Stories

Even after Barbara went off to graduate school in Boston, we stayed in close touch. Until she intermarried.

I didn't intend to like Colin, to dip my toes into the forbidden waters of the non-Jew. After all, I grew up deeply religious my whole life, in strong deference to the traditions imparted from my parents and grandparents...

They have a son, they told us, and he's going out with non-Jewish girls. They're terrified he'll marry out. Have we any solutions? Yup, just like that, standing in front of the Bonsai exhibit, in fifty words or less they sought the solution to keeping their son within the nationhood of Jews.

The fact that I belonged to two cultures and religions made me feel like something inside me was irreconcilable and wrong. This engendered a kind of existential shame. I felt like a driven leaf, without roots or branches . . .

"The problem began," at this point Esther's voice is lowered into almost a whisper, "when my wonderful daughter met a man whom she planned to marry—and he wasn't Jewish..."

“Rabbi,” the man said, scowling. “You have 10 minutes to prove to me that there is a G‑d.”

The activities were fun, and I wanted to share the fun with Betsy. I lobbied the youth group advisor to let Betsy come along. The advisor was adamantly opposed.

At the end of one of these audiences, the Rebbe turned to Begin and asked him if he would do him a personal favor. Begin replied affirmatively.

Rabbi Hodakov, the Rebbe’s secretary, was on the line. “The Rebbe says to tell the young woman that there is a Jew in Brooklyn who cannot sleep at night because she intends to marry a non-Jew.”

Why did Rabbi Baruch send the townspeople to receive a blessing from a perpetual drunk?