21st Century Bogatyr: A Job, an Apartment & Two Honeymoons

by Zvi Baranoff

Those last few months before Dovid turned thirteen were tumultuous and disruptive for him on several fronts. Coming of age necessitated changes in his relationship with Der Profesor. His engagement to Rifka Leeba necessitated his taking conscious steps towards economic security.

Dovid's apprenticeship agreement with Der Profesor was, to begin with, somewhat out of the norm in several ways.

Generally speaking, these sorts of arrangements are intended for training a young man in a useful trade. An apprentice to a baker, for instance, learned to bake bread and cakes. Almost always, the apprentice is past his bar mitzvah and of an age eligible to enter into a binding contract. The normal period of apprenticeship runs two or three years, although some highly specialized training positions can run five years or so.

The apprentice usually receives a small stipend, but no pay. Sometimes other considerations, such as housing and meals are provided. To be perfectly clear, the contract and the relationship between an apprentice and an employer is almost exclusively a financial matter.

Dovid's contract was signed by his mother when he was only ten. The contract expired with the boy's thirteenth birthday.

What Dovid gained from Der Profesor was a diverse intellectual education with no obvious commercial value. Dovid had unlimited access to the library, access to tools, regular mentally stimulating conversations, and a serious training in abstract thinking and academic research.

There was also the Aun Vas? as we say. Dovid had an apartment (if we use that term loosely) in Der Profesor's cottage at the airport, a modest line of credit covered at the airport restaurant and some very little pocket money.

It needs to be understood that the relationship was not a financial one in any sort of typical way. Rather, it was primarily a very personal agreement. Dovid relished the opportunity to simply be at this font of wisdom. In exchange, he would help Der Profesor on a daily basis with whatever was needed.

But for Dovid's intentions to marry, renewing the contract might have been fairly straightforward and mutually satisfying continuation of the status quo. A single man can scrape by on very little gelt. A married man, however, needs to macht a leben.

Often employers would discourage an apprentice from marrying. Sometimes, that discouragement was written into the contract.

In this case, however, Der Profesor was very supportive of Dovid's betrothal with Rifka Leeba. Der Profesor was as convinced as the boy that the youthful relationship was determined by a mazel and a force beyond our reach, a bashert that should not be resisted or ignored.

Der Profesor was not able to actually pay Dovid to continue in his position. On the other hand, he really liked and appreciated the boy and wanted to keep him around.

So, Der Profesor and Dovid entered into extended discussion on how best to continue their close association and Dovid's somewhat esoteric education.

For starters, Der Profesor told Dovid that he and his family could remain in the apartment, at no cost, for as long as they pleased.

Der Profesor suggested some remodeling to make the place more comfortable for a family. For instance, the kitchenette was expanded to a full kitchen.

Rifka Leeba arranged for a claw foot bathtub to be installed in the kitchen. She did so with the help of kibbutznik connections. When that work was done, Rifka Leeba discreetly moved into the apartment and oversaw the rest of the renovations while awaiting their wedding.

Der Profesor provided Dovid with a letter of introduction and a glowing recommendation. A nod from Der Profesor carried a lot of weight on Planet Birobidzhan. Dovid landed a job doing research and development for Moshe & Mendel's Jew Harp, Tsatske aun Muzik Krom.

Moshe and Mendel were young settlers who put together a nest egg out of scraps in the early days of the settlement when Planet Birobidzhan was awash in currency and lacking in entertaining distractions.

The brothers began by selling the tiny twangy instrument known as the Jews Harp while sitting in a park or on a sidewalk. After a while, they had a pushcart and eventually a storefront in First Landing.

Over the years, the brothers added an assortment of musical instruments to their inventory as well as a wide variety of simple toys. By the time they were ready to retire and hand the business to their children, they had a large store in First Landing, another large store in New Jerusalem and two substantial places in New New York.

The name of the company is now truly an understatement. Moshe & Mendel's Jew Harp, Tsatske aun Muzik Krom is now one of the largest independent employers, worldwide. Besides the large stores in the biggest cities, they have shops in shtetls around the globe and a wholesale operation that supplies businesses that operate in venues that the company considers to be too small to bother with.

Dovid's contract gave him a salary as well as a commission on any products that he developed. The position more so suited him for the Aun Vas? (and what?) opportunities. Of course, there were the deeply discounted or free toys and musical instruments for his expanding family.

Also, there were the unspoken but understood advantages that included the global network of suppliers and manufacturers that he had access to. While working full time and getting paid for it, Dovid was able to continue to work on what he thought of as his real work, rocketry…and, some day, space travel.

So, at the budding age of maturity, Dovid had secured a place to live, a decent income and had a friend and lover that was soon to be his bride and lifelong companion.

Rifka Leeba had made a commitment to her future mother-in-law. She promised to not bear Dovid any children before his sixteenth birthday.

Rifka Leeba intended to strictly fulfill the letter of the agreement. Following the wedding, she solemnly swore to herself that she would make her mother-in-law regret the promise elicited.

Rifka Leeba consumed the emmenagogue/abortifacient tea that her mother-in-law had given her exactly as prescribed. There was absolutely no possibility of a fetus forming within her with such a regimen.

She kept that secret from her husband. She kept that secret from the world, with the one exception of her friend, confidant and co-conspirator, Hannah Leah.

What Rifka Leeba told Dovid, even before they stood together under the Chuppah, was that she was trying to become pregnant and that having his children would be a great honor. More importantly, it would bring nachas to his mother. The pleasure of grandchildren for her mother-in-law was a dominant theme in how Rifka Leeba framed the idea of possible pregnancy.

As the weeks and months passed with no pregnancy, Rifka Leeba began to drop hints to Dovid that she might suffer from a condition of sterility. Nonetheless, she would urge him to keep trying, suggesting that different positions might help or making love at different times of the day might result in the desired pregnancy.

The young couple made love every day, sometimes several times a day, particularly on Shabbos when there was no work to do and making love is a mitzvah.

During the third month of their marriage, Rifka Leeba subtly began suggesting that Dovid needed a second wife to bear children for him and that her lifetime friend Hannah Leah was the ideal choice for a second wife. Rifka Leeba suggested that they could, perhaps, give this arrangement a trial period to see how it works out.

Hannah Leah was a few months older than Rifka Leeba. They grew up together on the kibbutz. They were almost like sisters. They shared everything.

Rifka Leeba's friend began to spend more time in the apartment. Sometimes Hannah Leah would be there all day, helping Rifka Leeba or just hanging out.

When out in public, both of the women would dress conservatively. Hannah Leah would wear her "Town Clothing". Rifka Leeba began to dress like Dovid's mother, in a long skirt, a blouse with sleeves to the wrists and buttons to the neck. Rifka Leeba's hair was always carefully covered with a scarf when she left the apartment.

They were both beautiful young women with similar enough bodies to wear each other's clothes. Hannah Leah had a bit more curves, slightly lighter hair and was a few inches shorter.

In the apartment the young women would make themselves comfortable and dress as they would on the kibbutz. They wore skirts above their knees. Their arms were bare. The top buttons of their blouses were often undone.

One Friday, Hannah Leah came for dinner and stayed the night. Rifka Leeba demurely lit the candles and Dovid said the blessings over the wine. The three friends drank the Shabbos wine together which was just a bit sweeter and a touch stronger than usual.

The evening passed in friendly conversation and they each drank a little more wine than they were usually inclined to. Hannah Leah stretched out on the sofa and Rifka Leeba took her husband to bed.

After making love, Rifka Leeba whispered in Dovid's ear of her desire for children and her fears that she may be barren. She told Dovid that her dear friend Hannah Leah would willingly bear children for her. Then she emphasized the spiritual necessity of making love on the Shabbos and the unfairness to Hannah Leah to be denied such a mitzvah.

Dovid was dozing when Rifka Leeba climbed from the bed. He was sleeping in the darkened bedroom when he was awakened and aroused. When he woke in the morning, Hannah Leah was sleeping in his arms. Rifka Leeba was humming to herself and preparing breakfast in the kitchen.

Any thoughts of a trial aspect to this arrangement were quickly put aside. The family bonds between these three were unbreakable. By any standard, the three were married. The marriage was formalized a few weeks later with a rabbi officiating and a few close friends, including Der Profesor, attending the small informal wedding.

It seemed that every time Dovid entered his apartment, one of the women was in the large claw foot bathtub in the kitchen. They would ask him to bring them a sponge or a brush or for help washing the back or rubbing feet.

This sort of thing inevitably led to lovemaking. Making love with one of his wives inevitably led to making love to the other because neither wanted to miss out.

Hannah Leah, of course, became pregnant almost immediately. The two wives, however, kept that knowledge to themselves and they continued to pressure Dovid to do his part to provide them with children.

Soon, however, hiding Hannah Leah's pregnancy became impossible. The expanded belly gave away the secret, at least when she was naked. Soon, even through her most conservative clothing, the pregnancy was obvious.

Rifka Leeba was ecstatic with this state of affairs. She insisted that they all go visit Dovid's mother to introduce his new wife and tell her the good news of a child on the way. If her mother-in-law had a heart attack or a stroke when hearing the news, thought Rifka Leeba, that would be icing on the cake.

This is not a Jewish story. It is, however, a story about Jews. One does not need to be Jewish to read this tale any more than one needs to be a Hobbit or an Elf to read Lord of the Rings.

This story is a work of fiction. The setting for this tale is in the distant future, on the far away Planet Birobidzhan. This planet was settled by Jewish exiles from Planet Earth.

The population of Planet Birobidzhan has been cut off from the Home Planet for a long time. They have developed their own unique culture, traditions and linguistics.

The language spoken on Planet Birobidzhan is primarily Yiddish. I have sprinkled a significant number of Yiddish words and phrases throughout the telling of the tale. I also refer to various Jewish religious and cultural touchstones.

To make this story more accessible, I have included a glossary of words and phrases in Yiddish and Hebrew that are used as well as some explanations of religious terms and holidays.

I hope that readers find this to be useful.

The link to the Glossary is here:

https://21stcenturybogatyr.blogspot.com/2023/01/a-useful-guide-glossary-to-planet.html?m=1

פּלאַנעט ביראָבידזשאַן

Do you want to read more about Planet Birobidzhan? Here are all the posted installments so far, in the order that they were posted. Just click your way through the story!

1 On A Planet Safe for Yidden

https://21stcenturybogatyr.blogspot.com/2022/02/on-planet-safe-for-yidden.html

2 Yenne Velt: A History of Planet Birobidzhan

https://21stcenturybogatyr.blogspot.com/2022/02/yenne-velt-history-of-planet-birobidzhan.html

3 Another Globe, Perhaps?

https://21stcenturybogatyr.blogspot.com/2022/02/another-globe-perhaps.html

4 Bereshis: The Transport & Transformation of the Founders

http://21stcenturybogatyr.blogspot.com/2022/03/bereshis-transport-transformation-of.html

5 The Town of First Landing

https://21stcenturybogatyr.blogspot.com/2022/03/the-town-of-first-landing.html

6 A Personal History of an Early Settler on Planet Birobidzhan

http://21stcenturybogatyr.blogspot.com/2022/05/a-personal-history-of-early-settler-on.html