New York - The Novel

turned to his wife. “I told you. They sat shiva for me when I married you, because you’re not Jewish. I’m dead to them. You understand? They treated me like a dead person. They called all their friends to come and mourn for me, and they never spoke of me again. This is what we do, in families like ours. We’re very particular.”
    “I never heard of such a thing before,” his wife said to them apologetically. “I didn’t know.”
    “You don’t have to worry,” said Uncle Herman. “It’s only me that’s dead. Not you.”
    “You have to go, Herman,” said Mrs. Adler. “I’ll tell him you came. Maybe he’ll see you. I don’t know.”
    “This is stupid,” said Uncle Herman.
    Sarah said nothing. She slipped from the room.
    Her father did not even hear her come into the waiting room where he was playing, but when he saw her, he smiled. His face seemed so contented, and as she looked at him, she felt such love. She stood beside him.
    “Father,” she said gently, “something’s happened. I have to tell you something.”
    He paused in his playing.
    “What is it, Sarah?”
    “You have to be prepared for a shock.”
    He stopped and half turned. His face looked anxious.
    “It’s all right. Nobody’s hurt. Nobody’s sick.” She took a deep breath. “Uncle Herman is here. With his wife.” She paused. “The wife is quite nice. Uncle Herman doesn’t listen to her.” She smiled. “He’s just like I remember him. But Mother’s sending them away. Is that what you want?”
    For a long moment, her father said nothing.
    “Herman is here?”
    “Yes. He just showed up. On the doorstep.”
    “With this woman he married? He comes without warning, and he brings this woman to my house?”
    “He wants to see you. I think he wants to be reconciled. Maybe he’ll apologize.” She hesitated. “It has been a long time,” she added gently.
    “A long time. I commit an offense. I wait a few years. Does this make the offense go away? Does this make it right?”
    “No, Father. But maybe if you talk to him …”
    Her father was leaning forward now, staring down at the piano’s ivory keys. He shook his head. Then he rocked his body back and forth.
    “I cannot see him,” he said softly.
    “Maybe if—”
    “You don’t understand. I cannot see him. I cannot bear …”
    And suddenly Sarah understood. Her father wasn’t angry, he was in terrible pain.
    “This is how it begins,” he said. “Always it is the same. In Germany, the Jews thought they were Germans, and they intermarried. But then, evenif you had a Jewish grandmother or great-grandmother … they killed you. You think the Jews will be accepted? It is an illusion.”
    “That was Hitler—”
    “And before that it was the Poles, it was the Russians, it was the Spanish Inquisition … Many countries have accepted the Jews, Sarah, and always they have turned against them in the end. The Jews will only survive if they are strong. This is the lesson of history.” He looked up at her. “We were commanded to keep our faith, Sarah. So let me tell you: every time a Jew marries out, we are weakened. Marry out, and in two, three generations, your family will not be Jewish. Maybe they will be safe, maybe not. But in the end, either way, all that we have will be lost.”
    “You feel this?”
    “I know this.” He shook his head. “I sat shiva for my brother. He is dead to me. Go up and tell him so.”
    Sarah hesitated, then turned toward the stairs. But before she got to see Uncle Herman, his voice came booming down from above.
    “Daniel, I’m here. You won’t speak to your brother?”
    Sarah glanced at her father. He was still staring down at the keyboard. Uncle Herman’s voice came again.
    “Time has passed, Daniel.” There was a pause. “I won’t come here again.” Another pause, then, in a voice of fury, “If that’s what you want, it’s finished.”
    A moment later, the front door slammed. Then there was silence.
    Sarah sat on the stairs. She didn’t want to intrude upon her father, but she didn’t want to leave him. She waited a little while. Then she saw his shoulders were moving and, although there was no sound, she realized he was weeping.
    She couldn’t help herself, she had to go to him. She came back down the stairs, and stood by the piano, and put her arms around him and held him.
    “You think I don’t love my brother?” he managed to say, after a little while.
    “I know you love your brother.”
    He nodded