Chapter One

Breaking News

Mrs. Tessler stared at her daughters and nervously toyed with the armrest of her recliner. Three sets of bright green eyes looked back at her, three faces alight with curiosity. They look so alike, my triplets, she thought affectionately, and yet their personalities are so very different. She wondered how each of them would react to the news and felt a sudden twinge of anxiety. What would they decide?

As they had planned, Rabbi Tessler would be the one to break the news. Leaning forward with a pensive look on his face, he said, “Girls, your mother and I have something important to tell you, something which is going to affect your future. Please listen carefully, and then you may fire away.”

Rabbi Tessler paused and smiled. His daughters had a tendency to ask question after question and wouldn’t stop until they had everything clear.

“I’ll explain it all to you,” he went on, “and then it’s up to you. You will have to be the ones to make the decision.”

Sitting on the couch across from her parents, Chaya squirmed impatiently. Her gaze shifted to the window above her mother’s head, and she looked longingly at the large green garden that surrounded the Tessler house.

Although the house, with its seven bedrooms, three bathrooms, and large basement area, was adequate for the nine Tessler children and their parents, Chaya often felt stifled indoors. When she started getting that familiar feeling, Chaya would recruit two or three of her brothers, and they would go outside to play ball. She longed to be out there now, but even without this “triplet meeting” she had no time to spare. It was June, and she and her sisters were busy studying for finals.

Esty, sitting on Chaya’s right, was also thinking about books and tests, but without her sister’s feelings of impatience and distaste. As her father spoke, mathematical equations and grammatical rules swirled around in her brain. So if x equals 25, y must be... With an effort she shook her head and tried to focus on what her father was saying. If her parents had called for a meeting during finals time, it must be serious.

Esty unconsciously lifted her left hand and chewed on the nail of her index finger. It was a bad habit that she always fell back to when she was nervous. Suddenly she recalled the various phone calls her parents had been making during the past month. Sometimes, late at night, as she was about to drift off to sleep, she would hear her parents whispering quietly in the kitchen. And once she picked up the ringing phone early in the morning, and her mother had immediately taken the receiver from her, before Esty had had a chance to ask who it was. Esty wondered if this meeting was connected. Yes, she was definitely curious about what her parents had to say. She just wished they had made this meeting after the math final, now two days away.

Shayna, sitting between her two sisters, glanced at them and then back at her parents, who were looking unusually serious. I hope it’s nothing bad, she thought, twirling a strand of blonde hair around her finger. She didn’t have to wait long to find out. With hands clasped in front of him, Rabbi Tessler informed his daughters, “Your friend Mindy Metzker and her family are moving to Israel at the end of the summer.”

The triplets gasped. In the city of Little Rock, Arkansas, where they lived, there were only two religious Jewish families: the Metzkers and the Tesslers. The two families worked side by side to bring Jews back to Yiddishkeit. Over the years, they had helped many unaffiliated Jews, but those individuals always moved away from Little Rock. And now the Metzkers were leaving! It was preposterous, impossible.

“And since the other two girls in your class are leaving to go to public school next year...”

“Jenny and Sara are leaving?” Shayna asked in surprise. Of the triplets, she was the friendliest with those two girls. She knew that, both being from nonreligious homes, they sometimes felt like a minority among their religious classmates. Shayna had taken it upon herself to make them feel that they belonged, and she had developed a warm friendship with them.

Rabbi Tessler held up a hand. “Let me finish. With three girls leaving, that means that there will be only the three of you in next year’s seventh grade class.”

A small city with a small Jewish population makes for a small school, and Beis Chana was no different. Since it was the only Jewish school in the city, many Jewish parents sent their children there to learn the basics, but as their children grew, the parents pulled them out of Beis Chana and sent them to public schools, where they could receive a “well-rounded” education.

The triplets’ class was the oldest in the school, and in the past two years it had decreased from fifteen to six students. Rabbi and Mrs. Tessler were happy that it had held together for so long, but now a different solution was needed.

“A class of only triplets is not an option. Your mother and I have spent a lot of time trying to work out a solution. We have come to the conclusion we have always known would at some point become inevitable.”

As a rabbi and principal, Rabbi Tessler had a sophisti- cated way of speaking, and he didn’t hesitate to use high vocabulary on his kids. This had its advantages, and even two-year-old Shmuly had picked up some fancy words. Whenever he didn’t want to eat something his mother put on his plate, he would look at her with a smile and say, “I’m sorry, but I’ll have to decline.”

“We have decided that the best solution would be to send you away for school.”

Rabbi and Mrs. Tessler had hoped to soften the blow by slowly leading up to it, but there was no sugar-coating this kind of news. The triplets stared at their parents and then at each other. For once, there were no questions, just a shocked silence.

Finally, in a very shrill voice, Chaya spoke. “Why can’t we be just three girls in the class?”

Mrs. Tessler looked at her husband and then across at the girls. Tears were beginning to flow down Shayna’s cheeks, and Esty’s eyes, too, were suspiciously red. “We understand that this is hard for you. It’s hard for us, too.” She fingered a tissue and wiped the corners of her eyes. “But Tatty and I feel that in the long run this will be to your benefit. We could keep you here. We would love that.” She paused and smiled gently at her daughters. “But we know that if you go away, not only will you learn in a more educational environment, but you’ll get to meet frum girls, which you have very little opportunity to do here in Little Rock.” She fell silent, allowing her daughters to digest her words.

Shayna’s face was very white. She silently accepted the tissue her mother handed her and wiped her eyes. She was a real homebody. During the past summer, when her two sisters had gone off to camp, she had opted to spend the whole vacation at home. An entire school year away from home? It was unthinkable.

Chaya’s knuckles were clenched tightly as she controlled herself from screaming out loud. There were no tears in those green eyes; they flashed in anger. Her parents didn’t want her to stay home next year? Fine! She could manage very well on her own. She’d show them!

Esty was the first to break the silence. In a small voice she asked her parents, “Which school are we going to go to?”

“That’s the choice I was talking about. We are leaving the decision in your hands,” Rabbi Tessler said firmly. “We know it’s hard to leave home, so we want you to feel comfortable wherever you go. We’ve looked into three schools, all of which are viable options. We’ll explain to you the pros and cons of each one, but it’s up to you to choose the school you wish to attend.” He turned to his wife. “Rachel? Why don’t you tell the girls about the schools we want them to consider.”

Mrs. Tessler nodded.

“There’s Bnos Sarah in New York. It’s a typical Bais Yaakov school. That’s where I went when I was your age. You girls will probably think it’s a large school, though by New York standards it’s actually fairly small. Next year’s seventh grade will have three classes of twenty five girls each.”

The triplets opened their eyes wide. They knew that in big cities there were lots of students in every class, but for them to attend such a school was beyond their imagination.

Mrs. Tessler saw their reaction.

“We know that this is very different from what you are used to, but the advantage is that you would be able to stay at Bubby and Zeidy Katz’s house, so you’d have a home away from home.”

At these words Chaya’s knuckles grew whiter, and she looked as if she were about to burst. Control yourself, she thought. Control yourself.

“Obviously, along with living in New York comes the responsibility of living in a big city. It’s very different from Little Rock.”

Mrs. Tessler thought back to her childhood in New York. With the wide streets, tall buildings, and people who were constantly in a rush, it was very different from the quiet city they lived in now. There were advantages, of course; her daughters would undoubtedly enjoy the multitudes of Jewish people and all the kosher stores. Most important, the school had an excellent reputation, and her parents would be right there for the girls. She went on. “The second choice is another, much smaller school in Kansas. Kansas Hebrew Academy is very similar to Beis Chana. Next year’s seventh grade will have only twelve students. If you go there, you’d be able to stay with Tatty’s sister, Tante Raizy. Her oldest is four, so she has plenty of room for you. The problem with this school is that, like your school here, most of the students there are not frum.”

Shayna, whose eyes had lit up when she’d heard her mother mention Tante Raizy, sank back into the couch as her mother completed her description of the school.

“And, finally, the last school which we checked into is a Bais Yaakov school in Los Angeles. It’s called LATS — Los Angeles Torah School. This school is mainly geared toward out-of-town students. Even though we don’t have any relatives for you to stay with, there is a dormitory for students in seventh through twelfth grade.”

“How many girls are in each class?” Esty asked quietly. “Twenty.” Mrs. Tessler leaned back in her recliner with a sad smile. “We don’t want to make this harder on you by telling you how much we’ll miss you. We do want you to know that it is for your benefit that we are doing this. You will only gain from being with other frum girls and having frum teachers.”

“You have a few days to think it over,” Rabbi Tessler told them. “By Thursday, one of the schools is expecting an answer from us, so we’ll need you to tell us your decision by then.”

“Will we be able to come home and visit?” Shayna asked in a small voice.

“Of course!” Mrs. Tessler exclaimed. “For midwinter vacation and for Pesach. And you can come home for the summer instead of going to camp.”

“We might even make a trip to visit you during the year,” Rabbi Tessler said with a smile.

Esty and Shayna were silent as they processed all that they had heard. Chaya just scowled.

“Moooooommy,” a voice trembled. Little feet could be heard pattering down the steps. It was five-year-old Tzippy.

“A monster came to me in my dream,” she whimpered.

“It can’t be worse than the monster that’s just come into our lives,” Chaya muttered. “But this is no dream. It’s a nightmare!”

“Did you say something, Chaya?” Rabbi Tessler asked.

Chaya shook her head. “Uh, no. Nothing, Tatty.”

Mrs. Tessler stood up. “Think it over, girls. Good luck.” She walked toward the door of the living room and then turned around. “And try to get some sleep,” she added with a wink at the clock. It read a quarter to ten.

Esty stood up from the couch as if in a daze and turned to face her sisters. “Well, are you coming?” Shayna also stood up, but Chaya remained frozen on the couch. “Nu,” Esty demanded. She reached out and pulled Chaya up. “Good luck, girls,” Rabbi Tessler wished them as they left the living room. Under his breath, he whispered, “I’ll miss you.”

Buy Decisions x 3 at an online discount at www.targum.com