To the Honorable, Kind Woodchopper, Chaim,

Please watch over this baby girl. Her name is Shoshanah. She is a Jew, like her parents. Feed her, bathe her, care for her, and love her as if she were your own child. In time, all mysteries will be answered, all secrets divulged, but for now, say not a word how this baby came to be found.

Shoshanah is your baby now. That is all the world needs to know. I shall write to you again, but for now, the danger is too great, and I fear

The letter writer had clearly been interrupted from finishing his thoughts.

“What do we do?” Chaim’s wife, Tamar, asked.

“We take care of this Jewish baby. What else can we do?” Chaim looked worriedly at the sleeping baby. “And we’ll speak to the rav tomorrow. Perhaps he knows something we don’t.”

****************************

The next day Chaim and Tamar learned the truth; not one Jew in the city knew anything about any missing babies. Soon people learned that they were asking because there was an unidentified baby in their home. The questioning began in earnest, but no clear answers were given.

“We traveled somewhere and adopted this baby.” Chaim responded to nosy neighbors. “No, no, we didn’t kidnap her, Heaven forbid! What’s that? Of course, we can raise her on our own! Yes, yes, we’re very capable, baruch Hashem. Thank you all for your concern.”

Chaim retreated into his house, out of reach of the growing crowd of curious onlookers outside his home.

“You know that people think we’ve gone mad and kidnapped a child, don’t you?” Tamar sat by the fireplace rocking baby Shoshanah.

“They also don’t think we can take care of the baby because we’re no longer young.”

“They think that because…” Tamar’s eyes filled with tears. “We’ve never had any children of our own.”

“Don’t pay them any attention,” Chaim said. He opened a closet and took out a massive axe.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“Going to work, as I always do. Trees won’t fall down themselves, you know.”

“Oh, very funny! Chaim, you cannot leave me alone with this baby! I need help!”

“This baby?” Chaim said softly. “Don’t you mean our baby?”

“You can’t be serious… We have no idea where this little girl came from. Whoever wrote that letter could have been lying! Maybe she’s not even Jewish!”

“Whoever wrote that letter knew me, though I have no clue who it was. They’re trusting me to take care of the baby. Trusting us.”

“Chaim, this could be some sort of prank. Besides, why us? This could be dangerous, for all we know. I think we should speak to Gimpel, head of the Jewish orphanage, and ask if they can take the baby.”

“Are you sure?”

“I think it’s the responsible thing to do. We can’t get involved with the child without knowing anything about her!”

“I suppose you may be right.” Chaim sighed. “I’ll go over to the orphanage when Gimpel returns next week.”

********************************

A week later, Gimpel returned to town. Chaim and Tamar met with him and introduced the tiny baby girl. They remembered the letter writer’s warning not to divulge information regarding how the baby had come into their possession, so they gave very few details. Gimpel agreed to find a young couple who would agree to adopt the baby, and Chaim and Tamar left the orphanage feeling very relieved.

When they returned home, they saw a black envelope, identical to the one they had read previously, stuck into the snow outside of their door.

to be continued…

(Originally featured in Mishpacha Jr., Issue 812)