Yosef was listening, Ephraim could see. He took his own words seriously, but he’d also learned how to listen to other people

Sholom Wasser had been doing this long enough to recognize the look of a bochur who wants to talk, but doesn’t have the confidence or courage

The lecturer looked the questioner up and down, as if to judge whether she deserved an answer

Jeter hit a triple in the ninth and the Yankees won, but Shuey had felt lousy all night long

The way he spoke left no doubt in Shuey Portman’s mind as to whose idea it really was

“Oh, come on, you guys are just being nasty,” Lieber said, and just like that, the whole conversation went from being light to being tense, and everyone got uncomfortable

The words bothered Pinchas Bass, but he was used to being irritated by this strange rosh yeshivah

"What I was counting on didn’t mamash work out. Money is tight. So we need to find a backup plan for the yeshivah"

He liked to be reassuring, to tell her that everything was great. It was a husband’s job, he believed. But at the same time, it was hard to keep certain things from her

Avi knew Heshy could be brash and over-confident, but he also knew that Heshy Labinsky had done this before, more than once

Always, the subject of Shuey’s job was taboo. They could talk about anything, but not that