphere they thought
best for children to grow up in, and current attitudes in the
frum community to a whole variety of issues from
sheitels to the issue of Hebrew and Yiddish.
Daniel once again looked at his watch and saw that he had
stayed longer than the time the shadchan had advised.
He said before leaving, "Does it not worry you that it could
be that you may never meet my family?"
But he left before waiting for an answer.
He ran down a few steps. Then he ran up again, rang the bell
again, and said, "I should have waited for your answer."
Esther said, "Whatever you decide — about meeting or
not meeting — I would accept that you know best."
The engagement proceedings followed immediately after the
fourth date. Rav Bernstein and his wife came from Bnei Brak
to act as family representatives for Daniel. The celebration
was small but joyous.
Daniel had asked the man whom he helped each morning in the
small store to attend. "It would mean so much to me if you
and your wife came," he said after he pulled the last load
into the shop.
His wife told Esther, "Such a fine young man . . . every day
he helps my husband . . . early in the morning when others
are still asleep," and with that she handed a small package
to Esther.
"A small gift" she said.
Later when they opened it together, they found a key and a
note. "The apartment has been painted. Look around. If you
want to make use of it for the beginning of your married life
then that is our present to you."
Both Esther and Daniel were stunned. Accommodation in that
area was at a premium and this solved a whole host of
problems in one fell swoop.
So Esther and Daniel were married a week after Chanukah, in a
small but pleasant ceremony. They furnished the small
apartment above the store with secondhand furniture. Daniel
found a kollel that accepted him. Esther continued
with her work.
Under the chuppah both had davened fervently
for the same thing: that Daniel should be reunited with his
parents. But as the first months of their married life passed
by, it seemed that this was not to be.
