The Rabbi and The Rebbetzin (26 page)

“A
lot of nuisances may be attracted to her and some may annoy or harass her.” He
then addressed Captain Casey. “When she arrives in the morning, you are to personally
welcome her and escort her to the I.D. card boxes.” Each working lawyer at
Finkel Nash had an I.D. card. When they leave work at night, they deposit their
I.D. cards in the box, and they pick them up in the morning.

“After
the Rebbetzin gets her card, you are to personally escort her to the elevator.
If no one else is in the elevator, you press the nonstop button that takes her
to the 15
^th
floor without stopping anywhere else. If there is already
someone in the elevator that you do not know, you are to go up to the 15
^th
floor with her. Before she gets into the elevator, you are to ring Ms. Collins
to inform her that her boss is on the way.” Ms. Amanda Collins had been taken
from another department to serve as secretary to Shulamit.

All
associates had unlimited access to typing and stenographic pools. All partners
had at least one private secretary, but not all associates, who sometimes had
to share secretaries.

When
Shula arrived for her 1:00 o’clock appointment at the security office, she was
met by Sergeant Jerome Warner who covered the afternoon shift at the entrance desk.
He escorted her to the elevator and went with her to Room 1502.

Captain
Casey was already waiting for her to show her her new office. It was a large
rectangular room with one corner containing an enclosed office for Ms. Collins.
Shula, who was quite liberal, had no problem dealing with a black secretary.
They greeted each other warmly and engaged in a short conversation. One back corner
of Shula’s office was screened off to form a work area which contained all of
the electronic equipment and photocopying machinery. On the opposite corner
near the windows was Shula’s desk. Two chairs were placed in front of the desk.
Outside of the office in the hallway were chairs for clients waiting to see
attorneys. When it was the turn for a new client to enter the office, Ms.
Collins would step out and escort them in.

At
Shula’s desk, Captain Casey opened one of the drawers. On either side of the
drawer was a switch with three buttons of different colors. He explained that
the buttons on the right were connected to the security office and the buttons on
the left were for the medical office. He then told her what the colors stood
for. For the medical office, the green button was for minor aches and pains. The
yellow button was for more serious medical problems, and the red button on the
end was for accidents and injuries. Any time a red button sounded, Nurse
Greenberg would come up immediately with one or two assistants.

The
alarms buttons to the security office were also coded. The green button was for
bothersome clients or visitors who were annoying her. The adjacent yellow
button was for serious harassment and for clients who became obstreperous. The
red button was for cases of attempted rape, armed robbery or violent assault.
One officer would respond to a green button and two officers for a yellow
button. When the red button was hit, all available officers with guns drawn
would run directly to the office.

The
alarm buttons were connected to a display board in the security offices, the
medical offices and to the managing director’s office. It displayed the room
number where the alarm button was pressed. “I hope you will never need to press
any of these buttons,” Captain Casey said, and with that he took leave of her.

Shulamit starts work at the law firm of Finkel,
Nash.

She experiences a disastrous event soon after she
begins.

The
next morning when Shulamit came to regular work, she saw Captain Casey at the desk
in the lobby. “Good morning, Rebbetzin Shula,” he said. “How are you?”

“I’m
fine,” she answered. “Rarin’ to go.” He led her to the desk with the ID’s and
handed her her ID card. He then escorted her to the elevator after pressing the
bell for Room 1502. The elevator was unoccupied, but since it was her first day,
he went up with her to the 15
^th
floor.

Amanda
Collins met her and escorted her to her office. Amanda briefed her on the
standard office procedures. One ring to Amanda from Shula meant that Amanda should
pick up an incoming call; two rings to Amanda meant that she should pick up the
intercom. One ring from Amanda meant that Shula should pick up the intercom
because there was someone who wished to meet or speak with Shula or that Shula
had a special message or correspondence.

Shula
needed no further instruction because she was actually quite familiar with
office procedures and had worked for her father in his office as a
receptionist. Shula spent the first half-hour getting organized in her office,
and then she heard a ring on the intercom. When she picked up the phone, Amanda
said she had a visitor who wished to speak with her. Shula had made no
appointments for the first day so she asked who it was.

“She
says her name is Andrea Cohen and that she is a good friend of yours.”

Shula
answered, “I’m not sure that she is such a good friend, but tell her to come
in.” Amanda escorted Andrea into Shula’s office. Since Shula was sitting at her
desk, she told Andrea to be seated.

“Hi,
Andrea, did you come to dig out some more information about me, and why would
you need any information when you are no longer connected to the
Law School
Briefs
?”

Andrea
said, “I came to pay a neighborly call and wish you good luck in your new
position.”

“That’s
not like you, Andrea. And what do you mean neighborly?”

“My
office, 1510, is right down the hall, about fifty feet from here.”

“Your
office? You work for Finkel Nash? I didn’t know that cleaning ladies have
private offices on this executive floor.”

“What
makes you think that I am a cleaning lady?”

Shula
replied, “Don’t you spend your time gathering dirt about people? People who
gather dirt are cleaning ladies.”

Andrea
answered, “Touché! I work for Finkel Nash, but in a higher position then
a cleaning lady.”

“Finkel
Nash certainly wouldn’t hire you as a lawyer; they only take the top academic
performers
―
four or more
appearances on the Dean’s List or honors at the graduation or publication of
some journal articles. I can’t remember the last time you cracked a law book
text and read more than three pages of it.”

Andrea
was a little angry at such words, but she knew that Shula was teasing her and
not really being serious. “Look, Shula,” she said, “I am not as smart as you
but, then again, nobody in the law school is. I’m not as rich as you, but
nobody in the law school is. As for looks, the matter is debatable. There are
some who think I look as good as you, but I’ll give you the benefit of doubt.
One thing, however, I write a lot better than you. What is more, when I write
something, people read it. What you write sits on shelves and gathers dust.”

 “Touché,”
Shula said. “I’m sorry. Let’s cut out the cattiness. Tell me what you do at
Finkel Nash.”

“I
was not hired as a practicing attorney, although being a lawyer might be
helpful in my work. You are looking at the new Director of Public Relations at
Finkel Nash. I work on the 15
^th
floor, although by its very nature,
the P.R. department is located on the second floor between the security and
medical departments. We have four writers and three secretaries who work in
that office. My job is to write press releases and ultimately to create an in-house
publication. Albert Nash was impressed by my work on the
Law School Briefs
where I was in charge of a group of reporters and secretaries. Of course, writing
for Public Relations is different than writing for the newspapers. In PR work
you only publish material that is flattering to the subject. In news writing,
you publish the truth, whether it’s good or bad.”

“I
think I know how Albert Nash found out about you.”

“How?”
Andrea asked.

“I
know, but I can’t tell you. I can give you a one word hint, however, and let
you drag up the information by yourself.”

“What’s
the word?”

“Recreation.”

Andrea
scoffed. “You mean the fact that Albert Nash plays golf with President Crawford
in the foursome that includes two other directing managers of other firms? I
knew about that a long time ago, long before Rachel Gross told me about it.”

Shula
was dismayed by this information. She began to realize that Andrea knew
everything about everybody and that Rachel Gross was an inveterate gossiper. She
resolved to be very careful when she was talking to these two women.

“Did
you get any assignments as yet?” she asked Andrea.

“As
a matter of fact, I did. I was asked to prepare a release for all Philadelphia
papers and TV stations to the effect that Finkel Nash was successful in hiring
the number one graduate of the law school and outbid five other legal firms for
her services. I happen to know the amount of your signing bonus and you may be
happy to know that my salary is only a few thousand dollars less than yours.”

“I
am very happy for you, Andrea, and I hope you will publish only good tidings
about me.”

“I
will if you won’t let your humility prevent you from telling me the entire
story of your good deeds.”

“I’ll
tell you all about them if you promise not to print anything bad.” She gave
Andrea an appointment for the next morning to discuss the matter further and
wished Andrea well once again.

The
next day Andrea came in with a notebook and gave Shula a long interview. A good
deal of the interview focused on her husband, Rabbi Adler. She knew that a lot
of interest in the material was based on how a law student who was totally
immersed in her work could find time to befriend a rabbi and marry him.

Shula
told Andrea that her father was the president of the Beth Israel synagogue in
Dunberg, and he hired Rabbi Adler to serve as the rabbi of the congregation.
Shula was inspired by the rabbi’s intelligence and sincerity. She admired his
total faith and conviction. She used all of her talents to have the rabbi pay
attention to her and fairly soon he developed a romantic interest in her.

The
next question followed automatically. “Does the rabbi have any objection to
your working?”

 Shula
told Andrea that anything she would say was off the record and that Andrea was
bound by her promise not to publish anything private.

When
Andrea gave her her assurance, Shula told her, “My husband is a very proud man.
He works hard and tries to earn a sufficient amount to provide me with at least
enough to live on. He will not accept any money from my father who is very well-to-do.
He does not earn enough yet to support me in the style that I am accustomed to,
so he’s willing to accept the money that I earn by working, but does not want
to dip into my trust funds or other wealth that I possess. He does believe that
women should work and share the household expense and the household burdens.”

“Didn’t
you tell the committee that you never learned how to cook and never did any
household work?”

“That
happens to be the truth. Even in Jewish history, however, many women had
household help and I have no qualms about it.”

“Does
your husband have any qualms about you working in a firm that employs so many
male lawyers?”

 Shula
answered, “He may have certain misgivings but he trusts me implicitly. He did
warn me not to meet with male clients unless they have their wives with them or
some other person in attendance nearby.”

“Will
he make you drink the bitter waters if you meet privately with another man in a
closed office?”

Shula
answered the question with a measure of anger. “That ritual was discontinued
thousands of years ago and even then it was only used when jealous husbands had
reason to suspect infidelity on the part of their wives. As I told you, my
husband trusts me completely. He is only worried about the laws that restrict
women from acting in a way that may lead to suspicion of impropriety.”

After
completing her interview with Shula, Andrea called in members of her staff to
prepare the press releases for the newspapers and TV station.

Shulamit
didn’t know what to expect when Clara picked up the newspapers from the front
porch and put them on the kitchen table. Shulamit liked to read the paper when
drinking her coffee and she started with the front page of the
Inquirer
.
There was no article about her on the front page but there was a mention of her
name in the index for the business section. The pointer said, “Finkel Nash
hires Rebbetzin Adler, B1.”

Shulamit
had no trouble finding the article because it consumed a lot of space and
contained one of the more glamorous pictures of her. Her private photographer
was an artist and he was able to touch up Shulamit’s photograph. The headline
read, “Finkel Nash hires First Rebbetzin.”

The
first few paragraphs of the article read:

 Finkel Nash won a highly competitive struggle
among the six leading law firms in Philadelphia to acquire the services of
Rebbetzin Shulamit Levine Adler. The Rebbetzin started her work in the family
law department of Finkel Nash yesterday morning. A long-standing employee of
the firm, Ms. Amanda Collins was assigned to be the personal secretary of the rebbetzin.

Mrs. Adler was the highest-ranking student in this
year’s U-Penn Law School and was the class valedictorian. Each of the six major
law firms in Philadelphia offered her a contract, but they were outbid by
Finkel Nash.

The rebbetzin chose the U-Penn school because she
is a native of Pennsylvania, having been born in Dunberg, a suburb of
Pittsburgh. Her father, Abe Levine is the sole owner on Telacomp, the largest
computer software and hardware distributer of the East Coast. Recently the
company turned down an offer of 100 million dollars from Microsoft to acquire
the business. Dr. Chana Levine, the Rebbetzin’s mother, lectures in psychology
at the University of Pittsburgh.

 The Rebbetzin’s husband is Rabbi Aaron Adler, and
they reside on Sansom Street near the university. He was the rabbi of
congregation Beth Israel in Dunberg for the last two years. The rabbi also teaches
in the Philadelphia public school system. He expects to announce a new rabbinic
pulpit in Philadelphia shortly.

In announcing the appointment, Mr. Albert Nash, managing
director of Finkel Nash, proudly stated that his firm now employed eight outstanding
members of the U-Penn Law School graduating class, in addition to the Rebbetzin
and Ms. Andrea Cohen, who was appointed as director of the public relations department
of Finkel Nash in a non-legal capacity.

Shulamit
laughed when she saw how cleverly Andrea worked her way into the news release.
There was a small picture of Amanda and Andrea next to the large picture of
Shulamit.

Andrea
had assigned two members of the PR department to secure comments from managing
directors of other law firms. All of them wished Finkel Nash good-luck on its
new appointment and best wishes to the Rebbetzin. Some of the directors included
statements to the effect that their firms were also equal-opportunity employers,
and generally favored graduates of the U-Penn law school as well.

Shula
worked hard at the law firm and ignored the symptoms of her early pregnancy.
For Christmas, she secured a newly developed camera from her father that
featured a small tape recorder that recorded passages of speech when pictures
were snapped. She presented it as a holiday present to her secretary. Amanda
was a camera buff and always wore a camera around her neck.

In
early spring, Shulamit was visibly pregnant but was determined to work as long
as possible. She was in her office when a call came in from Michael Wolf, a
partner in the Criminal Law department.

“I
have been assigned to a pro bono case involving a man who is suspected of wife-beating.
I would like you to help me on this case.” Partners in the firm were free to
draft associates for help when they needed it. He immediately thought of the
Rebbetzin because he remembered that she was in the Family Law department and
was new enough not to find excuses to avoid helping him. “If you come into my
office in room 705, I’ll give you all the details of the case and we can plan
out a program of action.”

Michael
Wolf was not totally unaware of family law. He may not have specialized in the
area but he had the capacity to interview Mr. and Mrs. Pearson by himself. It
was laziness on his part that caused him to delegate to an associate work that
he should have done by himself. He was also too lazy to check the extensive
criminal record of John Pearson and his earlier arrests and time spent in
prison.