He raised two palms upward in surrender. “For now.”

“Thank you so much, Rabbi Halpern. As it is written in the Ethics of the Fathers: ‘Three things sustain the world: justice, truth and peace.’”

She got up with dignity, turned her back, and walked swiftly out of the office, then out of the school. Only when she got behind the wheel of her car did she realize that her hand was shaking too much to put the key into the ignition. She sat there, her brave front collapsing, filled with a sudden terrible fear and regret over her outburst. Halpern would soon realize the emptiness of her threat; seventeen was actually the age of consent in New York, so his precious Duvie was safe. And despite what she had said, she had lived in Boro Park long enough to know the codes and to realize she had finally broken every one of them. There will be hell to pay, she thought, tears rolling down her cheeks as she wondered what her husband was going to say when she told him.

29

SHOWDOWN

“Yaakov, can you talk now?”

He put down his sandwich, holding the phone closer. “Yes, I’m on my lunch break. What happened? Your voice is hoarse. Have you been crying?”

“Yaakov,” she whispered, “I had a fight with Halpern. He was going to throw Shaindele out today. I said some things…”

“Going to throw her out! What … that’s … disgusting!” He paused. “What things?”

“I lost my temper. I’m so sorry; please forgive me.” Her voice cracked. “He wants to see you.”

“Maybe that would be best. I’ll call the school. Did you take Fruma Esther with you?”

“No, I forgot all about it! I was dropping off the kids and just decided to go in to see him for a few minutes, but it was a mistake. I wound up telling him I was going to turn him into the police.”

“Turn in Halpern?”

“And Grub, and the Bobelger Rebbe who backs him and sends girls to him.”

There was a sharp intake of breath on the other side of the line, then silence.

“We’ll talk about it tonight, Leah. Try not to worry.”

“Oh, Yaakov, I’m such an idiot! I’ve ruined everything!”

With a keen understanding of the bottomless abyss she had unwittingly opened up by threatening the Hasidic leader himself, a man basically worshipped as infallible by his fanatic, cultish, and often violent followers, Yaakov nevertheless made a superhuman effort to comfort her. With a calmness and patience that took more self-control than he had ever imagined he possessed, he said, “You are my darling wife, and I love you. You were only trying to make things better.”

“Thank you, my love. Thank you.” She blew her nose. “Okay. Enough. I’ll see you later. Bye.”