Chapter 9 Summary

While in Goldsmith's, Edith Shapiro runs into Mimi who tells her that Yosef has decided to delay going back to yeshiva when he had planned. He has decided instead to study with his father for a year. Edith runs into Tziporah in the same store and shares the news. Tziporah swears it must be a rumor but Edith assures her that she heard about Yosef's decision from Mimi.

It turns out that Esther Abramowitz, the Rabbi's secretary, was the only one besides the Rabbi and his family who knew anything about Yosef's struggle with his decision not to return to yeshiva. She had overheard a conversation between Yosef and the Rabbi about the topic. The women of Memphis expect their children to go away to school, but to move back with a wife or husband in tow. Yosef's deviation from this plan causes...