Recap (46 CE): Aunt Annabelle, the Rabbi, and Mihran were talking secretly about Mihran getting a bris milah in order to become a full-fledged Jew. Ava overheard this – and to her horror, she noticed Galla had overheard it as well.
Recap (2024): Yisroel Meir and Daniel were reading the book about the royal family in 46 CE to distract themselves. Daniel was spending all of Shabbos with Yisroel Meir’s family, as it was too dangerous to walk back to his father’s apartment on campus due to the protests.
Yisroel Meir closed the book. “We better go to sleep or we’ll never get up in time for shul.”
The next morning, I went with Yisroel to synagogue, and he showed me the place in the siddur for praying.
“I feel funny just staying in your house like this,” I said.
“We have guests all the time. It’s a mitzvah.”
I wished he felt I was there as a friend, not just as a mitzvah.
At lunch, several guests filed into the house. Most were college students. There was also a young couple with a baby. One of the students said, “I believe my family, way back, were originally from Spain. So, my family would follow Sephardic customs. Why are there different Jewish customs for different places?”
I hadn’t known about any of this.
Rabbi Diamond explained. “The customs were in different places, and so we continue them to this day. We can go around the table and you can share where your grandparents are from. This will help me tell you what customs you might want to take on,” Rabbi Diamond said. “For example, there are different customs for how long to wait between meat and milk.”
He went around the table, and each person shared where their grandparents came from. I felt my stomach knot after he asked the college student seated next to me. My turn was next.
“Daniel, do you know where your grandparents are from?” Rabbi Diamond asked me.
I fidgeted in my seat. It was a sore subject. My mother’s parents were not alive anymore, and I knew they had lived in Boston, but I didn’t know anything about my father’s parents. Whenever I asked my father about them, he would change the subject – and one time he even got angry at me. He’d said, “Why do you ask about them? It isn’t something you need to bother yourself about.”
My father’s family was a mystery I couldn’t penetrate.
Rabbi Diamond was waiting for my answer. “I’m not sure,” I mumbled.
“Something to ask your father,” Rabbi Diamond said. I knew I couldn’t ask him, but I just nodded.
The Shabbos lunch food was delicious. I tasted the cholent. “This is good,” I said.
Rabbi Diamond then explained that he was going to share a d’var Torah. “Shabbos is a gift that Hashem gave to the Jewish people. It’s a day to spend with family and friends, and to appreciate Hashem’s creations. It’s a day to stop our regular work and enjoy Hashem’s creations. We put away our phones, our technology, and we enjoy each other’s company.”
This was so interesting to me. I wished my father was here to hear this. He was always busy with his phone or on his computer. It would be so nice to have a day like this with him.
After lunch, I helped Yisroel Meir clear the dishes. Then we played some board games with his younger siblings.
After we cleaned up one of the games, Yisroel Meir said, “I’m going to shul to learn with my father. You can come or stay here and read.” I decided to stay. I didn’t want to interfere with his special time with his father.
Shabbos ended with Havdalah. I watched the flickering flame, and a feeling of peace washed over me.
“I really liked this,” I told Yisroel Meir. “It’s not like anything I ever did before.”
After Shabbos, I called my father, and he told me the protests were over. “I’m glad you didn’t come home last night. It was not safe,” he said. “The protests got rowdy.”
Yisroel Meir’s father drove us to the police station to report the man who chased us.
An officer yawned as he took down our information. “What did you say the man looked like?”
Yisroel Meir answered. “He wore a red keffiyeh. He had angry dark eyes, and he was screaming at us.”
“How old?”
“Maybe in his late twenties.”
“He threatened you.”
“Yes, and he chased us.”
“What did you do to cause that?” he asked.
Rabbi Diamond interrupted. “My son was not doing anything. This was a violent protest against the Jewish people.”
The officer yawned again. “If the protestors didn’t use weapons or any violence, there isn’t anything we can do.”
“But he chased my son and his friend.”
“I understand, but nothing happened.”
Rabbi Diamond sighed. “Okay, sir. Thank you for your time. I just hope nothing does happen with someone who is so violent on the campus – and then you will be responsible.”
The officer just shrugged.
Rabbi Diamond motioned us to follow him back to the car. It was clear the police would not do anything to try to find Ahmed.
We pulled up to my apartment. “Thanks so much for everything,” I said.
“See you around,” Yisroel Meir said.
Inside, my father was busy unpacking. I told him about our encounter with Ahmed.
“Sounds scary,” he said as he put some socks into a drawer. He looked up at me for a minute. “I’m glad you’re all right.”
“I don’t think it’s safe to stay here,” I said.
“Daniel, it was one protest – and it’s over.”
I thought of that man Ahmed with the furious eyes, and I sighed.
To be continued…
Susie Garber is the author of a newly released historical fiction novel, Captured (Menucha Publishers, 2025), as well as historical fiction novels Please Be Patient (Menucha, 2024), Flight of the Doves (Menucha, 2023), Please Be Polite (Menucha, 2022), A Bridge in Time (Menucha, 2021), Secrets in Disguise (Menucha, 2020), Denver Dreams, a novel (Jerusalem Publications, 2009), Memorable Characters…Magnificent Stories (Scholastic, 2002), Befriend (Menucha, 2013), The Road Less Traveled (Feldheim, 2015), fiction serials, and features in Binah Magazine and Binyan Magazine, and “Moon Song” in Binyan (2021–2022) and Alaskan Gold (2023–2024).
