The Rabbi and The Rebbetzin by Shlomo Wexler Page A

let me know
as soon as possible about your decision.”
    Aaron
answered cautiously, “The compensation is quite adequate, but there are certain
details that I must attend to before I can accept. However, I am personally
inclined to do so. I take it that I can charge my Lulav and Esrog to the shul
account.
    “Certainly,”
Levine said. “Can you tell me when you would be ready to be picked up Erev Yom Kippur on Monday?”
    “Two
o’clock” replied Aaron. “Incidentally, if you send Shulamit to pick me up, ask
her to park her car at least a block away from the yeshiva. The students at the
yeshiva teased me about my Rosh Hashanah date, and I was slightly embarrassed.”

Chapter Four
     
    Aaron is asked to
conduct Sukkot Services at Beth Israel.
    He overcomes the
Mashgiach’s objection
     
     
     
    Aaron
returned to the yeshiva that night and went quietly to his room. After the
morning prayers, he was informed by Rabbi Bernstein that he was expected to
attend a faculty meeting at 10:00 AM. He realized that there would be no
lectures that morning because the faculty and students were observing the Fast
of Gedaliah which follows Rosh Hashanah. When he entered the dean’s office,
Rabbis Weiss and Bernstein were already seated on either side of the dean’s
table. Conspicuous by his absence was Rabbi Kurland. This led Aaron to
understand that the faculty meeting was called in response to his work at Beth
Israel. Aaron understood that Rabbi Kurland stayed away from the meeting
because he was unhappy with the entire idea of sending him outside of the
yeshiva to serve a community synagogue.
    Rabbi
Weiss turned to Aaron and said, “We have already heard from Abe Levine how well
you preformed at Beth Israel. We have had a few other calls praising you for
your work. The faculty wishes to have a full report of what took place on the
holidays.”
    Aaron
was somewhat upset with what he just heard. “I distinctly remember hearing in
this office,” he said, “that the yeshiva was in no way responsible for my performance
at Beth Israel. I could understand such an inquiry if my work had reflected
poorly upon the yeshiva. The faculty would then be justified in examining me.
From what I know, the opposite is true. I heard members express their gratitude
that the yeshiva helped the congregation in its time of need and they were
proud of the quality of the students who study here.”
    Rabbi
Weiss was taken aback with the sharp tone of Aaron’s words. He acted quickly to
correct the situation. “We are not asking you to report to us out of a sense of
responsibility and obligation. We called you in out of curiosity because this
is a situation that may impact the yeshiva in the future. If we find religious
faults with the congregation, we may have to forbid our students from
performing congregational duties in the future.”
    Rabbi
Bernstein then added, “We must also be certain that our student was not
adversely affected by his exposure to untraditional congregational practices
and ideologies.”
     Aaron
was no idiot; he knew the importance of discretion, and decided not to mention
the fact that Abe Levine had a daughter who was his age and very attractive. He
thanked the dean for permitting him to work at Beth Israel and reported that
his income for the holidays would greatly assist him and his family in meeting
his financial obligations. He assured the rabbis that he saw no deviation in
the synagogue practices from established Orthodoxy, that the services were
complete and that the prayer book was fully traditional. He added that he was
pleasantly surprised by the decorum and by the degree of audience
participation. He mentioned that the Chazzan who shared his work with him was
also a Shochet and Mohel in the community, and an extremely learned musmach from Israeli yeshivos. He then reviewed the sermonic and cantorial performances.
    It
was at that time, that he dropped his bombshell. He reported that Mr. Levine
had informed him that