Гарри Кемельман - Tuesday The Rabbi Saw Red

"What's so bad about Friday afternoon?"

"Oh you know." She looked up from the knitting. "People like to leave for an early weekend. Certainly students tend to cut class more on Fridays."

"I don't mind Friday afternoon as long as I'm through by two o'clock,” he said. "Any later would be a problem, because the Sabbath comes early in the winter."

"Of course." She nodded to show she understood. "Then we can expect to have you with us this year. Rabbi?"

"Well, I'll have to notify the board of directors of the temple." He saw that she seemed a bit disappointed, and he smiled. "It's just a formality, but I do have to tell them. Of course, if they raised serious objections..."

"How soon can you give me a definite answer?"

"They meet Sunday morning. I could let you know that evening."

"Good, then if everything is all right, you could come in Monday for the faculty meeting and meet President Macomber and I'll get you squared away on all the forms you have to fill out."

Not until he left, about an hour later, did he realize that she had not asked to see his academic resume, although Rabbi Lamden probably had given her some idea of the academic background required for the rabbinate. Nor had she discussed the scope of the course or how he planned to teach it, but then she probably did not feel qualified. On the other hand, he had not asked her a number of questions, he grinned. Perhaps he was as anxious to come as they were to have him.

A passing police car hooted and then drew up beside him, the square red face of Hugh Lanigan. Barnard's Crossing's chief of police, leaned out of the window and hailed him. "You want a ride home. Rabbi?" When the rabbi climbed in, he said. "I saw you coming out of the Hanbury house. You trying to convert Millie?"

"Oh, you know her?"

"How many times must I tell you that I know or know of everyone in town?" said the chief. "It's part of my job. But the Hanburys are an old Barnard's Crossing family and Millie I can remember from the day she was born."

"She seems a very attractive young woman. I was wondering why she'd want to live in an old ark of a house all by herself."

"And you came to ask her?"

The rabbi smiled. "Oh no, that was just a little private thought I had."

"Well, maybe I can clear it up for you, she lives there because she was born there. It's the Hanbury house and she's a Hanbury. It's a— well— it's a matter of pride."

"What's pride got to do with it?"

"It's a matter of how you're brought up," the chief said, slowing down for a delivery boy on a bicycle. "The Hanburys have been important people in these parts since Colonial times. Josiah Hanbury was captain of the town company of militiamen, as a matter of fact. You'll find his name on a bronze plaque in the Town Hall, he had his own boat and was a privateer during the Revolutionary War." Lanigan laughed. "For privateer read pirate and you won't be far wrong, I guess, at least there was money in it, and afterward the Hanburys were in whaling, and after that in the molasses-rum-slave traffic, and Hanbury Shipping Lines did right well during World War I, these days they still operate as Hanbury Shipping but they no longer have any ships. It's an insurance and factoring business now, and their stock is quoted on the New York Stock Exchange, the office is in Boston, of course. It's too big an operation to remain here in Barnard's Crossing, all the Hanburys had, and still have, money, all except Arnold Hanbury, Millie's father. His branch of the family never did too well and never had much luck either. But still he was a Hanbury, and no one was allowed to forget it.

"That house there. Rabbi. It practically bankrupted him when he built it, but of course he had to have a big house because he was a Hanbury, and Millie, she couldn't play with her rich cousins and their friends— they had ponies and sailboats when they were kids growing up and later on, their own cars and trips to Europe, and she couldn't afford any of that. Even so, she wasn't permitted to play with the ordinary kids in town. Because she was a Hanbury."

"But surely at school she'd meet—"Lanigan shook his head vigorously. "You still don't understand about the Hanburys, her cousins all went to private schools and she had to go to the public school because Arnold Hanbury couldn't afford anything else. But they wouldn't let her associate with the common folk, they had this old woman that worked for them for little more than board and lodging— Nancy— Nancy something— it'll come to me, anyway, one of her duties was to wait for Millie at the school gate and hustle her home as soon as school let out."

"What about college?"

"Not even there, she went to a school in Boston and commuted from here. It was an all-girls' school, too, where they teach physical education— you know, to be a gym teacher. Now, if a girl wants to latch onto a man she's got to go where men are available, right? Lots of men, and I don't suppose being a graduate of a physical education school helps either. It might even scare a man off. You know, a fellow makes a pass at a girl, he figures the worst that can happen, he'll get his face slapped. But if she's a physical education type, he could wind up with his jaw broken." He laughed coarsely. "I'd worry about it myself, the two lady gym teachers at the high school aren't married either."

"It's surprising that she got to be dean if all she had was a Phys. Ed, degree." the rabbi remarked.

"Why, what's a dean supposed to do?"

"Well, the dean is head of the faculty," said the rabbi, "and usually a scholar of some distinction."

"Could be you're a little out of date, Rabbi. I know the dean at the community college in Lynn, he used to be the manual training teacher and coach of the football team right here in the high school half a dozen years ago. I gather that these days what they want is some forceful executive type who can keep the kids in line."

As they drove along, the rabbi told him of Dean Hanbury's offer.

"Are you going to take it?"

"I think so. It will be an interesting change."

"How does Miriam feel about it?"

"I haven't talked to her about it yet."

The rabbi encountered little difficulty when he made his announcement. Of course, it would not have been a Temple Board meeting without some questions.

"What if there's a funeral. God forbid, on one of the days you're teaching, Rabbi?"

"I'll merely notify my class I will be unable to meet them."

"How about the minyan. Rabbi? Does this mean you won't be able to make it on the days you teach?"

"I might not. But of course, my role as rabbi does not include being the permanent tenth man at the daily minyan. It seems to get along very nicely without me when I can't make it now."

After he had left and they were making their way to their cars in the parking lot, they voiced their real feelings."I notice the rabbi kept talking about Windemere College, but the full name is Windemere Christian College, maybe I'm old-fashioned, but to me it's kind of funny a rabbi should teach in a Christian college."

"That don't mean a thing these days, they got boys going to girls' schools, girls going to boys' schools, and Jewish kids going even to Catholic schools."

"Yeah, but that it should be Christian right in the name! I wouldn't mind if it were something like Notre Dame, for instance."

"Notre Dame! You know what that means? It means 'Our Lady.' And you know who's the Lady they're referring to?"

"So? What I mean is you can't tell from just the name. Besides. Mary was a Jewish girl, wasn't she?"

They laughed, then someone raised another objection: "What bothers me is the way he told us, he just announces he's taking a teaching job, he doesn't ask us, he just tells us."