Friday the Rabbi Slept Late Read Free

said with a grin, “what happens now? Do you put on your robe and do we ail rise? Is Jacob the clerk of the court or is he the jury?”
    The rabbi smiled. Then he hitched up his chair to indicate that he was ready to begin. “I think you both understand what’s involved here,” he said easily. “There are no formal rules of procedure. Normally it is customary for both sides to acknowledge the jurisdiction of the court and willingness to abide by the rabbi’s decision. In this case I won’t insist on it, however.”
    “I don’t mind,” said Reich. “I’m willing to abide by your decision.”
    Not to be outdone, Schwarz said, “I certainly don’t have anything to fear. I’ll go along, too.”
    “Fine,” said the rabbi. “As the aggrieved party, Mr. Schwarz, I suggest that you tell us what happened.”
    “There isn’t very much to tell,” said Schwarz. “It’s pretty simple. Abe, here, borrowed Myra’s car, and through sheer negligence he ruined it. I’ll have to pay for a whole new motor. That’s it in a nutshell.”
    “Very few cases are that simple,” said the rabbi. “Can you tell me the circumstances under which he took the car? And also, just to keep the record clear, is it your car or your wife’s? You refer to it as your wife’s, but then you say you will have to pay for the motor.”
    Schwarz smiled. “It’s my car in the sense that I paid for it. And it’s her car in the sense that it’s the one she normally drives. It’s a Ford convertible, a ‘sixty-three. The car I drive is a Buick.”
    “Nineteen sixty-three?” The rabbi’s eyebrows shot up. “Then it’s practically a new car. Isn’t it still within the guarantee period?”
    “Are you kidding, rabbi?” Schwarz snorted. “No dealer considers himself bound if the damage is due to the owner’s negligence. Becker Motors where I bought the car is as reliable as any dealer in the business, but Al Becker made me feel like a damn fool when I suggested it to him.”
    “I see,” said the rabbi, and indicated that he should proceed.
    “Well, there’s a group of us who do things together – go on theater parties, auto trips, that sort of thing. It all started as a garden club made up of a few congenial couples who lived near each other, but some of us have moved out of the area. Still, we meet about once a month. This was a skiing party to Belknap in New Hampshire and we took two cars. The Alberts drove up with the Reichs in their sedan. I took the Ford and we had Sarah, Sarah Weinbaum, with us. She’s a widow. The Weinbaums were part of the group, and since her husband died we try to include her in everything.
    “We went up early Friday afternoon – it’s only a three-hour ride – and were able to get some skiing in Friday before nightfall. We went out Saturday – all except Abe here. He had caught a bad cold and was sneezing and coughing. Then, Saturday night, Sarah got a call from her kids – she has two sons, one seventeen and one fifteen – to the effect that they bad been in an automobile accident. They assured her it was nothing serious, and that’s how it turned out – Bobby had got a scratch, and Myron, that’s the oldest boy. had to have a couple of stitches. Still, Sarah was awfully upset and wanted to go home. Well, under the circumstances I couldn’t blame her. Since she had come up with us, I offered to let her take our car. But it was late and foggy out, and Myra wouldn’t hear of her going alone. So then Abe here volunteered to drive her back.”
    “Are you in agreement with what has been said so far, Mr. Reich?” asked the rabbi.
    “Yes, that’s what happened.”
    “All right, proceed, Mr. Schwarz.”
    “When we got home Sunday night, the car wasn’t in the garage. That didn’t disturb me, because obviously Abe wasn’t going to leave it at our house and then walk to his. The next morning, I went off in my own car and my wife called him to make arrangements about delivering her car. And then he