Read Friday the Rabbi Slept Late for Free Online

looking around for something else, or did he mention it to you?”
    Wasserman shook his head. “No, he hasn’t spoken about it. I just think it might be a good idea to send him a letter before he does.”
    “Just a minute, Jacob, how do we know the rabbi wants to continue? Hadn’t we ought to get a letter from him first?”
    “I think he likes it here and I think he’d be willing to continue,” said Wasserman. “As for the letter, it’s usually the employer who notifies. Naturally, we’d have to give him a raise. I think an increase of five hundred dollars would be a proper token of appreciation.”
    “Mr. Chairman.” It was the harsh voice of Al Becker. The vice-president straddled his chair and leaned forward, supporting his heavy torso on clenched fists on the desk in front of him. “Mr. Chairman, it seems to me that with the tough time we’re having, with a brand-new temple and all, that five hundred dollars is a pretty expensive token.”
    “Yeah, five hundred dollars is a lot of money.”
    “He’s only been here a year.”
    “Well, that’s the best time to give it to him, isn’t it, right after his first year?”
    “You’ve got to give him some kind of a raise, and five hundred dollars is only a little more than five percent of his salary.”
    “Gentlemen, gentlemen.” Wasserman rapped on the desk with the ruler.
    “I move we lay the whole matter on the table for a week or two,” said Meyer Goldfarb.
    “What’s to lay on the table?”
    “Meyer always wants to postpone when it comes to spending money.”
    “It only hurts for a little while.”
    “Mr. Chairman.” It was Al Becker again. “I second Meyer’s motion to lay the matter on the table until next week. That’s been our rule – whenever something involved spending a lot of money we’ve always held it over for at least a week. Now, I consider this a large expenditure. Five hundred dollars is a lot of money, and the new salary, ten thousand dollars, is an awful lot of money. All we’ve got here now is a bare quorum. I think on a matter as important as this, we ought to have a larger turnout. I move that Lennie be instructed to write to all members of the board asking them to be sure to come to next week’s meeting to discuss a matter of special importance.”
    “There’s a motion on the floor.”
    “Well, it’s the same idea. All right, I’ll make mine an amendment to the motion.”
    “Any discussion on the amendment?” asked Wasserman.
    “Just a minute, Mr. Chairman,” called Meyer Goldfarb. “That amendment is to my motion, so if I accept it then we don’t have to have any discussion. I just change my motion, see.”
    “All right, restate your motion then.”
    “I move that the motion to extend the rabbi’s contract –”
    “Just a minute, Meyer, there was no such motion.”
    “Jacob made the motion.”
    “Jacob didn’t make any motion. He just made a suggestion. Besides, he was in the chair –”
    “Gentlemen,” said Wasserman, banging with his ruler, “what’s the sense of all this motion, amendment, amendment to the amendment. I didn’t make a motion, I did make a motion? Is it the sense of this meeting that we should put off any action on the rabbi’s contract until next week?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Sure, why not? The rabbi won’t run away.”
    “Even out of respect to the rabbi, there ought to be more people here.”
    “All right,” said Wasserman, “so let’s hold it over already. If there’s no other business” – he waited for a moment – “then this meeting stands adjourned.”

Chapter Four
    Tuesday the weather was fine and mild, and Elspeth Bleech and her Mend Celia Saunders, who took care of the Hoskins’ children a couple of doors away, led their charges to the park, a ragged bit of turf a few blocks beyond the temple. The little procession was essentially a herding operation. The children ran ahead, but because Johnnie Serafino was still very young, Elspeth always took the stroller