Sholom Wasser had been doing this long enough to recognize the look of a bochur who wants to talk, but doesn’t have the confidence or courage
On November 1st, Avi Korman missed a payment. It was the first time.
It wasn’t a big deal, and by the third of the month he’d figured it out — the money came through and he assured Shuey Portman that it had just been a technical problem, his secretary was away, and it was all a big misunderstanding — but in his voice, Shuey heard something else.
Shuey himself been on line in crowded grocery stores when the cashier looked up and frowned, indicating the credit card and shrugging, and he’d also done the “so strange, makes no sense, probably a fraud detection thingie, you know” more than once. He remembered waiting in the pizza shop for half hour to get his order, and when he paid, the cashier said, “Insufficient funds, brother,” like he was announcing the starting lineup. Shuey knew panic and he knew, as he heard Avi Korman speak, that he couldn’t count on the steady, monthly cash injection anymore.
Yeshivah Gedolah of Modena would figure this out, and he sent his first email to the entire parent body, not asking anyone for help with the style, and not stopping for a break until he’d finished typing it and hit send.
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