Encore: Chapter 16

A

t precisely the same moment on Wednesday evening, just after supper, both Faigy and Avi Korman were worrying about the yeshivah in Modena, though for very different reasons.

Faigy had just hung up with Dovi and she thought he didn’t sound great. He insisted he was fine, he still liked the yeshivah, he had enough to eat, the chavrusos were good — she couldn’t put her finger on what was wrong, but a mother knows these things. It was like when Shira had that problem with her iron levels: even before she’d taken a test or gone to a doctor, Faigy heard it in her voice.

Avi’s issues were of a different sort. Shuey Portman had made it a point to speak with every single parent, trying to work out some sort of tuition agreement so that they could figure out how much would come in to the account every month. The results had been disheartening.

“Look,” Shuey had told Avi, “I’ve never really done this, could be people just don’t like paying tuition. Personally, I always tried to push it off as long as possible, so why should these parents be any different? No one said no,” he clarified. “They all just found different ways to say how hard it is, how the yeshivah just started, they don’t even know if their sons will be happy… what can we really expect this early? You know….”