Tuesday The Rabbi Saw Red by Harry Kemelman Read Free Book Online Page A

around his neck appeared in the doorway and was instantly hailed by the group in the corner. “How they hanging?”
    “You taking this course?”
    Harvey glanced around the room to see if there were any attractive new girls, then sauntered over. “You bet I’m taking this course.” Harvey Shacter perched his elegantly clad bottom on the arm of the chair occupied by Lillian Dushkin. “Can’t you just see Uncle Harvey turning down a gift of three credits? You know Cy Berenson? He took it last year and didn’t even take the final, the rabbi let him write a five-hundred-word paper and gave him a B.”
    “Yeah, but Berenson used to wear a yarmelke all the time.” said Henry Luftig, a short, thin, intense young man with a high bony forehead ending in a cap of jet black hair. “The rabbi probably figured he knew the stuff anyway.”
    “Yarmelke? Oh, you mean that black beanie? Okay, if it will guarantee a B I’ll wear a yarmelke.”
    “That will be the day;” Lillian Dushkin giggled. “Come to think of it, you might look cute.”
    “Hey; Lil.” said Aaron Mazonson. “I heard this Rabbi Lamden was a regular swinger, all a chick has to do is sit in the front row and give him an eyeful and she’s practically guaranteed an A.”
    A sophomore nearby joined in. “It’s not Rabbi Lamden this year, it’s a different guy.”
    “Where’d you hear that?”
    “When I registered for the course. My adviser told me when he initialed my program.’
    “Well, it says Rabbi Lamden in the catalogue.”
    “Yeah, well, that’s because it was a last minute change.”
    “Great!” exclaimed Shacter in disgust. “That’s just what I need. My one pipe course, and they get a new guy who will probably want to show how tough he is.”
    “So we’ll set him straight,” said Luftig, grinning.
    Shacter considered, and then he, too, grinned. “Yeah, that’s the idea, we’ll set him straight.”
     
    The street was lined with cars, and the broad granite steps of the administration building were so crowded with students that Rabbi Small had to zigzag his way to the doors. Inside the enclosed area of the Marble, the marble-tiled rotunda, students were swarming about while others were manning tables behind signs: “Support Your School – Buy a Sports Card, admission to All Athletic Events,”
    “Subscribe to The Windrift. Your Own Magazine,”
    “Sign up for the Dramatic Club,”
    “Concerned? Join the Democratic Party.”
    “Concerned Students join SDS:”
    “Hear the Truth – Join The Socialist Study Group.”
    “Hey! You a freshman? Then you’ll want to go to all the games. Sign up here.”
    “Sandra! Coming out for dramatics again this year?”
    “Get your free copy of The Windrift.”
    The rabbi managed the stairs leading to his office without either buying, pledging, or signing anything. Pleased and excited by the unaccustomed activity, he stopped to catch his breath before entering his class.
    There were twenty-eight students present; his class list, sent to him a few days before, showed thirty, he mounted the platform and wrote on the blackboard: “Rabbi David Small. Jewish Thought and Philosophy.” And then announced: “I am Rabbi Small. I will be giving this course instead of Rabbi Lamden who is listed in the catalogue.”
    Harvey Shacter winked at Lillian Dushkin and raised his hand lazily, the rabbi nodded.
    “What do we call you? Professor or Doctor?”
    “Or Rabbi?” from Henry Luftig. “Or David?” asked Lillian sweetly.
    “I am neither a doctor nor a professor. Rabbi will do perfectly well.” He gave Miss Dushkin a sharp look and went on. “This is a one-semester course, and the subject is a large one, the most we can hope for is to get some understanding of the basic principles of our religion and how they developed. For you to derive any benefit from the course, however, you’ll have to do a great deal of reading. I shall suggest books from time to time, and within the next couple of weeks or