"I know you’re the best teacher in the country. I’m just wondering what makes this lady think you’re qualified if she barely knows you”

Chava knew it was time to stop pushing off calling Tammy. But just as she picked up her phone, it rang.

Saved by the bell. She looked down at the screen and her eyes widened. Tirtza Strauss. Devoiry’s old boss, the school principal she’d met at the lecture a few weeks ago? Why was she calling her?

“Shalom, Chava. I hope I’m not interrupting anything, but I have an idea for you.”

“For me?” Chava asked, astonished.

She was even more astonished several minutes later, after she’d heard the outline of Tirtza’s idea.

“What do you think of me becoming an educational administrator?” she asked Shloimy later that night over dinner, her eyes dancing.

“Shvilei finally decided to promote you?”

“Um, no.” She frowned briefly. “I got a different job offer.”

Her husband raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t know you were looking.”

“I wasn’t. Someone called out of the blue. Someone I barely know,” she added, as she felt again the surprise and pride that Tirtza’s job offer had evoked.

Chava filled him in on the details. Tirtza wanted to open a continuing education program for teachers, to polish their skills and raise their professional level. She’d already obtained funding; now she needed someone to run it.

“But why you?” Shloimy asked. “It makes no sense.”

Chava had thought the same when Tirtza had mentioned the idea. But somehow hearing her husband voice it raised her ire. “I do have over 30 years’ teaching experience.”

“Yes, but not in the Israeli school system.”

She’d expressed the same objection to Tirtza. Now she quoted the principal’s reply. “I’m not teaching kids, I’m teaching teachers. Good didactic skills can apply to all populations.”

Shloimy shrugged, clearly unimpressed. “You’ll be comfortable working in Hebrew?”

“My Hebrew’s good. Not perfect, but I can manage.” Stung, she added, “You obviously think this is a really poor choice on her part.” Chava twisted her napkin around her finger.

His eyes widened in surprise. “Me? Of course not. I know you’re the best teacher in the country. I’m just wondering what makes this lady think you’re qualified if she barely knows you.”