by Roger Herst
“Bull!” Chuck whispered to Gabby. “He’s incapable of saying a few words.”
At the microphone, Vice President Giles reiterated the president’s commitment to the inner city. This use of federal land, he said, was an example of how the public and private sectors could cooperate in the endeavor. Then he complimented Gabby, Noah Zentner, Lydia, Caleb Shaboya, and the tennis players of Anacostia High. To Gabby it sounded like he was giving a political stump speech, but she had to admit it was flattering to be recognized by the vice president of the United States.
At day’s end, she wandered over to the full-size bronze statue of Bart Skulkin that had been commissioned by his family and friends. He wore tennis clothes, and had a racquet tucked under his arm and a towel draped around his neck. The likeness was a good one; Bart seemed to be smiling softly and his eyes seemed to shine. For a moment she could imagine them standing together at Camp Berylson, waiting for the last light to fade from the sky and the stars to emerge from darkness.
“Magiah lecha, you deserve this, Bart,” she said in Hebrew and placed a hand on his. The sun had heated the bronze to the warmth of living flesh.
It had been ten months since she had received Chuck’s fateful telephone call in Martinique, though it felt as though a lifetime had elapsed. But the journey was over now. It was time to say goodbye. It was time to let him go.
Since childhood, Gabby had recited prayers before she fell asleep. She added a short Kaddish for her Bar Mitzvah bocher who grew up to become her mentor in ma’asim tovim, in deeds of loving kindness.
Saying goodbye to Joel Fox was even more difficult. Her memory of the events at Fort Stanton Park remained fragmentary, but she knew she had spoken to Joel and assumed that she had called him. She could not remember what they said to each other, but it didn’t matter. He had come to the park because of her, and he had given his life for her. Each breath she took was his gift. Each drop of water she drank or morsel of bread she ate was his legacy. The sun shone with his smile and the wind blew his breath. He had bequeathed her the stars above and the earth below. From now on, she would live for them both.
Later, she would go to the Izaak Walton Rifle Range and sit on the bench beside the modest monument his NRA friends had erected. Joel’s project to teach inner city youths about gun safety had been adopted by National Rifle Association chapters throughout the nation. Riflemen and hunters who had never known Joel Fox personally now recognized the name associated with his program.
On the range, the sharp discharge of high-velocity hunting weapons punctuated the steady background crackle from small .22 caliber rifles. The noise no longer intimidated her; it reminded her of life—full of strident and disharmonious sounds that could mysteriously blend into a symphony were you prepared to listen.
There was still, of course, much opposition to Joel’s program KISS, the Kids Instructional Shooting and Safety club. Wherever and whenever possible, Gabby defended his life and his work. She worked to foster a less emotional, more nuanced debate on the subject of guns and safety. That had been, she reflected, all Joel had asked—both of his opponents and of her.
Sometimes Gabby would wake with the memory of Joel’s lips brushing against her forehead and, just for a moment, she could almost hear the words he spoke in those final moments.
END
THE RABBI GABRIELLE SERIES
Book I: Rabbi Gabrielle's Scandal
Rabbi Gabrielle, a young female rabbi in Washington DC, is called upon to defend an accused rapist in court, imperiling her career. She must negotiate a hostile climate both in her synagogue and in the community, while attempting to live a normal life as an attractive, unmarried woman. Here is a chance to have an internal look at the life of a clergywoman in a profession that has long been a man's proprietary domain.
Book II: A Kiss for Rabbi Gabrielle
Rabbi Gabrielle succeeds the senior rabbi a Congregation Ohav Shalom and in this new role must perform a funeral for her favorite Bar Mitzvah boy, now a young man recently murdered in a remote Washington DC park. This death brings her to a ghetto high school where the victim coached its struggling tennis team. An avid tennis player herself, Gabrielle attempts to keep the tennis team going and, because the police are unable to apprehend the murderer, investigates the crime. This brings her into conflict with Washington's thriving gun trade. Pursuit of the killer thrusts Gabrielle into the nation's spotlight, exactly where she doesn't want to be.
Book III: Rabbi Gabrielle's Defiance
Rabbi Gabrielle continues her personal and professional odyssey, this time toying with running for a seat in Congress. In the process she becomes entangled with a Korean computer geek who operates a successful on-line political campaign website for underfunded, unknown candidates. At the same time her congregation has lost a child burned to death in an accident lighting Hanukkah candles. Gabrielle must grapple with accusations against her talented but sensitive associate rabbi for unprofessional incompetence and a nasty law-suit leveled against Ohav Shalom. Arson is the subject and Rabbi Gabrielle becomes a hound dog on scent, all the while wrestling with a new romance in her life.
Book IV: Rabbi Gabrielle Commits a Felony
A prized Torah scroll is stolen from Ohav Shalom. The FBI determines the event to be a "Hate Crime" and initiates an investigation. But Rabbi Gabrielle unearths clues into the theft that lead in another direction. While intensely active in her daily rabbinical duties, her attention is drawn back 65 years to the origin of the stolen Torah in the Ukraine. The discovery brings this liberal rabbi into conflict with the powerful and well-organized Orthodox Jewish community in New York. Internecine warfare between Jewish denominations must be pacified before Rabbi Gabrielle can return to her post at Ohav Shalom.
Book V: Rabbi Gabrielle Ignites a Tempest
Rabbi Gabrielle takes leave from her rabbinical duties to pursue a doctorate in biblical studies at the University of Chicago. She is summoned to Israel by the Director of Antiquities in Jerusalem when her scholarly live-in boy friend cannot be found to help investigate the robbery of a newly discovered cave at Qumran, site of the famous Dead Sea Scrolls. In the search to find him, Gabrielle becomes aware of her friend's involvement in this robbery and while attempting to shield him, gets swept into a cloak and dagger intrigue involving the Catholic Church and the Government of Israel.
