Raisins and almonds - Poisoned Pen Press (UK)

Raisins and Almonds
which she had seen on Mrs. Grossman’s face as she chivvied her
children to prepare for the visitors. ‘I will talk to Lily about it,
Ben. You want a good spread?’
‘Yes. Everything as Yossel would have wanted. His father was
a good friend, a real mensch,’ he explained to Phryne. ‘And the
boy is a good boy.’
‘Yossel would be proud,’ agreed Julia. ‘I will arrange it.’
‘About Rabbi Elijah.’ Phryne inserted a word into the conversation.
‘Rabbi Elijah? Difficult,’ said Julia, unconscious of the irony.
‘How do I get to see him?’
‘You go to his house—Simon will take you—but make sure
that he doesn’t see Simon. To him we are as bad as the unobservant,
almost as bad as the meshumad.’
‘Meshumad?’
‘The Apostates. Those who embraced the Christian religion
without threat of torture,’ explained Simon. ‘We are not
Orthodox enough for the Hasidim, the Holy Ones. Perhaps he
might prefer an honest shiksa.’
‘Simon!’ reproved his father, but Phryne smiled.
‘Perhaps he might at that,’ she agreed, patting Simon’s hand.
His mother smiled.