SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES

THERE WERE JEWS ON THE MIDWAY

The three over-dressed shop-owners conversed in Yiddish, as many of the children, passing in the crowd, marveled at the alien-sound of it. Some adults, at food-stands and beer-dispensaries, along the fringe of the broad midway, looked-on with disgust.

The excitement in their speech, that these serious men had broadcast to those 'woke' children crowding the midway, was for the bar-mitzvah they were organizing; they'd come to the Fair, looking for the shgatzim, Morris had begged these 'rabbi's to find for him. Sometimes, a particularly devout-request, made by a twelve/year-old is carefully 'honored;' this was one such occasion[even though the task-at-hand was difficult/near-impossible for them to complete in a timely-fashion].

They were surreptitiously-observing groups of boys Morris's age; they must also identify/observe their Fathers. Morris was going to be a rabbi himself, but was thoroughly-dedicated to an idea, that seemed strange to other members of the tight-knit community.

Morris wanted to help these shgatzim make their transition to 'manhood;' the first-step in his plan, was to have them 'witness' his initiation; he'd be thirteen in a couple of weeks, and had thoroughly prepared himself for what was to come.

He'd also dedicated his labors & studies to a devout lifetime, spent serving his community, as a rabbi; this was done[at age/12], when sitting-down with the three principal-rabbis, connected with B'nai Israel/Albany; their nods, as he outlined a planned-future, encouraged him, so without waiting for a verbal-response, he quickly-added, to the tail-end of his diatribe, his intention to tell his Mom, at seder[Friday evening].

These three teachers were an assorted-lot; one was quite fat[he was the former Mayor of Albany]; one was quite old[his Father had become their chief rabbi, at the end of WWII, replacing the venerable, Edmund A. Landau]; it was that 3rd-teacher that fascinated Morris. He was quite young, and newly-married[Morris had been nursing a crush on the rabbi's wife...  until the wedding ended his hopeless-hopes.]; he constantly argued points of Rabbinical Law with those other two; Morris had 'marked' that though never having won, on even the most controversial anachronism, he was steadfast in his resolve, to soften-them-up[rather than dragging the two of them, while kicking & screaming, bodily into the 21st-century]; he could admire such angry-sounding diplomacy.

Since he had moved into Albany, he'd been 'serving' an internship at Morris's Hebrew School, in the sultry-afternoons. When the Middle School-kids took their 4 o'clock-break, Morris would 'pump-him' for adult information, not commonly-shared by all those fossils surrounding him. Often they talked about what Morris might grow-up to be; Morris kept on-point with the young rabbi, "How old were you,...  when you decided to continue your studies,...  and become a rabbi, by 'trade?'"

He was an artful-dodger, but always gave something...  something that the grown-men around him, probably didn't have to give. On the all-important 'subject' of knowledge, Morris had written the rabbi's words onto the leaf of his Hebrew workbook:" ...whatever is most fundamentally understandable about the nature and availability of knowledge."

This rabbi emphasized the importance of the words themselves. He detested the use of Yiddish[& Ladino], in their tight-knit communities. He taught Morris to always use הֲלָכָה when referring-to the rabbi's 613/unbreakable-rules[they are all found in TORAH, & therefore were recorded in Hebrew]; a real 'stickler' for WORDS, that one is!