Velvel
Chani and Effi meet in Bagel Nosh and acknowledge they still have feelings for each other. They make plans to date with the intention of finalizing their shidduch.
By the time Chani left Bagel Nosh, the gray skies had given way to sunshine, perfectly reflecting the turn her life had just taken. She was so buoyant that when Mindy called, driving the Moskowitzes back from their Lakewood gown appointments, she sang out, “Hi! What’s doing?”
“How come you’re in such a good mood?” Mindy asked suspiciously.
“Nothing, nothing!” Chani demurred, then fibbed, “I just spoke to my supervisor at work, and she told me I did a terrific job with one of my cases.”
“Oh. Okay, that’s nice,” Mindy said. She was in the car with her mother- and sister-in-law, who could be heard gabbing in the back. “So guess what, both girls found gowns today! Can you believe it? I’ll send you pictures. Hennie’s is very classic, high neck, but it gives her a good line, and Lieba looks like a little doll in her lace and ruffles.”
“Amazing! What about you and your mother-in-law?”
Mindy sighed. “Nothing for us yet,” she said. “But we’ll go back to the Brooklyn places. Anyway, Chezky wants us all to go eat together at a new Israeli-style place in Lakewood for dinner tonight, want to join us?”
“What about Tatty and the girls?”
“They’re on board. We’re all meeting at seven, since tomorrow morning we’re clearing out early to go home.”
Chani came home to find Zahava and Rikki lounging by the pool, finally able to sit outside after the rain, drinking cans of Coke Zero and soaking up the last rays of the day. Her father was in the kitchen pouring himself a cocktail of orange juice and vodka. “Where were you all day?” he asked genially, leaning back against the shiny granite counter. A nice drink at the end of the day always put him in a good mood.
“I met the Moskowitz family for breakfast, then we all did various errands,” she said. “It turned into a really nice day!” Velvel, of course, assumed she was talking about the weather, or her shopping.
“Very nice,” he said. “Did you buy anything?”
“Just a skirt. But the Moskowitzes bought some things for sheva brachos and went to a gemach and found gowns, and Mindy found a nice outfit for Shabbos kallah.”
“Very nice, very nice.” Velvel took another sip of his drink, still looking at her, but his mind seemed to be flitting off to some other subject. He cleared his throat and rattled the ice cubes in his glass.
Chani sensed that Velvel was pussyfooting around something. He rarely engaged in such casual chitchat with Chani. Now he gave a harrumph in preparation for some announcement, lowering his voice to keep Zahava and Rikki from hearing.
“Um, Chani, I wanted to talk to you about Yerucham Elman,” he said. “Mrs. Rosner told me that he’s interested in you, but you told her you’re not interested. Might I ask why? It would be a wonderful opportunity for you!”
Chani sighed. She was so tired of everyone throwing Yerucham in her face, Yerucham included. She searched for a nice way to say no.
“I really don’t feel he’s my type, Tatty,” she said. She glanced through the sliding glass doors leading off the family room to the patio where Zahava and Rikki were sharing memes on their phones and laughing, and lowered her voice. “And you know, it just wouldn’t be right. Yerucham should date Zahava, not me! It seems to me that she has an eye on him, and she’d be absolutely devastated if he dated me instead of her.”
Velvel’s eyes widened as the truth of her words sunk in. “Oh yes—you’re absolutely right!” he agreed. “She was so disappointed when he broke it off the first time they dated. What an idiot he was back then! But if they could try again, it would be wonderful, and he would still stay in the family! Brilliant!”
“Yes,” Chani agreed. “Anyway, Tatty, I can’t say yes to Yerucham, because I just said yes to another shidduch. I’ll be going out tomorrow night with Effi Weinberg.”
Vevel almost dropped his highball glass. Since when did his mousy Chani get to pick and choose among high-profile shidduchim? He had been immensely flattered and happy when Shulamis Rosner had mentioned that Yerucham was interested in Chani. What a great shidduch—distant cousins! She wouldn’t even have to change her name! And Yerucham was doing immensely well for himself!
But, takeh, Chani was right about Zahava. Zahava would have been destroyed by the idea of her sister grabbing Yerucham from under her nose! How had he not seen that? If Chani could be spoken for, maybe Yerucham could be convinced to take the other sister. And why not? Zahava was a beautiful girl with impeccable yichus…
But who was this new guy? He scratched his head. “Effi Weinberg?” he said. “You mean Krauss’s brother-in-law? The software guy?”
“Yes, Tatty,” Chani said patiently, wondering if he’d even remember they’d rejected him years ago.
Velvel considered this, taking a sip of his drink. Chani could see he hadn’t made the connection. He seemed to be deciding whether he should be upset that she’d agreed to a shidduch without consulting him, or simply happy that his 27-year-old daughter had a date with someone eligible and appropriate (which, in his eyes, meant wealthy and good looking). It seemed to her he was leaning towards the latter, although he seemed quite surprised that his daughter had suddenly taken matters into her own hands after all these years of passive acquiescence.
“Maybe I should see a resume?” he ventured, more out of a sense of propriety than any personal desire to exert himself calling references. Also, what could he possibly need to verify? The guy was obviously frum and everyone knew he was rolling in dough.
Chani gave a little laugh. “You saw his resume eight years ago, Tatty,” she said. “I dated him a long time ago, do you remember? I was only 19. But Mrs. Rosner thought I should marry a rosh yeshiva type, and since his family didn’t have much money and he didn’t want to be beholden to his wife’s family, he said he would work after a few years if need be.”
“That was him?” Velvel said incredulously. “I never made the connection!”
“Well,” Chani continued, “that gave Mrs. Rosner the impression he wasn’t right for me, and you didn’t like the fact that his parents are baalei teshuva of modest means. So the two of you convinced me to call it off, and it was the biggest mistake of my life. Now Effi’s back, and he wants to try again, and I’m going forward no matter what.”
Velvel raised his eyebrows. So determined! Was this really his quiet daughter Chani? Now he remembered that whole episode, and the way Chani had spent months moping in her room when it was over. Nu, maybe they had made a mistake? It was surely Shulamis Rosner’s fault. The woman thought nobody was frum enough for her, even though the Elmans had more yichus in their little fingers than she did in her entire family.
He took another pull on his drink, then raised it to her l’chaim style. “You go ahead and give it another try, my dear,” he said benevolently. “I think it’s quite possible Mrs. Rosner led us down the wrong path with her highfalutin’ ideals. Maybe you should give her a call to let her know.”
“When you think about it,” Chani said, “maybe it was hashgachah pratis that we had to rent our house and ended up renting it to his family. Otherwise, I don’t know if our paths would have ever crossed again!”
Velvel raised his eyebrows and smiled, considering this interesting idea. Now it suddenly occurred to him that if Chani could marry a millionaire, that might make a very fine silver lining to his financial crisis. Who can know the ways Hashem orchestrates our lives? Surely this Effi could help foot the bill for a wedding, if it came to that, since his own finances were in such a sorry state. He was beginning to feel quite optimistic.
“Should I be around, then, tomorrow night, to meet him?” he said.
He was gratified to see a grateful smile from his too-often somber daughter. “I believe that’s the way things are done,” she said.
To be continued.