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Back An Observant Wife
Chapters (45)
  1. Copyright Notice
  2. Dedication
  3. Epigraph
  4. 1
  5. 2
  6. 3
  7. 4
  8. 5
  9. 6
  10. 7
  11. 8
  12. 9
  13. 10
  14. 11
  15. 12
  16. 13
  17. 14
  18. 15
  19. 16
  20. 17
  21. 18
  22. 19
  23. 20
  24. 21
  25. 22
  26. 23
  27. 24
  28. 25
  29. 26
  30. 27
  31. 28
  32. 29
  33. 30
  34. 31
  35. 32
  36. 33
  37. 34
  38. 35
  39. 36
  40. EPILOGUE
  41. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  42. GLOSSARY
  43. Also by Naomi Ragen
  44. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  45. Newsletter Sign-up

Altogether, it wasn’t exactly what she’d imagined young men said to young women they admired and were falling in love with. But, hey, hadn’t he asked her to meet him here, alone? Weren’t they sitting here side by side in the dark? And perhaps, most of all, wasn’t he the elusive, handsome, older brother of her nemesis, Freidel, one of the boys she’d always fantasized about? It was almost as if in enticing him to single her out, she was getting back a little of her own against her tormentor. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, right?

She liked talking to him. It was so easy, she thought. She didn’t have to pretend, or be on guard, because he didn’t seem to have the same view of things as the rest of the people she knew in Boro Park.

He didn’t touch her, not that first time.

13

LEAH TALKS TO HASHEM

“Dear God,” Leah prayed, sitting in the living room after dropping the kids off at school and day care. “I just thought I’d catch up with You. It’s been a while. I’m sorry. I think about You all the time. I’m so grateful for everything You’ve done for me. Thank You for my husband, for Yaakov. I was so lonely, and in such despair that I’d ever find a man who would love me and be faithful to me. He is everything I could have wanted, HaShem. They say that after the creation of the world, You have time on Your hands, so You use it making shidduchim. You did a great job for me. Thank You. Thank You so much.

“And thank You for the children. Please, keep watching over all of them, keeping them safe and healthy. Keep the little ones, Chasya and Mordechai Shalom, away from sharp objects and hot stoves and the more frightening illnesses kids pick up from the other kids they play with. Please keep helping me to find ways to make them happy.

“I worry a little about Chasya. She is so sensitive and so deep. I know there is a well of sorrow in that little girl. Help me to show her how much I love her and how precious she is to me and to her father and whole family. Don’t let those vicious little snobs in the neighborhood hurt her in any way. And thank You for sending Fruma Esther on the warpath against them. It has helped a lot. Okay, not everyone is on board—there are still a few holdouts—but Chasya has some friends to play with now who come over, Baruch HaShem.