Faye Kellerman - The Ritual Bath

“No.”

“It was real quiet out there, Eema,” recalled Sammy, dreamily.

“It was hot,” Jake complained, sipping the last drops of juice through his straw. “Can I have some more?”

Rina handed him another carton.

“Can we come here again?” Jake asked.

“I don’t think so,” Rina answered quietly.

“Why not?” Sammy asked. “Peter said it would be okay.”

“It’s not right to impose.”

But she knew that was an excuse. It was she, not Peter, who didn’t want them to return.

“Besides, school’s starting soon, and you have shiur on Sunday-”

“Not all day Sunday,” Sammy protested.

“There’s Maccabee soccer league, computer club, and piano lessons. You’re going to be swamped with activities.”

Sammy sighed and pushed his plate away.

“What’s wrong, Shmuel?” Rina asked.

“Nothing,” the boy sulked.

They ate in silence for a while. Ginger walked around the kitchen, then began to beg at the table.

“Can I give Ginger some chicken?” Jacob asked.

“Don’t do anything until you’ve asked Peter.”

Jake looked at the mournful dog. “Sorry,” he told her.

She whimpered.

Rina stroked Sammy’s arm.

“I’ve been trying to find another Jewish Big Brother for you guys-”

“I don’t want a Big Brother,” Sammy snapped.

“Why not?” she asked.

“Shmueli says they’re all perverts,” Jake said.

“They’re not perverts,” she said.

“They’re weird,” said Sammy. “The last one that took us to the movies was weird.”

“So we’ll find a good one,” Rina said. “In the meantime, the yeshiva boys are always happy to play ball with you-”

“Not really. They do me a big favor sometimes and let me play deep center. Just forget it, Eema.”

“You do understand why Peter can’t be a Big Brother?” Rina asked him.

“Yes. Just forget it!”

Sammy was holding back tears. Rina brushed the hair out of his eyes and repinned his kipah .

“It’s just not fair,” he said in a cracked voice.

“No, it isn’t,” she agreed. “Listen, maybe we can work something out with another organization who’d-”

Decker walked in, hair wet and slicked back, carrying a big box.

“Why the long faces?” he asked.

Rina waved her hand in the air, and he didn’t press it.

“Don’t beg, Ginger.” Decker placed the carton on an empty chair, then poured out a bowl of dry dog food.

“Can I give Ginger some chicken?” Jacob asked.

“The grease isn’t good for her, Jake.”

“What’ve you got in the box?” asked Sammy.

“These are some Jewish books and articles that my ex-wife’s grandfather brought over from Europe. When he died, no one in the family wanted them, so I took ’em. I’ve been meaning to take them to the yeshiva.”

Decker ripped open the sealed top and held up a leather-bound book with pages edged in gilt.

“Does this mean anything to you?” he asked.

“Wait a minute,” Rina said. “My hands are dirty.”

She and the boys washed their hands, and Decker took the carton of books into the living room.

Jake picked up the book that Decker had been holding. “That’s a machzor ,” he said.

“A what?”

Sammy took it and opened it carefully. “It’s a prayer book for the New Year. This side is Hebrew, but I don’t know what language this is.”

He handed the book to Rina.

“It’s German,” she said. “Was her grandfather from Germany?”

“I don’t know,” said Decker.

“Look at all these beautiful sepharim ,” Rina said, pulling out another volume. It was bound in dark green leather, the cover lettering stenciled in gold. She looked at the date of publication-1798.

“A lot of sepharim were destroyed during World War Two. These may be very valuable, Peter.”

“Look at this, Eema,” said Sammy, holding up an elaborately filigreed, foot-long scroll case.

“Yeah, what is that?” Decker asked. “See, you pull this tab over here, and the text comes out of this slit. It’s illustrated with all this beautiful artwork-”

“This is unbelievable!” Rina said, pulling on the tab gingerly.

“ Megillas Esther ,” Sammy said.

“Fantastic.” Rina was awestruck. “Look how clear the lettering is.”

“Can you read it?” Decker asked her.

“It’s easy,” Jake said, rattling off the first line.

“You know what it means?” the detective asked.

“Yeah, it’s talking about this king, Ahashverus, and his kingdom,” Sammy said. “ Hodu v’od Kush ? What are those countries again?”

“India and Ethiopia,” said Rina.

“Amazing,” Decker said.

“The kids are bilingual,” Rina explained. “Yitzchak only spoke Hebrew to them.”

“What do you do with this?” Decker asked.

“You read it on Purim, of course,” Jake said.

“Of course,” Decker repeated.

“It’s my favorite holiday,” Jake explained. “You get to dress up in a costume, and the shul has a big Purim party after they read the megilla. All the older boys get drunk and throw up. It’s so gross, but it’s real funny. The next day you get to stuff your face with cookies and candies that your friends bring you.”

“You’re allowed to get drunk?” Decker asked.

“You’re supposed to get drunk,” Sammy said.

“You’re not supposed to get drunk,” Rina said. “Tipsy maybe.”

“You’re supposed to drink until you can’t tell the difference between cheering Mordechai and booing Haman, pooh, pooh, pooh. That’s drunk , Eema.”

“I can’t picture the yeshiva letting loose like that,” said Decker.

“It’s real exciting,” Sammy said animatedly. “The older kids juggle bottles or balance them on top of their heads-”

“Drunk?” Decker asked.

“There’s a lot of broken glass,” explained Jake. He started to giggle. “Last year one of the rabbis dressed up as Haman, pooh, pooh, pooh, and we all got to throw rotten tomatoes at him.”

“Haman’s a bad guy, huh?” Decker asked.

“Yeah,” Sammy said. “He was one of Hitler’s ancestors.”

“Really?” Decker asked Rina.

“Some say. If they weren’t brethren by blood, they were spiritually. They’re all Amalek.”

Decker’s eyes darkened. “What’s that?”

“Originally, a tribe at the time of Israel’s liberation from Egypt. They were purposefully mean and spiteful to the Jews as they left. Now the term is used for any person or group bent on the total destruction of the Jews. I consider Yassir Arafat- y’mach shmo -Amalek, for example.”

Decker said nothing.

“Anything wrong, Peter?”

“Nothing,” he said quickly, then peered into the box and brought out another book.

“This is Bava Metzia ,” Sammy said taking the text from Decker. “I’m going to learn it this next year.”

“Somebody in your wife’s family was a scholar,” Rina said. “This is Talmud; it’s what is studied in the yeshiva.”

“I’ve got a whole set of these books upstairs in another trunk, and they all have this strange layout of the text. You’ve got a big block of Hebrew here. Then all these columns of Hebrew surrounding the block. What is this?”

“The big block, which is written in Aramaic, is the legal question that’s being discussed. This particular book starts out with the laws of lost and found.”

“This isn’t a Bible?”

“No. It’s a treatise on Jewish criminal and civil law.”

“So what are these columns all about?”

“ Rashi, tosafot- ” She stopped herself. “Commentaries-different interpretations of the legal question.”