Tzipporah wanted to know where they expected to find a girl “who didn’t grow up with luxuries,” but was at the same time “able to give an apartment in Yerushalayim”

"So it’s going to be another boring work night for you?” Chaya asks Nechami. “Yes, another boring work night!” Nechami says with conviction. “I decided that I really need to finish up all these projects before Chanukah.” She doesn’t want to have to spend those luminous nights down in her office, away from the glowing candles.

“But then I can’t have a good schmooze with you. You don’t have a decent phone down in the office.”

“I do now!” Nechami reports happily. “I bought a new cordless with a fantastic range — I can even use it in the office. I had to figure out some way to talk with you. I want to hear the whole story! How did you decide to go ahead with the shidduch, after all your speeches about not wanting to?”

• ••

Honestly? It all started with some classroom gossip during their break between classes.

Goldie said that Shiffy Meir was miffed because her parents were desperate for her to meet some boy from Beitar, a big masmid in the Mir. But his family wasn’t interested because they didn’t want a girl who’d grown up with luxuries — and Shiffy wasn’t used to being turned down.

Tzipporah retorted that the family from Beitar didn’t want a girl from a poor family, either, because their son wanted to live in Yerushalayim, and how could a poor family afford that kind of support?

Goldie argued that if a boy wanted to stay near his yeshivah and his chavrusas, he had a right to ask for a kallah who would respect that and provide it.

Tzipporah wanted to know where they expected to find a girl “who didn’t grow up with luxuries,” but was at the same time “able to give an apartment in Yerushalayim.”

And Chaya sat quietly nearby in the otherwise empty classroom, eating her omelet-and-lettuce sandwich and hearing the whole exchange. She looked down at the desk and blushed. She knew exactly which boy they were talking about.