SHADRACK, SHADRACK, FIRE DON'T BURN
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By
Rose Sheridan
(c) 2016
A Story For Marjorie
DEDICATION
To David Berger, a victim of the Holocaust
Who wanted the world to know
That somewhere, a man named
David Berger had Lived
A Story For Marjorie
Acknowledgements
Technical Advisor
Dr. Bruce Blacker, MD
How to Make A Duct Tape Gift Basket
Mushky Giftach
Chabad.org
db.yadvashem.org, Holocaust Data Base
© 2016 Rose Sheridan Pappas
SHADRACK, SHADRACK,
FIRE DON’T BURN
Chapter 1
Joe Stonecypher lifted his glass high.
“ To Shadrack Mahoney, and his lovely bride, Rifqa, may they know the joy of each other’s love for many long years,”
“Amen” came the chorus of the revelers present. Forty of Shadrack’s closest friends raised their glass, drank the toast, and replaced the glass on the nearest table.
Schadrack and Rifqa embraced and kissed, to a round of general applause and cheers. Rifqa smiled a broad smile, and blushed dark though her soft dark-tawny complexion.
“I thank my Saviour Jesus,” she said softly. “He gave me new life as a Christian believer, and then a new life as Shadrack’s wife, here in America, where, despite the rising persecution, a Christian still can feel safe and look forward to dying a natural death. I thank my Saviour so much for bringing me first to America, then to Schadrack,
and through Shadrack’s preaching, to peace and glory in Christ.”
The assembly applauded and cheered their approval. There was a short pause in the proceedings.
“Ah, Shadrack,” Joe began. “Shadrack Mahoney. Would you be kind enough to take this happy occasion to explain to these assembled well-wishers, how did a fine example of African heritage such as yourself. come by the name Mahoney?”
Shadrack’s huge frame shook with laughter. His mouth curled wide in a huge delighted smile. He tossed his huge head back and uttered a deep appreciative giggle.
“Well, now,” he began in a suddenly acquired exaggerated Irish brogue. “Well now, I’ll be tellin’ ya that fine historical account,” he declared with a great exaggerated enthusiasm..
“ It was me great-great grandfather, it was. It was a dark and fearsome day, it was, and the minions of the dark took hold of great great grandfather, and dragged him heartlessly away from his beloved wife, they did, and chained him on a cruel table with other unhappy prisoners, they did. And after a long and painful journey, me honored great great grandfather found himself in a
far , far, country, full of light complexioned people who were desperately in need of the wisdom and aid from him and the other dark complexioned people who had accompanied him on his long strenuous journey”.
He grinned a wide grin while he waited for the explsion of laughter that filled the room to subside.
“It wasn’t long,” he resumed the Irish brogue and his eyes sparkled with delight at the way his friends were appreciating his telling of the story.
“It wasn’t long,” he repeated, “when great great grandfather was taken into the employ of a certain gentleman of enormous means and great influence” he paused while everybody burst into another spell of laughter---and then he bent over slightly and giggled himself.
“ Me great great grandfather served his employer with great energy and kindly devotion” he had to pause and leave room for another gale of laughter and his own giggle.
“But there was one thing that puzzled great great grandfather, night and day. Yes, night and day, day and night, he wondered with a great wonderment. And what did ye think it was that was troubling him?”
“What was it troubling him?” everybody shouted in enthusiastic unison.
“Ah, yes. I’ll be tellin’ ye what was troubling me great great grandfather.”
Some people started to clap.
“One day the troublin’ just would not go away. And his heart was heavy indeed . So one fine bright spring day. me great great grandfather came to his employer with hat in hand, and asked him most politely,’ may I ask, dear sir, when is payday?”
All the guests bent over and guffawed for a whole minute.
“Payday! Payday! What do you mean. Payday?” Me great great grandfather’s employer exploded in confusion and great innocence of soul . “Payday. Payday.” Me great great grandfather repeated with kind patience. “The day I get cash money wages for all the fine work I have done for your fine and generous soul, sir.”
By now the laughter only subsiding in order to hear Shadrack’s next words.
“And then me great great grandfather’s employer delared, with great generosity of spirit, ‘my dear man, I see you are a kind and agreeable man, and a faithful,
hardworking servant. But I see you are not aquainted with my financial circumstances.
“I am barely able to survive with myself, my wife, and my three lovely daughters. There is no money. There is no payday. There is no cash that I can rob from my own wife and daughter’s and give to you. With that confession, he bagan to sob,he did, and grasp his hat and hold it to his chest in grief.”
The giggling was not letting up.
“He held his hat to his chest and wept for another minute. And then suddenly a light seemed to explode in his eyes, and he wept no more, and waved his hat in the air.
“But! He said gladly. “ I have something to give to you.! Something of mine that will always be with you, to remind you of my high esteem for you and your service to me.”
“And what is that? Me great great grandfather asked, surprised.
“Why, that is my name. For a thousand generations back in Ireland, my fathers before me bore my name with fortitude and pride. And now you, too, will carry that fine name down through coming generations, as member of a great and glorious line of Mahoneys!
“And so my great great grandfather took the name of Mahoney, and gave it to his son, who gave it to his son, who gave it to me.”
The assembled guests broke into applause.
“”I must tell you,” Shadrack added, “ that the name Mahoney has served me well, opened doors for me, and worked wonders for me on St. Paddy’s Day, when I am sent to carry the green beer.”
He gave an exaggerated bow to the long and happy applause.
Joe cornered him a few moments later.
“Hey, Shad,” he questioned. “You have been making me laugh since the day we started to work together at the school. But I still can’t figure out why you make such a joke about your family’s slave history.”
Shadrack grinned.
“Because, good buddy. When you have to deal with a huge ugly monster, you have to shrink it down to size, so you can properly stomp on it and squish the dirty life out of it.”
“So where did Shadrack come from?”
“Hey, you know my Dad’s a Preacher Man. He
wanted his pride and joy to know from the beginning that life was full of obstacles and choices. And the challenge of life was to always choose the right and the good over the easy. And if you did that, the Good Lord would get you through any fire the devil wanted to singe you with.”
Chapter Two
The bleachers were jammed and sweaty, but the fans of the South Ridge High Noble Ruffians didn’t notice. The score was tied at 10-10, with five minutes left on the clock. Happy pandemonium blasted against the ceiling and shook the walls of the gymnasium. Banners waved and glitter banners and pom-poms shook and sparkled.
“Go! Go! Go!” The chant never gave up.
The Noble Ruffians were not ready to give an inch. The Rose Park Gladiators fought with singleminded intensity. But Chris Templeton caught the line of the ball sailing toward him, and fixed his eyes and measured the distance, and raised his arms into the air and grabbed it in a flawless snatch.
It took his practiced eye one second to measure the distance to the basket at the impossible distance at other end of the court, and his sinewy arms became a precision launcher. The ball sailed inevitably and easily toward the basket, and broke the tie with casual ease.
The screaming and hollering from the stands became deafening. The Gladiator’s valiant attempt to undo the damage was to no profit, and the whistle was sounded four minutes later, final score,
Noble Ruffians 11, Gladiators 10.
“Ruffians! Ruffians! We’re the best! We never let the other team rest!”
The South Ridge Noble Shouters Cheer Squad leaped and waved their arms and banners, and shouted the cheer a second time.
“Ruffians! Ruffians! We’re the best! We never let the other team rest!”
“Yay! Ruffians!”
Drowned out by the shouting fans, the squad leader hollered “Now!”
The Noble Shouters team ran suddenly off the court floor without warning. Shadrack watched them with a startled expression. What were they up to?
A moment later, the team ran back onto the court floor, carrying a rolled up banner. The fans were still cheering and shouting.
Then the Noble Shouters unrolled the huge banner to the crowd. The fans were startled, surprised, and pleased. The entire assembly gave enthusiastic applause.
The banner read, in huge shiny blue letters on a yellow field:
“South Ridge Noble Ruffians and Noble Shouters Cheer Squad
Thank Coach Shadrack Mahoney.”
Chris Templeton took the PA mike, and shouted over the cheering.
“The South Ridge Noble Ruffians and Noble Shouters cheer squad want to show our appreciation to
the greatest basketball coach in the world, Shadrack Mahoney!”
The noisy approval continued.
“We want to welcome the Coach back from his honeymoon!”
There was another round of cheers.
“You want to know what kind of a coach Coach Mahoney is?” Chris shouted. ”He scheduled his honeymoon so he’d be back in time for this game! Now that is dedication!”
That called for another burst of noisy appreciation.
“The cheer squad wrote a special cheer in thanks and good wishes to Coach Mahoney, and his beautiful new wife, Rifqa, and we’re gonna hear it now! Coach Shadrack Mahoney is a man who never backs up. Never gives in, and is always faithful to his job no matter what. So in appreciation for Coach Shadrack’s dedication to what is right and good, no matter what, here’s our special cheer! Written just for him! Take it guys!”
The cheer squad gave the banner to the referee to hold, and took their places on the gym floor .
They raised their sparkly pom poms and shook them in rhythm, and did a short gymnastic dance, to the rhythmic clap of the crowd.
Then they shouted in joyful unison, waving the sparkly pom poms and doing their strenuous rhythmic dance one more time. Then they began the shout.
“Shadrack, Shadrack!
Fire don’t burn!
Stand up brave and take your turn!
Abednego! Meshack, Too! God’s got a big surprise for you!
Praise Him with a shout! God’s gonna put that fire out!
“Yayyyy! Shadrack!
The applause was thunderous approval. When it quieted down enough, the team took their places, waved their sparklies , and Chris hollered “once more” and the Royal Shouters repeated the cheer.
Shadrack! Shadrack!
Fire don’t burn!
Stand up brave and Take your turn!
Abednego! Meschack too!
God’s got a big surprise for you!
Praise Him, Praise Him with a shout!
God’s gonna put that fire out!
Yayyy,Shadrack!
The shouted approval did not quiet down for at least five minutes.
Chapter Three
“You have got to be joking!” Shadrack’s kind eyes exploded in hurt and confusion. “This is not legal! It’s not even civilized!”
“It’s legal if we say it’s legal!” Principal Barnum Smith stated with cold finality. “ We are living in a new day. This generation goes by different rules. And South Ridge High School enforces the new rules. Religion is out. Prayer is out. Public mention of God or anything concerning the Bible is not acceptable. We have to be very unbending on this. No exceptions.”
“What about the first amendment freedom of religion?” Shadrack demended, his voice rising in righteous indignation.
“That don’t count no more,” Principal Smith declared with open contempt. “As far as we are concerned, students of South Ridge High School are not allowed to think God, sing God, preach God, or make up game cheers that mention God or Bible characters. The Royal Shouters broke that rule. They are out for the season. This will successfully crush any protests by activists who think they can change us.”
Shadrack steadied himself against Mr. Smith’s desk, and bent over, taking deep breaths. He did not know how to deal with this.
“And you, Mahoney. Your contract with this school is terminated as of this minute. If you ever dare show up on this school property ever again for any reason, we will call the police to escort you off the premises.”
***********************
“That’s insane!” Shadrack’s new bride was devastated and confused. “You’ve got a contract! You can’t just be fired like that for no reason whatsoever! This is grounds for a lawsuit!” She valiently fought back tears.
“Aw, Rifqa,” Shadrack comforted, giving her a big bear hug and resting his head on her shoulder. “This type of thing can’t be settled in a lawsuit!”
Rifqa let one soft sob escape.
“But it is so unreasonable! Against everything America has ever stood for! I know! I had to read those things for my citizenship test! What are these people trying to get away with?”
“Rifqa. Rifqa. Blessed, beautiful, Rifqa,” Shadrack spoke gently, and gave her a soft kiss on the lips. “Jesus said the time will come when he that kills you will think that he does God a service. When people hate the Gospel and the Saviour Who died for their sins, it does not matter to them what the Constitution says, what history says, or anything,. They just want to silence the Word of God and they don’t care who they step on to do it.”
“What are we gonna do?” she asked in a forlorn tone.
“Well, first, we’re gonna rejoice in the Lord, and thank Him for counting us worthy to suffer for His Name,” Shadrack said cheerfully. “You think about it,” he went on. “Ever since the resurrection of Jesus, There has been somebody someplace in the world getting murdered for believing in Him. And now their bloodlust has overflowed, in the middle east, and all over, where the madmen swear to murder all the people who honor the Cross, and all of the sons of Father Abraham. They’re showing up here, too.. But our Lord is faithful, Rifqa. He will show us what to do.”
**************************
The assembled line of protesters went halfway around the block. Parents and family members of the suspended cheer team, plus the pastors and congregations from four local Missionary Baptist and three Pentecostal churches in the South Ridge neighborhood, and at least one hundred unattached volunteers from other neighborhoods, who had heard of the injustice and wanted to express their outrage.
Every Chicago television News team was there, satellite trucks parked behind each other along the
“Bring back Shadrack! Bring back Shadrack! Bring back Shadrack! Bring back Shacrack! Bring back Shadrack!”
The incessant chanting of the paraders made it difficult for the Television reporters to hear those they were interviewing.
Maureen Butterworth, from channel 7, pointed her microphone at one of the mothers, a pleasant, simply dressed middle aged black lady.
“My Kimberly is home crying,” she said earnestly. “She worked hard all last year to qualify for the cheer team this year. She was so proud to make it this year. And now she has been kicked off the team and suspended for the rest of the year. All for a game cheer that said the name of a Bible person. I don’t get it. It is just plain evil, and I don’t get it.”
John Tower, from Channel 5, had managed to corner Principal Smith on the front steps. Principal Smith was not happy.
“Coach Mahoney allowed his cheer team to deliver an illegal cheer,” he snapped rudely.
“ We do not tolereate that kind of thing at South
Ridge. It is illegal. We make sure that neither students nor teachers break the law by pushing their religious opinions into the school operations. When they do, we do our duty and crush it.” He abruptly ended the interview and disappeared through the front door.
A voice was heard from the edge of the crowd.
“Anybody who knows the cheer, give it now for the TV cameras!”
here was some muffled shouting from that corner of the crowd. Then the first voice shouted “one, two, three!”
And the chant exploded clearly across the four corners of the intersection.
“ Shadrack! Shadrack! Fire don’t burn! Stand up brave and take your turn! Abednego! Meshack, too! God’s got a a big surprise for you! Praise Him! Praise Him with a shout! God’s gonna put that fire out!.”
***********************
The roll-in completed its video replay of the protestors shouting the troublemaking cheer, and the live camera returned to the on screen reporters seated at
the anchor table.
“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Diantha Reeves departed from her written script.
Jim Albetter, her tall, slim and handsome co-anchor, answered her astonishment by departing from his own written script.
“And every single member of the team got permanently suspended, and Coach Mahoney has
been fired from his coaching position. And our video of the protest at the school has gone viral.”
He returned to his script.
“Channel Nine has put up a hotline to receive your opinion. Send a tweet to “hashtag Shadrack cheer” and we will post your replies on tomorrow’s broadcast.”
Chapter Four
“More trouble,” Rifqa announced, worry and concern etching pain into the lines on her beautiful face.
“Aw, gimme a chance to get a big bear hug from my sweetheart,” Shadrack protested with a big smile. He closed the front door behind him, and gave Rifqa a huge bear hug and warm kiss.
“Now, “ delared. “Now you can tell me about the trouble.”
“Jamal called today. He and Naseer are coming over. They want to talk reason with me and force me back.”
“Oh, well, we’ll see about that.,” Shadrack declared with confidence. “I’m sure the Lord will handle the situation. You promise you will not worry.”
Rifqa answered with a faint smile. “I’ll trust the Lord,” she said in a soft weak voice. At that instant the front door violently slammed open. The wood around the lock cracked and gave way, and the door swung backward toward the living room wall.
Shadrack saw the two invaders, framed in the doorway. His body stiffened. Rifqa screamed a short startled scream.
The invaders stood motionless for a moment. As if they intended to frighten and intimidate by their very presence.
Jamal was the shorter of the pair, but still a muscular, threatening, intimidating presence. Naseer was taller and thinner, but meaner looking.
“OK, Rifqa. Come on. You are coming home with us!”
“No I’m not!” she managed to whisper her defiance.
Shadrack sized up the situation immediately and decided that argument and reason had already been discarded.
He pulled his cell phone from his pocket with his left hand, and with lightning speed, pushed 911 with his thumb.
“911” came the friendly voice.
“Home invasion,” he spoke clearly and quickly. “Two men just broke my front door. They are attempting a kidnapping. I will take defensive action against them.” He added with authority. “We will be right there”, the
dispatcher declared. He repeated the address and pressed the end call button.
“Now, you two. I have told you before, stay away from Rifqa. Stay away from us. Stay away from here. I told you if I ever saw you again I’d call the cops, and they are on their way.”
“We come for Rifqa,” Jamal announced defiantly, moving into the room. “She’s our sister. We have the right to take her with us.”
“You got no rights here,” Shadrack spoke forcefully. “This is America, and Rifqa is my wife. I told you I will not put up with your bullying.”
Naseer pushed passed Jamal with lightning speed, and grabbed Rifqa’s arm. She screamed as he yanked her forward..
Shadrack sprang into action. He grabbed Naseer from behind, and put a choke hold on him, and dragged him away from Rifqa, causing Naseer to lose his grip. Jamal came up on the other side, and grabbed Rifqa by the other arm, and pulled her with such violence that she fell to the floor. She screamed again. Jamal started dragging her across the living room rug. She screamed again.
Shadrack let go of the choke hold on Naseer, and dived at Jamal, knocking him to the floor long enough to make him lose his grip on Rifqa’s arm. She crawled across the floor to the big chair, but before she could grab the leg of the chair to pull herself up, Naseer had grabbed her by the shoulders and hauled her to her feet, and slammed her against the wall.
“You are coming with us,” Naseer snarled angrily.
By now Shadrack was sitting astride Jamal on the floor, and was pummeling his face with both his fists.
Naseer again grabbed Rifqa and started to pull her through the front door. Before he could reach the two small front steps, the welcome blue car pulled up quickly to the curb.
The two cops jumped out with guns drawn. It wasn’t two minutes before both Jamal and Naseer were handcuffed and shoved into the back seat of the squad car.
Shadrack and Rifqa agreed to follow in their own car, and fill out a complete report at the station.
************
“I’m Shadrack Mahoney, and this is my bride, Rifqa,” Shadrack began. “She is from Beirut, Lebanon, and has been a citizen of the United States for one year.”
The uniformed clerk carefully recorded all details.
“ The two thugs you have in custody are Jamal and Naseer, Rifqa’s brothers.”
“I thought you said this was a kidnapping,” the clerk asked, puzzled.
“It is,” Shadrack replied.
“Why would brothers kidnap their sister?” the clerk asked.
“Because they are Muslim,” Shadrack patiently explained. “Since their family arrived in America, Rifqa converted to being a Christian and she married me. Which is both forbidden by Muslim sharia. So her brothers still think they are in Lebanon. They want to drag her back to their father’s house and make her re-convert and leave me. They have threatened her life more than once. I ordered them to stay away from us more than once. I told them that any further interferance with Rifqa and me would be met with force and arrest. So here we are.”
Two days later, Jamal and Naseed were released
after paying a very large bail, which had been quickly collected from Jamal and Naseed’s friends at the mosque.
Chapter Five
Charles Mahoney set the coffee pot in the center of the kitchen table, and turned to retrieve the half and half from the refrigerator.
“You want a donut?” he asked his son. Shadrack thought for a minute.. “Nah, Dad. You got any soda crackers?’
The elder Mahoney gave a short laugh and reached to the upper shelf for the saltines.
“You can’t dunk soda crackers,” the elder Mahoney
gave his sage wisdom. He was taller and leaner than his rotund pride and joy, and he was slightly balding in front, with his remaining hair displaying the fashionable salt-and-pepper look. He still appeared youthful, but the loss of his beloved Dorothy three years ago still weighed heavily in the wrinkles around his eyes.
He took the chair opposite Shadrack.
“I don’t want to dunk anything,” Shadrack declared. “I just want to munch on something dry . My belly is feeling a trifle queasy.”
He reached into the saltine box and dragged out an entire pack of separately wrapped crackers and ripped it open. He immediately started munching.
“So what’s the latest?” Charles asked his favorite son.
Shadrack made a sour face and shook his head.
“Jamal and Naseer got the bail the very next day. Those guys at the mosque have to be multi-millionaires. If the Judge had asked for twice as much, he would have got it from those guys. I wonder where those uneducated unemployed camel jockeys get all that instant cash.”
“You really don’t know?” Shadrack’s father asked in a halfway teasing tone, that implied his son did already
know where the money came from.
“I just don’t like the idea of those thugs walking around free. The trial date has been set, but there is still time between now and then for those guys to cause a lot of trouble.
“ I guess I got fired at just the right time. Now I can drive Rifqa to and from the daycare center, and be home with her most of the time.”
“I never thought I’d see the day,” Charles marveled sadly. “There’s folk out there that don’t get it. They don’t get it at all.”
“You mean the threats?
“I mean what kind of devil wind blows through those people’s empty heads that make them think that murder is honorable! Honor killing! They call it honor killing! And the folk who have lived in American freedom all their lives don’t give it any more mind than a traffic ticket!”
“You have said it yourself in the pulpit, over and over. The time comes when he that kills you will think that he does God service.”
“That’s not the only thing that gets me. It’s how the cops look the other way. No no. don’t offend the bloody savages. Don’t even acknowledge that the murder was a
murder. It’s just a peaceful religion being peaceful.” He spit out his words with disdain.
“Dad, I need to ask you something. It’s about an idea I have.”
Charles got up for a minute and retrieved a full carton of half and half from the refrigerator, and placed it on the table next to the empty one.
“So, what’s on your mind?”
“ I’ve been thinking----about the Jews, and all the trouble they are having. About all the hate and threats and murders and bloodshed. And I’m thinking about what the church should do to let them know we are on their side. And hold them up and help protect them. And, well, all that stuff.
“And well,” he continued, “ you remember that Rabbi on the news last week?”
“Yeah. I saw that.”
“Well, he said they had been getting threats. Graffiti. Hate notes on their windshields, and stuff. And I learned that that kid on my team, Chris, his father knows that Rabbi.”
“And you want to do what?” Charles refilled his cup.
“I want to get acquainted.”
“How?”
“Well, I was in the middle of checking things out before all this trouble started. The Jewish festival of Purim is coming up. And what they do is have a big costume party. And they make a lot of cookies and the kids join in and it it is a real happy time.”
Charles nodded. “Go on”.
“ Well, I would like to have our church and congregation invite their congregation to hold their party at our church this year.”
Charles laid his head back onto the back of the chair and gave one loud good natured guffaw.
“You want to have a Jewish congregation hold a big Jewish party in a Holy Roller church!” He laughed again. “Do you really think they’d go for that?”
Shadrack laughed at his father’s amusement.
“Well, we can ask”. He laughed again.
*********************
“You are most lovely, my sweet,”. Shadrack lounged in his favorite big chair, as Rifqa paraded across the living room in her brand new lace and pink floral cotton lounger with the gracefully floating sleeves. She passed behind the chair and gave him a quick peck on his almost invisible receeding hair line.
He gently took her arm and pulled her softly downward over his shoulder, the better to return the kiss to her lips. She tumbled in a sideward somersault and settled in his huge lap, and snuggled her head in his shoulder, giggling.
“ So, what did your Dad say?” She asked.
“He said he’d check it out,” Shadrack answered hopefully.
“You are one strange one,” Rifqa marveled. “Where is your worry? Your nervous concern, your sleepless nights? First you lose your job for some idiotic reason, and now you are awaiting a trial of your brothers-in-law for trying to kidnap me---your wife, and what do you do? You want to invite an entire church full of people into your father’s church basement-------- to hold a Jewish party!
“You have any objections to that?” he asked with a tease in his voice.
“ Shad, what are we going to do with a Rabbi and fifty Jewish kids in your Dad’s basement? I mean, it might not even be kosher for them to be there. Did you ever think of that?”
“Can’t know till we ask,” he answered hopefully.
”How did that happen, again?” she asked.
“Chris from my team , he’s the guy who wrote the famous illegal cheer. His father knows that Rabbi. Rabbi Berger. Well, since I got canned, Chris wants to show me off to his father and his father’s friends. You know, everybody on that team and the cheer squad, They’re like my own kids. They all think I’m a big hero, and they want to show me off. “ He smiled a big shy smile of appreciation. “So I was thinking, I’d like to do something to help the Rabbi and his flock. You know like just being friendly. When people are getting ready for a war. Hands across the sea, they called it in the war. Not the war my Dad was in, World War Two.”
“Only today it would be sort of hands across the street,” Rifqa remarked dryly. “I understand. I’m from Beirut, remember? I remember what my parents and grandparents went through. And I’m so happy to feel safe in America. But I still don’t fool myself with it can’t happen here. It can happen here. It is happening every place else.”
Her face pinched up for a quick moment, as she failed to hold back a few tears of remembrance.
“Ok,” she determined. “You go see the Rabbi, and I will make kosher sandwiches for a crowd of hungry kids! Is it a deal?”
“It’s a deal” Shadrack agreed. “You sure you know how?”
“Yeah, I know how” she laughed. Then she picked up a nearby couch pillow and playfully swatted him with it.
Chapter Six
Rabbi Berger and Elza answered the door together, and welcomed their two visitors warmly, Within half a
minute both Shadrack and his father were seated in the two most comfortable chairs in the room.
The Rabbi was a man slightly past middle age, of medium build, with a neatly trimmed box style beard reaching bright whiteness before the whiteness could reach the black-to-gray two tone hair on his scalp.
Elza was a very beautiful woman, slender and delicate, straight gray hair cascading unrestrained to just passed her collar. She had a very pleasant smile, and very sad eyes. She sat in a manual powered wheel chair.
“ I pray you will excuse me,” Rabbi Berger said. “ My dear wife needs a little assistance. She wants to serve you the refreshments herself.”
With that he pushed Elza into the kitchen, and returned quickly with Elza holding a tray in her lap.
“ Here we go,” the Rabbi said. He relieved Elza of the tray and put it on the coffee table. It held a small coffee pot, four china cups, cream, sugar, and a few pieces of babka pastry.
The Rabbi positioned his wife by the side of the couch and sat down near her, and the next few minutes were filled with friendly get acquainted small talk.
“Now, let’s get the formalities done,” the Rabbi
announced. “ I am Rabbi Berger during Sabbath services and to members of the congregation. To others I’m Rabbi David or just David, which ever makes you more comfortable. My wife likes to be called Elza. Later on I will tell you how she got the name. How do you like to be called? I understand one of you is a Reverend.”
“Well, yeah,” the elder Mahony answered. “But you can call me Brother. Brother Charles. This is my son, Shadrack, who is a currently unemployed basketball coach.”
“Yes, I did hear about that on the news” Rabbi David said. “That situation is beyond evil. Have you made any progress with the situation?”
“Well, not exactly”, Shadrack replied. “I’m taking a little time to regroup my plans, and decide just how I want to proceed. I’m thinking of finding another coaching job at another school. But at the same time, this kind of thing cannot go un-protested. If not for me, for the ones who come after me. And another school might not want to hire me until the case gets settled. Meanwhile I’ve got another complication. My wife is from Beirut. Her two brothers are radical Muslims, and they are trying to enforce sharia on her. They are currently out on bail for trying to assault her and kidnap her. Right here in America. So their trial is coming up.
And I have to find a Christian outfit that can take my case pro bono and see where it goes.”
“And with these big irons in your fire, you want to take on another big job?” Rabbi David smiled curiously. “What is this about you wanting to host our Purim party?”
Shadrack smiled brightly and his eyes twinkled.
“Well, Rabbi David, theres a lot of reasons. I sit by and I see the news get worse and worse. I wasn’t around to see it in World War Two. But the old newsreels are bad enough. But what I see now makes me feel like I’m in the Twilight Zone. I see the Muslim hordes screaming and threatening and maurauding and destroying and butchering---- and anybody who says anything against it is called a racist Islamophobe. It is beyond crazy.
“So I get to thinking, what can I do to help? To let the Jews know, hey, you got friends. You are not alone this time. And the thing that comes to mind, if you want to let someone know you are their friend, you gotta get acquainted. And I thought joining you in your Purim party would be a great way of getting acquainted. Letting our kids get acquainted. Lift morale. Know that there are people ready to fight with you. And there’s one extra bonus I’m hoping for.”
“And what’s that?” Elza asked softly.
“Well, real Christians have known for years that it is not healthy for kids to take part in Halloween parties. It is hard to educate people into understanding that Halloween is a devil’s holiday, and Christians should not touch it. So I thought that Purim would be a way of teaching our Christian kids that you can have a fun costume party without dressing up like the devil and making a joke out of death and Hell.”
Shadrack’s father smiled peacefully. He knew his son had made a good presentation of his idea.
There was a long, quiet, pause. The air seemed to vibrate with a kind of intensity. Pastor David looked at Shadrack for a long silent, moment.
“Mr. Mahoney, you tell me.” He said softly, but with importance.
“What is your real Christian attitude toward the Jewish opinion of Jesus? “
There was another long silent pause, with the shaking still in the air.
“You really want to know?” Shadrack asked with a compassionate tone.
“I have to know,” Rabbi David replied.
“Well,” Shadrack said thoughtfully. “Gimme a minute.” He paused, and then began to form his thoughts, speaking slowly.
“Well, there were always Jewish Christians and gentile Christians, even at the time of the destruction of the temple and all that went with it. And until Constantine. When he told the Christians they could come out of the catacombs and stop hiding, people thought this was a new day. But it wasn’t really the right kind of new day. Because the politics of hate started taking over. That Christ killer BS was just plain born in Hell. And it polluted everything.
“People were getting farther and farther away from what the real teaching of Christ is about, and with it they got closer and closer to the garbage rotting hatred in their own souls. And those Roman polititians turned into Haman’s nephews, and drove the believing Jews out of the church. That’s where that stuff started. The emperor wanted to make Christianity a Roman political thing, and the Roman politicos hated the Jews as much as Haman did.
“Constantine really didn’t make Christianity legal. He really formed a bogus Christian church, that was set
up along Roman civil government pattern. And the Haman’s Nephews in the crowd didn’t want the Jews around to get any political power in this new set-up.
“ So they made laws that were directed at chasing all the Jews out and closing the door on any new Jews coming in. They changed the Sabbath, and they required any Jew wanting to be a Christian to give up his language and his family and his heritage-----everything that made him Jewish. And then, forty years later, Constantine’s nephew, Julian. He dragged out all the old statues and ordered the people to start worshipping them again.
“So then we wound up with a two headed monster that called itself Christian, but practiced the same ancient idolatry that was always there, and hated the Jews, just like Haman did.
“ They are the one’s who dug up that Christ-killer BS from Hell. They didn’t really care anything about the death of Christ. They just wanted to throw mud at the Jews to chase ‘em out.
“How do I apologize for something the devil did, when the devil did what he did by making it look like I did it?” He spoke slowly and thoughtfully with a pain in his voice. “That mud from Hell is still being tossed around. How do I explain the attitude that still makes so-called
Christians behave so hatefully? Christians are supposed to show love.”
The Rabbi searched Shadrack’s face the better to see his soul.
“And what happened to those kind hearted, love-showing Christians during the reign of Hitler?” His voice did not challenge. It searched.
“Rabbi Berger,” Shadrack replied, with confidence, but with deep pain in his voice. “They weren’t kind hearted, Rabbi, they were dead. They had a good reputation for being a great historical main-line denomination church. But they were really dead.
“ They knew how to put on a good show. But when it came to really doing and living the Christian way, they were all dead. And Hitler’s soldiers did a thorough job of embalming their dead souls, by making them terrified of even thinking of resisting.
“ I can’t explain all that. I just know that those years were a time when Hell opened up. The devil swore he was going to kill God’s people. A person can’t even get all that stuff into his head, much less understand it. I can’t fix Hell’s destruction. I just want to spread a little good around.”
“Six million,” the Rabbi spoke softly. “Yes it is hard to take all those numbers at once. You have to take it one person at a time. That’s what my father did.”
“How’s that?” Charles Mahoney asked kindly.
“ My father’s name was Noah Berger. When my mother was carrying me, my father had occasion to do some Holocaust research. And he ran across the record of a young man from Poland, who took refuge in Lithuania when the Nazies came. There, in 1941, he was shot. No one knows any more about him. We don’t know what he wanted to do with his life. He was just one of Hitler’s anonymous victims. But his girlfriend had saved his letters, and somehow they wound up at a Museum of the holocaust. And my father read what he told his girl friend. He had said in his last letter to her that his only hope was that someday, somehow, someone would know that a person named David Berger lived.
“That shook up my father. He already had the “Berger”. So he decided to name his son David, after the anonymous “David Berger” who hoped that somebody somewhere would remember that he had lived. So now, my life, and my son’s life, are daily reminders that that David Berger lived.
But we are not the only ones. In 1972, another David
Berger lived----and died. He was a weightlifter at the 72 Olympics. Hitler and his cohorts just simply couldn’t rid the world of that name.”
“And that’s how I got my name, “ Elza chimed in softly. “ I was born Hannah. But when we met, he told me about his name. And about the original David’s letters to his girl, named Elza. And I started to tease him, and I said, well if you are David I am your Elza. So he started to tease back. After a while the teasing became permanent. So, I’m Elza.”
Reverend Mahoney lifted his hand in a gesture of approval, and grinned a happy grin.
“That’s about the sweetest romanic story I’ve ever heard!”
“But , you ask about Jesus,” Shadrack continued after a moment.. “ The last several years, with the Jews going home, and all, has made real Christians start reading their prophesy, and start to understand that we are in the time of fulfillment and restoration, The hatred coming from the fake Christians is still there. But this time the whole rest of the church is standing up and hollering.
“ There is an awakening hope in our hearts that our Jewish friends will see Jesus as we see Him .But that is
not within our power to make happen, especially because of the vile way religious people have treated you.”
Shadrack’s voice grew tender and slow as though he felt himself alone with his thoughts, and speaking his thoughts out loud.
“All I can say about that is, when Joseph’s brothers saw him in Pharoah’s court, they didn’t recognize him. But he recognized them, and he loved them. And even while they didn’t recognize him, he put the money back in their sacks and watched out for them. Then there came a day when he started to cry, and hollered, ‘I am your brother Joseph’ and everybody started to cry. And everybody got forgiven and all was healed.
“And today’s real Christians believe that one day, the Jews will hear the voice of Yeshua saying, “ I am your brother, Jeshua” and everybody’s gonna cry for happy and no one’s gonna be mad at anybody. Until that happens, we just wanna be the kind of friends we were supposed to be all along.”
He had spoken slowly, and sorrowfully, and the tears suddenly gushed and he grabbed his big white handkerchief from his pocket and blew his nose loudly.
Rabbi David looked down for a moment, and then he
silently looked into Elza’s eyes. She smiled, a soft light came into her eyes, and she very silently nodded her head “yes”.
“Well, I have been studying you Mr. Mahoney. And I think I see a gentle heart in there. A little mishugenah, maybe”, he teased. “But just a little. And my Elza seems to like you, too.
“And the strange thing is, Mr. Mahoney, that this year we do have a need. Our synagogue is undergoing some repairs. A pipe broke and flooded our basement and damaged our floor. and we are not able to use the premises for our Purim celebration this year. So it looks like your enthusiasm for making friends is going to save our day. Perhaps I will even say HaShem sent you.”
He smiled a good natured smile.
Chapter Seven
Rabbi David pulled up to the curb and parked a few yards away from the front entrance to Beth Shalom. It was just a medium-sized oblong building, clean and new, but blending well with the other buildings on the street, in a quiet clean neighborhood on Chicago’s Southwest side.
“That’s it,” he said proudly. “It isn’t gold plated or anything like that, but it’s paid for. I’ll show you around. And then you can meet the kids in the back. Elza is helping them get ready for the party. They are expecting us.”
Shadrack pulled himself from his comfortable seat, closed the car door, and followed his new friend to the front door. It was a double door, with polished brass handles, very simple and elegant, matching the dignified atmosphere of the place.
Rabbi David pulled the door aside, and the outside sun lit up the entire inner premises. “After you,” he said politely, And Shadrack stepped into the quiet sancuary ahead of the Rabbi, who closed the door quietly behind them.
“Well, this is quite an impressive place, here,” Shadrack remarked rather shyly, not completely knowing what to say. The Rabbi grinned at him, and reached to a small polished wooden container near the door, which held a number of yarmulkes. He grasped the first one on the top, and silently handed it to Shadrack.
Shadrack automatically took it into his hand, and then stared at it for a second, as though he wasn’t sure how to proceed.
“You’re supposed to wear it,” Rabbi David said in an amused tone. “Don’t worry. One size fits all.”
“Oh, Yeah.” Shadrack quickly placed the yarmulke very grandly on his head. He grinned. “Very stylish.”
“You will notice our pews are arranged in two sections. The pews separated on that wall are forthe ladies. This has nothing to do with discrimination. The men are here to pray, not be distracted by pretty faces or---“ he paused a moment, “or other distractions,”
“Understood.” Shadrack responded.
“You will notice a raised pedestal in the center front. That is called the bimah. That would correspond with your pulpit, where the Torah scrolls are placed when they are being read in the services. Next to the bimah you see a pedestal holding the menorah.
“That case on the wall is called the Ark. It is on that particular wall, because, geographically speaking, that wall is the wall nearest Jerusalem. It holds all the Torah scrolls. All handwritten. Very hard, dedicated work. Extremely precious and valuable. The Torah is what you call the Old Testament.
“You notice that we have a light burning right above the Ark door. That is the ner tamid, the Eternal Light, which signifies the command to keep an Eternal Light burning outside of the curtain that was around the Ark of the Covenant.”
“And now the grand tour is over, and we are going into the back.”
They went through the door in the corner of the back wall of the sanctuary, and a couple of steps down a small hallway, into a larger room where Elza was supervising a group of children at a work table.
“Oh, here they are,” Elza announced to the children. “The gentleman with the Rabbi is Shadrack Mahoney, the person who is hosting our Purim party this year.”
“Hello, Mister Mahoney,” the kids sang in unison.
“And hello to you, too,” he answered with a big smile.
“Mister Mahoney wants to meet you all, so don’t be shy,” Elza instructed.
“No, we won’t”, the kids sang back.
Shadrack moved to the bright earnest young man at the corner of the work table.
“And what are you up to, young man?” Shadrack bent over the young boy, who was concentrating on the artistic task on the table in front of him.
“I’m making baskets, for the party,” he said said politely. All the other children also had arts and crafts equipment spread in front of them.
“And can you tell me your name?” Shadrack asked kindly.
“I’m Nathan, Nathan Friedman. I’m twelve years old and I’m very smart.”
“You certainly are,” Shadrack laughed. “I see you working with duct tape. What are you making?”
“Well,” Nathan proceded with adult aplomb and assurance. “I’m making baskets,”
“How do you do that?”
”See, I’ve got two rolls of tape, two different colors.
See how I pull each strip of tape the same length here. And then I fold the strip onto itself down the middle. Now I keep doing that until I have several strips of both colors. Then I anchor it at one end, and lay them out like this.” He laid six strips out next to each other, and put a strip of tape at one end to hold them together.
“Now I take the other color strips, and I braid them into the pattern, like this”. He weaved the strips of both colors together, making a checkerboard pattern. Then he anchored the entire thing together with another strip of tape.
“ Now, this is the bottom of the basket. Now I’m going to make four more just like this one, and I’m going to tape them to the bottom, and then to each other, so I have the four walls taped together, making a square basket.”
Shadrack watched in silence, while Nathan proceeded to make the walls of the basket and tape them together.
“Ingenious!” Shadrack said with true appreciation. “Do you make a handle for the basket?”
“I’ll show you” , Nathan volunteered. “Look. I take the tape roll, and make a strip longer than the other strips. Then I fold it double crosswise, like this.”
He folded the tape in the center of its breadth, rather than its length. Then he proceeded to take it and twist it, and twist it, until it became a long braid-like rope. He took the ends and taped them to two of the baskets corners.
He proudly held up the dect tape work of art.
“There. Ya see?”
Shadrack beamed a big smile. “And what goes in the baskets?” he asked with a gleeful tone.
“Well, everybody gets one” Nathan explained. “That’s why we’re all here today making so many. Each basket has to have two presents in it. Something to eat and drink. Maybe candy, or fruit, and small bottle of something to drink. Then at the party, we all give gift baskets to each other.”
“And what else do you do?”
“Well, we play games,” Nathan answered. “ And then the Rabbi gets us all together and reads us the Esther Megilla.”
“And what is that” Shadrack asked.
“You don’t know that!” Nathan exclaimed with a very big surprised grin.
“Oh, well, how you gonna know. You’re a goy.” He grinned a very grown up kind of grin.
“I am?” Shadrack popped his eyes and answered in mock surprise. “Is there a cure for that?”
Nathan dissolved in a little-kid giggle, and the other boys and girls at the table erupted in a gale of laughter.
At that moment Rabbi David came by the table.
“ I see you are making friends with the help,” he remarked, smiling. “And how is my fine Nathan doing today?” .
“I”m just fine, Rabbi,” Nathan answered with respect. “I was just telling Mr. Mahoney about the Esther Megilla . It is the story of Esther from the Torah. “ He continued to Shadrack. “My favorite parts are where we get to make all the noise.”
“Nathan has been giving me a remarkable education here.” Shadrack said. “He feels it is his bound charitable duty to fill up all the hopeless gaps in my pathetic goy upbringing.”
Both men laughed .
“Nathan just made his Bar Mitzvah last month. He seems to be blossoming into the supervisor of everything
and everybody” Rabbi David said, teasing.
“Well, he definitely is smart, Shadrack remarked. “He just just made a whole gift basket with nothing but two rolls of duct tape. I never saw that done before. Made me feel like a complete moron.”
Nathan laughed outloud. His twelve year old face shone in a radient handsome smile.
“Well, I am pretty smart,” he declared again, humbly. “But I got the basket thing off the internet.”
Chapter Eight
“These people are just nuts,” Shadrack declared with finality. He sat encased comfortably in the large upholstered mahogany leather chair in George Lincoln’s office.
George Lincoln, Attorney, smiled in agreement. He was a slightly built, relaxed sort of man, with an easy smile. But He also induced a feeling of wisdom and trust in people, which is why Shadrack felt at ease hiring him.
“There really is no rhyme nor reason for these people to behave like this. They talk about, I’m not supposed to offend people. Well, how about other people offending me?”
“Well,” Mr Lincoln said thoughtfully. “If these people would be forced to admit that they were using carefully thought out legal maneuvering tactics to play games and make the Bill of Rights of no effect, maybe somebody would start seeing the wrong of it. But they make up this mindless legalese, and claim that they are being harmed somehow, by our free exercise of religion. This harm takes the form of “offense”. And the Muslims and others declare, that nobody has the right to offend them. It is all a legalese game and everybody knows it. And then, there is that separaton of church and State crap.”
“Well, can my defense be turned into an offense?” Shadrack asked hopefully. “I mean why should I cringe and cry and apologize? I did not offend anybody. My kids did not offend anybody. And who cares if they did? They wrote a happy little poem and chanted it at me. And it referred to three historical Bible people.
So, since my kids were practicing their Constitutional Rights of freedom of speech and freedom of religion, these educators have denied due process of law, used unlawful restraint, and unlawful interferrance in their entire educational process, which will effect their entire lives.
“ They are the ones committing crimes on top of crimes against my kids. And I want them to be charged criminally.”
“You are talking about a whole different ballgame.” Mr. Lincoln leaned back in his chair, and thought quietly for a minute.
“So you want to forgo asking for civil damages---monetary compensation. And bring criminal charges against the Principal of the of the school charging him with criminal actions against you and your kids?”
%
To David Berger, a victim of the Holocaust
Who wanted the world to know
That somewhere, a man named
David Berger had Lived
A Story For Marjorie
Acknowledgements
Technical Advisor
Dr. Bruce Blacker, MD
How to Make A Duct Tape Gift Basket
Mushky Giftach
Chabad.org
db.yadvashem.org, Holocaust Data Base
© 2016 Rose Sheridan Pappas
SHADRACK, SHADRACK,
FIRE DON’T BURN
Chapter 1
Joe Stonecypher lifted his glass high.
“ To Shadrack Mahoney, and his lovely bride, Rifqa, may they know the joy of each other’s love for many long years,”
“Amen” came the chorus of the revelers present. Forty of Shadrack’s closest friends raised their glass, drank the toast, and replaced the glass on the nearest table.
Schadrack and Rifqa embraced and kissed, to a round of general applause and cheers. Rifqa smiled a broad smile, and blushed dark though her soft dark-tawny complexion.
“I thank my Saviour Jesus,” she said softly. “He gave me new life as a Christian believer, and then a new life as Shadrack’s wife, here in America, where, despite the rising persecution, a Christian still can feel safe and look forward to dying a natural death. I thank my Saviour so much for bringing me first to America, then to Schadrack,
and through Shadrack’s preaching, to peace and glory in Christ.”
The assembly applauded and cheered their approval. There was a short pause in the proceedings.
“Ah, Shadrack,” Joe began. “Shadrack Mahoney. Would you be kind enough to take this happy occasion to explain to these assembled well-wishers, how did a fine example of African heritage such as yourself. come by the name Mahoney?”
Shadrack’s huge frame shook with laughter. His mouth curled wide in a huge delighted smile. He tossed his huge head back and uttered a deep appreciative giggle.
“Well, now,” he began in a suddenly acquired exaggerated Irish brogue. “Well now, I’ll be tellin’ ya that fine historical account,” he declared with a great exaggerated enthusiasm..
“ It was me great-great grandfather, it was. It was a dark and fearsome day, it was, and the minions of the dark took hold of great great grandfather, and dragged him heartlessly away from his beloved wife, they did, and chained him on a cruel table with other unhappy prisoners, they did. And after a long and painful journey, me honored great great grandfather found himself in a
far , far, country, full of light complexioned people who were desperately in need of the wisdom and aid from him and the other dark complexioned people who had accompanied him on his long strenuous journey”.
He grinned a wide grin while he waited for the explsion of laughter that filled the room to subside.
“It wasn’t long,” he resumed the Irish brogue and his eyes sparkled with delight at the way his friends were appreciating his telling of the story.
“It wasn’t long,” he repeated, “when great great grandfather was taken into the employ of a certain gentleman of enormous means and great influence” he paused while everybody burst into another spell of laughter---and then he bent over slightly and giggled himself.
“ Me great great grandfather served his employer with great energy and kindly devotion” he had to pause and leave room for another gale of laughter and his own giggle.
“But there was one thing that puzzled great great grandfather, night and day. Yes, night and day, day and night, he wondered with a great wonderment. And what did ye think it was that was troubling him?”
“What was it troubling him?” everybody shouted in enthusiastic unison.
“Ah, yes. I’ll be tellin’ ye what was troubling me great great grandfather.”
Some people started to clap.
“One day the troublin’ just would not go away. And his heart was heavy indeed . So one fine bright spring day. me great great grandfather came to his employer with hat in hand, and asked him most politely,’ may I ask, dear sir, when is payday?”
All the guests bent over and guffawed for a whole minute.
“Payday! Payday! What do you mean. Payday?” Me great great grandfather’s employer exploded in confusion and great innocence of soul . “Payday. Payday.” Me great great grandfather repeated with kind patience. “The day I get cash money wages for all the fine work I have done for your fine and generous soul, sir.”
By now the laughter only subsiding in order to hear Shadrack’s next words.
“And then me great great grandfather’s employer delared, with great generosity of spirit, ‘my dear man, I see you are a kind and agreeable man, and a faithful,
hardworking servant. But I see you are not aquainted with my financial circumstances.
“I am barely able to survive with myself, my wife, and my three lovely daughters. There is no money. There is no payday. There is no cash that I can rob from my own wife and daughter’s and give to you. With that confession, he bagan to sob,he did, and grasp his hat and hold it to his chest in grief.”
The giggling was not letting up.
“He held his hat to his chest and wept for another minute. And then suddenly a light seemed to explode in his eyes, and he wept no more, and waved his hat in the air.
“But! He said gladly. “ I have something to give to you.! Something of mine that will always be with you, to remind you of my high esteem for you and your service to me.”
“And what is that? Me great great grandfather asked, surprised.
“Why, that is my name. For a thousand generations back in Ireland, my fathers before me bore my name with fortitude and pride. And now you, too, will carry that fine name down through coming generations, as member of a great and glorious line of Mahoneys!
“And so my great great grandfather took the name of Mahoney, and gave it to his son, who gave it to his son, who gave it to me.”
The assembled guests broke into applause.
“”I must tell you,” Shadrack added, “ that the name Mahoney has served me well, opened doors for me, and worked wonders for me on St. Paddy’s Day, when I am sent to carry the green beer.”
He gave an exaggerated bow to the long and happy applause.
Joe cornered him a few moments later.
“Hey, Shad,” he questioned. “You have been making me laugh since the day we started to work together at the school. But I still can’t figure out why you make such a joke about your family’s slave history.”
Shadrack grinned.
“Because, good buddy. When you have to deal with a huge ugly monster, you have to shrink it down to size, so you can properly stomp on it and squish the dirty life out of it.”
“So where did Shadrack come from?”
“Hey, you know my Dad’s a Preacher Man. He
wanted his pride and joy to know from the beginning that life was full of obstacles and choices. And the challenge of life was to always choose the right and the good over the easy. And if you did that, the Good Lord would get you through any fire the devil wanted to singe you with.”
Chapter Two
The bleachers were jammed and sweaty, but the fans of the South Ridge High Noble Ruffians didn’t notice. The score was tied at 10-10, with five minutes left on the clock. Happy pandemonium blasted against the ceiling and shook the walls of the gymnasium. Banners waved and glitter banners and pom-poms shook and sparkled.
“Go! Go! Go!” The chant never gave up.
The Noble Ruffians were not ready to give an inch. The Rose Park Gladiators fought with singleminded intensity. But Chris Templeton caught the line of the ball sailing toward him, and fixed his eyes and measured the distance, and raised his arms into the air and grabbed it in a flawless snatch.
It took his practiced eye one second to measure the distance to the basket at the impossible distance at other end of the court, and his sinewy arms became a precision launcher. The ball sailed inevitably and easily toward the basket, and broke the tie with casual ease.
The screaming and hollering from the stands became deafening. The Gladiator’s valiant attempt to undo the damage was to no profit, and the whistle was sounded four minutes later, final score,
Noble Ruffians 11, Gladiators 10.
“Ruffians! Ruffians! We’re the best! We never let the other team rest!”
The South Ridge Noble Shouters Cheer Squad leaped and waved their arms and banners, and shouted the cheer a second time.
“Ruffians! Ruffians! We’re the best! We never let the other team rest!”
“Yay! Ruffians!”
Drowned out by the shouting fans, the squad leader hollered “Now!”
The Noble Shouters team ran suddenly off the court floor without warning. Shadrack watched them with a startled expression. What were they up to?
A moment later, the team ran back onto the court floor, carrying a rolled up banner. The fans were still cheering and shouting.
Then the Noble Shouters unrolled the huge banner to the crowd. The fans were startled, surprised, and pleased. The entire assembly gave enthusiastic applause.
The banner read, in huge shiny blue letters on a yellow field:
“South Ridge Noble Ruffians and Noble Shouters Cheer Squad
Thank Coach Shadrack Mahoney.”
Chris Templeton took the PA mike, and shouted over the cheering.
“The South Ridge Noble Ruffians and Noble Shouters cheer squad want to show our appreciation to
the greatest basketball coach in the world, Shadrack Mahoney!”
The noisy approval continued.
“We want to welcome the Coach back from his honeymoon!”
There was another round of cheers.
“You want to know what kind of a coach Coach Mahoney is?” Chris shouted. ”He scheduled his honeymoon so he’d be back in time for this game! Now that is dedication!”
That called for another burst of noisy appreciation.
“The cheer squad wrote a special cheer in thanks and good wishes to Coach Mahoney, and his beautiful new wife, Rifqa, and we’re gonna hear it now! Coach Shadrack Mahoney is a man who never backs up. Never gives in, and is always faithful to his job no matter what. So in appreciation for Coach Shadrack’s dedication to what is right and good, no matter what, here’s our special cheer! Written just for him! Take it guys!”
The cheer squad gave the banner to the referee to hold, and took their places on the gym floor .
They raised their sparkly pom poms and shook them in rhythm, and did a short gymnastic dance, to the rhythmic clap of the crowd.
Then they shouted in joyful unison, waving the sparkly pom poms and doing their strenuous rhythmic dance one more time. Then they began the shout.
“Shadrack, Shadrack!
Fire don’t burn!
Stand up brave and take your turn!
Abednego! Meshack, Too! God’s got a big surprise for you!
Praise Him with a shout! God’s gonna put that fire out!
“Yayyyy! Shadrack!
The applause was thunderous approval. When it quieted down enough, the team took their places, waved their sparklies , and Chris hollered “once more” and the Royal Shouters repeated the cheer.
Shadrack! Shadrack!
Fire don’t burn!
Stand up brave and Take your turn!
Abednego! Meschack too!
God’s got a big surprise for you!
Praise Him, Praise Him with a shout!
God’s gonna put that fire out!
Yayyy,Shadrack!
The shouted approval did not quiet down for at least five minutes.
Chapter Three
“You have got to be joking!” Shadrack’s kind eyes exploded in hurt and confusion. “This is not legal! It’s not even civilized!”
“It’s legal if we say it’s legal!” Principal Barnum Smith stated with cold finality. “ We are living in a new day. This generation goes by different rules. And South Ridge High School enforces the new rules. Religion is out. Prayer is out. Public mention of God or anything concerning the Bible is not acceptable. We have to be very unbending on this. No exceptions.”
“What about the first amendment freedom of religion?” Shadrack demended, his voice rising in righteous indignation.
“That don’t count no more,” Principal Smith declared with open contempt. “As far as we are concerned, students of South Ridge High School are not allowed to think God, sing God, preach God, or make up game cheers that mention God or Bible characters. The Royal Shouters broke that rule. They are out for the season. This will successfully crush any protests by activists who think they can change us.”
Shadrack steadied himself against Mr. Smith’s desk, and bent over, taking deep breaths. He did not know how to deal with this.
“And you, Mahoney. Your contract with this school is terminated as of this minute. If you ever dare show up on this school property ever again for any reason, we will call the police to escort you off the premises.”
***********************
“That’s insane!” Shadrack’s new bride was devastated and confused. “You’ve got a contract! You can’t just be fired like that for no reason whatsoever! This is grounds for a lawsuit!” She valiently fought back tears.
“Aw, Rifqa,” Shadrack comforted, giving her a big bear hug and resting his head on her shoulder. “This type of thing can’t be settled in a lawsuit!”
Rifqa let one soft sob escape.
“But it is so unreasonable! Against everything America has ever stood for! I know! I had to read those things for my citizenship test! What are these people trying to get away with?”
“Rifqa. Rifqa. Blessed, beautiful, Rifqa,” Shadrack spoke gently, and gave her a soft kiss on the lips. “Jesus said the time will come when he that kills you will think that he does God a service. When people hate the Gospel and the Saviour Who died for their sins, it does not matter to them what the Constitution says, what history says, or anything,. They just want to silence the Word of God and they don’t care who they step on to do it.”
“What are we gonna do?” she asked in a forlorn tone.
“Well, first, we’re gonna rejoice in the Lord, and thank Him for counting us worthy to suffer for His Name,” Shadrack said cheerfully. “You think about it,” he went on. “Ever since the resurrection of Jesus, There has been somebody someplace in the world getting murdered for believing in Him. And now their bloodlust has overflowed, in the middle east, and all over, where the madmen swear to murder all the people who honor the Cross, and all of the sons of Father Abraham. They’re showing up here, too.. But our Lord is faithful, Rifqa. He will show us what to do.”
**************************
The assembled line of protesters went halfway around the block. Parents and family members of the suspended cheer team, plus the pastors and congregations from four local Missionary Baptist and three Pentecostal churches in the South Ridge neighborhood, and at least one hundred unattached volunteers from other neighborhoods, who had heard of the injustice and wanted to express their outrage.
Every Chicago television News team was there, satellite trucks parked behind each other along the
“Bring back Shadrack! Bring back Shadrack! Bring back Shadrack! Bring back Shacrack! Bring back Shadrack!”
The incessant chanting of the paraders made it difficult for the Television reporters to hear those they were interviewing.
Maureen Butterworth, from channel 7, pointed her microphone at one of the mothers, a pleasant, simply dressed middle aged black lady.
“My Kimberly is home crying,” she said earnestly. “She worked hard all last year to qualify for the cheer team this year. She was so proud to make it this year. And now she has been kicked off the team and suspended for the rest of the year. All for a game cheer that said the name of a Bible person. I don’t get it. It is just plain evil, and I don’t get it.”
John Tower, from Channel 5, had managed to corner Principal Smith on the front steps. Principal Smith was not happy.
“Coach Mahoney allowed his cheer team to deliver an illegal cheer,” he snapped rudely.
“ We do not tolereate that kind of thing at South
Ridge. It is illegal. We make sure that neither students nor teachers break the law by pushing their religious opinions into the school operations. When they do, we do our duty and crush it.” He abruptly ended the interview and disappeared through the front door.
A voice was heard from the edge of the crowd.
“Anybody who knows the cheer, give it now for the TV cameras!”
here was some muffled shouting from that corner of the crowd. Then the first voice shouted “one, two, three!”
And the chant exploded clearly across the four corners of the intersection.
“ Shadrack! Shadrack! Fire don’t burn! Stand up brave and take your turn! Abednego! Meshack, too! God’s got a a big surprise for you! Praise Him! Praise Him with a shout! God’s gonna put that fire out!.”
***********************
The roll-in completed its video replay of the protestors shouting the troublemaking cheer, and the live camera returned to the on screen reporters seated at
the anchor table.
“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Diantha Reeves departed from her written script.
Jim Albetter, her tall, slim and handsome co-anchor, answered her astonishment by departing from his own written script.
“And every single member of the team got permanently suspended, and Coach Mahoney has
been fired from his coaching position. And our video of the protest at the school has gone viral.”
He returned to his script.
“Channel Nine has put up a hotline to receive your opinion. Send a tweet to “hashtag Shadrack cheer” and we will post your replies on tomorrow’s broadcast.”
Chapter Four
“More trouble,” Rifqa announced, worry and concern etching pain into the lines on her beautiful face.
“Aw, gimme a chance to get a big bear hug from my sweetheart,” Shadrack protested with a big smile. He closed the front door behind him, and gave Rifqa a huge bear hug and warm kiss.
“Now, “ delared. “Now you can tell me about the trouble.”
“Jamal called today. He and Naseer are coming over. They want to talk reason with me and force me back.”
“Oh, well, we’ll see about that.,” Shadrack declared with confidence. “I’m sure the Lord will handle the situation. You promise you will not worry.”
Rifqa answered with a faint smile. “I’ll trust the Lord,” she said in a soft weak voice. At that instant the front door violently slammed open. The wood around the lock cracked and gave way, and the door swung backward toward the living room wall.
Shadrack saw the two invaders, framed in the doorway. His body stiffened. Rifqa screamed a short startled scream.
The invaders stood motionless for a moment. As if they intended to frighten and intimidate by their very presence.
Jamal was the shorter of the pair, but still a muscular, threatening, intimidating presence. Naseer was taller and thinner, but meaner looking.
“OK, Rifqa. Come on. You are coming home with us!”
“No I’m not!” she managed to whisper her defiance.
Shadrack sized up the situation immediately and decided that argument and reason had already been discarded.
He pulled his cell phone from his pocket with his left hand, and with lightning speed, pushed 911 with his thumb.
“911” came the friendly voice.
“Home invasion,” he spoke clearly and quickly. “Two men just broke my front door. They are attempting a kidnapping. I will take defensive action against them.” He added with authority. “We will be right there”, the
dispatcher declared. He repeated the address and pressed the end call button.
“Now, you two. I have told you before, stay away from Rifqa. Stay away from us. Stay away from here. I told you if I ever saw you again I’d call the cops, and they are on their way.”
“We come for Rifqa,” Jamal announced defiantly, moving into the room. “She’s our sister. We have the right to take her with us.”
“You got no rights here,” Shadrack spoke forcefully. “This is America, and Rifqa is my wife. I told you I will not put up with your bullying.”
Naseer pushed passed Jamal with lightning speed, and grabbed Rifqa’s arm. She screamed as he yanked her forward..
Shadrack sprang into action. He grabbed Naseer from behind, and put a choke hold on him, and dragged him away from Rifqa, causing Naseer to lose his grip. Jamal came up on the other side, and grabbed Rifqa by the other arm, and pulled her with such violence that she fell to the floor. She screamed again. Jamal started dragging her across the living room rug. She screamed again.
Shadrack let go of the choke hold on Naseer, and dived at Jamal, knocking him to the floor long enough to make him lose his grip on Rifqa’s arm. She crawled across the floor to the big chair, but before she could grab the leg of the chair to pull herself up, Naseer had grabbed her by the shoulders and hauled her to her feet, and slammed her against the wall.
“You are coming with us,” Naseer snarled angrily.
By now Shadrack was sitting astride Jamal on the floor, and was pummeling his face with both his fists.
Naseer again grabbed Rifqa and started to pull her through the front door. Before he could reach the two small front steps, the welcome blue car pulled up quickly to the curb.
The two cops jumped out with guns drawn. It wasn’t two minutes before both Jamal and Naseer were handcuffed and shoved into the back seat of the squad car.
Shadrack and Rifqa agreed to follow in their own car, and fill out a complete report at the station.
************
“I’m Shadrack Mahoney, and this is my bride, Rifqa,” Shadrack began. “She is from Beirut, Lebanon, and has been a citizen of the United States for one year.”
The uniformed clerk carefully recorded all details.
“ The two thugs you have in custody are Jamal and Naseer, Rifqa’s brothers.”
“I thought you said this was a kidnapping,” the clerk asked, puzzled.
“It is,” Shadrack replied.
“Why would brothers kidnap their sister?” the clerk asked.
“Because they are Muslim,” Shadrack patiently explained. “Since their family arrived in America, Rifqa converted to being a Christian and she married me. Which is both forbidden by Muslim sharia. So her brothers still think they are in Lebanon. They want to drag her back to their father’s house and make her re-convert and leave me. They have threatened her life more than once. I ordered them to stay away from us more than once. I told them that any further interferance with Rifqa and me would be met with force and arrest. So here we are.”
Two days later, Jamal and Naseed were released
after paying a very large bail, which had been quickly collected from Jamal and Naseed’s friends at the mosque.
Chapter Five
Charles Mahoney set the coffee pot in the center of the kitchen table, and turned to retrieve the half and half from the refrigerator.
“You want a donut?” he asked his son. Shadrack thought for a minute.. “Nah, Dad. You got any soda crackers?’
The elder Mahoney gave a short laugh and reached to the upper shelf for the saltines.
“You can’t dunk soda crackers,” the elder Mahoney
gave his sage wisdom. He was taller and leaner than his rotund pride and joy, and he was slightly balding in front, with his remaining hair displaying the fashionable salt-and-pepper look. He still appeared youthful, but the loss of his beloved Dorothy three years ago still weighed heavily in the wrinkles around his eyes.
He took the chair opposite Shadrack.
“I don’t want to dunk anything,” Shadrack declared. “I just want to munch on something dry . My belly is feeling a trifle queasy.”
He reached into the saltine box and dragged out an entire pack of separately wrapped crackers and ripped it open. He immediately started munching.
“So what’s the latest?” Charles asked his favorite son.
Shadrack made a sour face and shook his head.
“Jamal and Naseer got the bail the very next day. Those guys at the mosque have to be multi-millionaires. If the Judge had asked for twice as much, he would have got it from those guys. I wonder where those uneducated unemployed camel jockeys get all that instant cash.”
“You really don’t know?” Shadrack’s father asked in a halfway teasing tone, that implied his son did already
know where the money came from.
“I just don’t like the idea of those thugs walking around free. The trial date has been set, but there is still time between now and then for those guys to cause a lot of trouble.
“ I guess I got fired at just the right time. Now I can drive Rifqa to and from the daycare center, and be home with her most of the time.”
“I never thought I’d see the day,” Charles marveled sadly. “There’s folk out there that don’t get it. They don’t get it at all.”
“You mean the threats?
“I mean what kind of devil wind blows through those people’s empty heads that make them think that murder is honorable! Honor killing! They call it honor killing! And the folk who have lived in American freedom all their lives don’t give it any more mind than a traffic ticket!”
“You have said it yourself in the pulpit, over and over. The time comes when he that kills you will think that he does God service.”
“That’s not the only thing that gets me. It’s how the cops look the other way. No no. don’t offend the bloody savages. Don’t even acknowledge that the murder was a
murder. It’s just a peaceful religion being peaceful.” He spit out his words with disdain.
“Dad, I need to ask you something. It’s about an idea I have.”
Charles got up for a minute and retrieved a full carton of half and half from the refrigerator, and placed it on the table next to the empty one.
“So, what’s on your mind?”
“ I’ve been thinking----about the Jews, and all the trouble they are having. About all the hate and threats and murders and bloodshed. And I’m thinking about what the church should do to let them know we are on their side. And hold them up and help protect them. And, well, all that stuff.
“And well,” he continued, “ you remember that Rabbi on the news last week?”
“Yeah. I saw that.”
“Well, he said they had been getting threats. Graffiti. Hate notes on their windshields, and stuff. And I learned that that kid on my team, Chris, his father knows that Rabbi.”
“And you want to do what?” Charles refilled his cup.
“I want to get acquainted.”
“How?”
“Well, I was in the middle of checking things out before all this trouble started. The Jewish festival of Purim is coming up. And what they do is have a big costume party. And they make a lot of cookies and the kids join in and it it is a real happy time.”
Charles nodded. “Go on”.
“ Well, I would like to have our church and congregation invite their congregation to hold their party at our church this year.”
Charles laid his head back onto the back of the chair and gave one loud good natured guffaw.
“You want to have a Jewish congregation hold a big Jewish party in a Holy Roller church!” He laughed again. “Do you really think they’d go for that?”
Shadrack laughed at his father’s amusement.
“Well, we can ask”. He laughed again.
*********************
“You are most lovely, my sweet,”. Shadrack lounged in his favorite big chair, as Rifqa paraded across the living room in her brand new lace and pink floral cotton lounger with the gracefully floating sleeves. She passed behind the chair and gave him a quick peck on his almost invisible receeding hair line.
He gently took her arm and pulled her softly downward over his shoulder, the better to return the kiss to her lips. She tumbled in a sideward somersault and settled in his huge lap, and snuggled her head in his shoulder, giggling.
“ So, what did your Dad say?” She asked.
“He said he’d check it out,” Shadrack answered hopefully.
“You are one strange one,” Rifqa marveled. “Where is your worry? Your nervous concern, your sleepless nights? First you lose your job for some idiotic reason, and now you are awaiting a trial of your brothers-in-law for trying to kidnap me---your wife, and what do you do? You want to invite an entire church full of people into your father’s church basement-------- to hold a Jewish party!
“You have any objections to that?” he asked with a tease in his voice.
“ Shad, what are we going to do with a Rabbi and fifty Jewish kids in your Dad’s basement? I mean, it might not even be kosher for them to be there. Did you ever think of that?”
“Can’t know till we ask,” he answered hopefully.
”How did that happen, again?” she asked.
“Chris from my team , he’s the guy who wrote the famous illegal cheer. His father knows that Rabbi. Rabbi Berger. Well, since I got canned, Chris wants to show me off to his father and his father’s friends. You know, everybody on that team and the cheer squad, They’re like my own kids. They all think I’m a big hero, and they want to show me off. “ He smiled a big shy smile of appreciation. “So I was thinking, I’d like to do something to help the Rabbi and his flock. You know like just being friendly. When people are getting ready for a war. Hands across the sea, they called it in the war. Not the war my Dad was in, World War Two.”
“Only today it would be sort of hands across the street,” Rifqa remarked dryly. “I understand. I’m from Beirut, remember? I remember what my parents and grandparents went through. And I’m so happy to feel safe in America. But I still don’t fool myself with it can’t happen here. It can happen here. It is happening every place else.”
Her face pinched up for a quick moment, as she failed to hold back a few tears of remembrance.
“Ok,” she determined. “You go see the Rabbi, and I will make kosher sandwiches for a crowd of hungry kids! Is it a deal?”
“It’s a deal” Shadrack agreed. “You sure you know how?”
“Yeah, I know how” she laughed. Then she picked up a nearby couch pillow and playfully swatted him with it.
Chapter Six
Rabbi Berger and Elza answered the door together, and welcomed their two visitors warmly, Within half a
minute both Shadrack and his father were seated in the two most comfortable chairs in the room.
The Rabbi was a man slightly past middle age, of medium build, with a neatly trimmed box style beard reaching bright whiteness before the whiteness could reach the black-to-gray two tone hair on his scalp.
Elza was a very beautiful woman, slender and delicate, straight gray hair cascading unrestrained to just passed her collar. She had a very pleasant smile, and very sad eyes. She sat in a manual powered wheel chair.
“ I pray you will excuse me,” Rabbi Berger said. “ My dear wife needs a little assistance. She wants to serve you the refreshments herself.”
With that he pushed Elza into the kitchen, and returned quickly with Elza holding a tray in her lap.
“ Here we go,” the Rabbi said. He relieved Elza of the tray and put it on the coffee table. It held a small coffee pot, four china cups, cream, sugar, and a few pieces of babka pastry.
The Rabbi positioned his wife by the side of the couch and sat down near her, and the next few minutes were filled with friendly get acquainted small talk.
“Now, let’s get the formalities done,” the Rabbi
announced. “ I am Rabbi Berger during Sabbath services and to members of the congregation. To others I’m Rabbi David or just David, which ever makes you more comfortable. My wife likes to be called Elza. Later on I will tell you how she got the name. How do you like to be called? I understand one of you is a Reverend.”
“Well, yeah,” the elder Mahony answered. “But you can call me Brother. Brother Charles. This is my son, Shadrack, who is a currently unemployed basketball coach.”
“Yes, I did hear about that on the news” Rabbi David said. “That situation is beyond evil. Have you made any progress with the situation?”
“Well, not exactly”, Shadrack replied. “I’m taking a little time to regroup my plans, and decide just how I want to proceed. I’m thinking of finding another coaching job at another school. But at the same time, this kind of thing cannot go un-protested. If not for me, for the ones who come after me. And another school might not want to hire me until the case gets settled. Meanwhile I’ve got another complication. My wife is from Beirut. Her two brothers are radical Muslims, and they are trying to enforce sharia on her. They are currently out on bail for trying to assault her and kidnap her. Right here in America. So their trial is coming up.
And I have to find a Christian outfit that can take my case pro bono and see where it goes.”
“And with these big irons in your fire, you want to take on another big job?” Rabbi David smiled curiously. “What is this about you wanting to host our Purim party?”
Shadrack smiled brightly and his eyes twinkled.
“Well, Rabbi David, theres a lot of reasons. I sit by and I see the news get worse and worse. I wasn’t around to see it in World War Two. But the old newsreels are bad enough. But what I see now makes me feel like I’m in the Twilight Zone. I see the Muslim hordes screaming and threatening and maurauding and destroying and butchering---- and anybody who says anything against it is called a racist Islamophobe. It is beyond crazy.
“So I get to thinking, what can I do to help? To let the Jews know, hey, you got friends. You are not alone this time. And the thing that comes to mind, if you want to let someone know you are their friend, you gotta get acquainted. And I thought joining you in your Purim party would be a great way of getting acquainted. Letting our kids get acquainted. Lift morale. Know that there are people ready to fight with you. And there’s one extra bonus I’m hoping for.”
“And what’s that?” Elza asked softly.
“Well, real Christians have known for years that it is not healthy for kids to take part in Halloween parties. It is hard to educate people into understanding that Halloween is a devil’s holiday, and Christians should not touch it. So I thought that Purim would be a way of teaching our Christian kids that you can have a fun costume party without dressing up like the devil and making a joke out of death and Hell.”
Shadrack’s father smiled peacefully. He knew his son had made a good presentation of his idea.
There was a long, quiet, pause. The air seemed to vibrate with a kind of intensity. Pastor David looked at Shadrack for a long silent, moment.
“Mr. Mahoney, you tell me.” He said softly, but with importance.
“What is your real Christian attitude toward the Jewish opinion of Jesus? “
There was another long silent pause, with the shaking still in the air.
“You really want to know?” Shadrack asked with a compassionate tone.
“I have to know,” Rabbi David replied.
“Well,” Shadrack said thoughtfully. “Gimme a minute.” He paused, and then began to form his thoughts, speaking slowly.
“Well, there were always Jewish Christians and gentile Christians, even at the time of the destruction of the temple and all that went with it. And until Constantine. When he told the Christians they could come out of the catacombs and stop hiding, people thought this was a new day. But it wasn’t really the right kind of new day. Because the politics of hate started taking over. That Christ killer BS was just plain born in Hell. And it polluted everything.
“People were getting farther and farther away from what the real teaching of Christ is about, and with it they got closer and closer to the garbage rotting hatred in their own souls. And those Roman polititians turned into Haman’s nephews, and drove the believing Jews out of the church. That’s where that stuff started. The emperor wanted to make Christianity a Roman political thing, and the Roman politicos hated the Jews as much as Haman did.
“Constantine really didn’t make Christianity legal. He really formed a bogus Christian church, that was set
up along Roman civil government pattern. And the Haman’s Nephews in the crowd didn’t want the Jews around to get any political power in this new set-up.
“ So they made laws that were directed at chasing all the Jews out and closing the door on any new Jews coming in. They changed the Sabbath, and they required any Jew wanting to be a Christian to give up his language and his family and his heritage-----everything that made him Jewish. And then, forty years later, Constantine’s nephew, Julian. He dragged out all the old statues and ordered the people to start worshipping them again.
“So then we wound up with a two headed monster that called itself Christian, but practiced the same ancient idolatry that was always there, and hated the Jews, just like Haman did.
“ They are the one’s who dug up that Christ-killer BS from Hell. They didn’t really care anything about the death of Christ. They just wanted to throw mud at the Jews to chase ‘em out.
“How do I apologize for something the devil did, when the devil did what he did by making it look like I did it?” He spoke slowly and thoughtfully with a pain in his voice. “That mud from Hell is still being tossed around. How do I explain the attitude that still makes so-called
Christians behave so hatefully? Christians are supposed to show love.”
The Rabbi searched Shadrack’s face the better to see his soul.
“And what happened to those kind hearted, love-showing Christians during the reign of Hitler?” His voice did not challenge. It searched.
“Rabbi Berger,” Shadrack replied, with confidence, but with deep pain in his voice. “They weren’t kind hearted, Rabbi, they were dead. They had a good reputation for being a great historical main-line denomination church. But they were really dead.
“ They knew how to put on a good show. But when it came to really doing and living the Christian way, they were all dead. And Hitler’s soldiers did a thorough job of embalming their dead souls, by making them terrified of even thinking of resisting.
“ I can’t explain all that. I just know that those years were a time when Hell opened up. The devil swore he was going to kill God’s people. A person can’t even get all that stuff into his head, much less understand it. I can’t fix Hell’s destruction. I just want to spread a little good around.”
“Six million,” the Rabbi spoke softly. “Yes it is hard to take all those numbers at once. You have to take it one person at a time. That’s what my father did.”
“How’s that?” Charles Mahoney asked kindly.
“ My father’s name was Noah Berger. When my mother was carrying me, my father had occasion to do some Holocaust research. And he ran across the record of a young man from Poland, who took refuge in Lithuania when the Nazies came. There, in 1941, he was shot. No one knows any more about him. We don’t know what he wanted to do with his life. He was just one of Hitler’s anonymous victims. But his girlfriend had saved his letters, and somehow they wound up at a Museum of the holocaust. And my father read what he told his girl friend. He had said in his last letter to her that his only hope was that someday, somehow, someone would know that a person named David Berger lived.
“That shook up my father. He already had the “Berger”. So he decided to name his son David, after the anonymous “David Berger” who hoped that somebody somewhere would remember that he had lived. So now, my life, and my son’s life, are daily reminders that that David Berger lived.
But we are not the only ones. In 1972, another David
Berger lived----and died. He was a weightlifter at the 72 Olympics. Hitler and his cohorts just simply couldn’t rid the world of that name.”
“And that’s how I got my name, “ Elza chimed in softly. “ I was born Hannah. But when we met, he told me about his name. And about the original David’s letters to his girl, named Elza. And I started to tease him, and I said, well if you are David I am your Elza. So he started to tease back. After a while the teasing became permanent. So, I’m Elza.”
Reverend Mahoney lifted his hand in a gesture of approval, and grinned a happy grin.
“That’s about the sweetest romanic story I’ve ever heard!”
“But , you ask about Jesus,” Shadrack continued after a moment.. “ The last several years, with the Jews going home, and all, has made real Christians start reading their prophesy, and start to understand that we are in the time of fulfillment and restoration, The hatred coming from the fake Christians is still there. But this time the whole rest of the church is standing up and hollering.
“ There is an awakening hope in our hearts that our Jewish friends will see Jesus as we see Him .But that is
not within our power to make happen, especially because of the vile way religious people have treated you.”
Shadrack’s voice grew tender and slow as though he felt himself alone with his thoughts, and speaking his thoughts out loud.
“All I can say about that is, when Joseph’s brothers saw him in Pharoah’s court, they didn’t recognize him. But he recognized them, and he loved them. And even while they didn’t recognize him, he put the money back in their sacks and watched out for them. Then there came a day when he started to cry, and hollered, ‘I am your brother Joseph’ and everybody started to cry. And everybody got forgiven and all was healed.
“And today’s real Christians believe that one day, the Jews will hear the voice of Yeshua saying, “ I am your brother, Jeshua” and everybody’s gonna cry for happy and no one’s gonna be mad at anybody. Until that happens, we just wanna be the kind of friends we were supposed to be all along.”
He had spoken slowly, and sorrowfully, and the tears suddenly gushed and he grabbed his big white handkerchief from his pocket and blew his nose loudly.
Rabbi David looked down for a moment, and then he
silently looked into Elza’s eyes. She smiled, a soft light came into her eyes, and she very silently nodded her head “yes”.
“Well, I have been studying you Mr. Mahoney. And I think I see a gentle heart in there. A little mishugenah, maybe”, he teased. “But just a little. And my Elza seems to like you, too.
“And the strange thing is, Mr. Mahoney, that this year we do have a need. Our synagogue is undergoing some repairs. A pipe broke and flooded our basement and damaged our floor. and we are not able to use the premises for our Purim celebration this year. So it looks like your enthusiasm for making friends is going to save our day. Perhaps I will even say HaShem sent you.”
He smiled a good natured smile.
Chapter Seven
Rabbi David pulled up to the curb and parked a few yards away from the front entrance to Beth Shalom. It was just a medium-sized oblong building, clean and new, but blending well with the other buildings on the street, in a quiet clean neighborhood on Chicago’s Southwest side.
“That’s it,” he said proudly. “It isn’t gold plated or anything like that, but it’s paid for. I’ll show you around. And then you can meet the kids in the back. Elza is helping them get ready for the party. They are expecting us.”
Shadrack pulled himself from his comfortable seat, closed the car door, and followed his new friend to the front door. It was a double door, with polished brass handles, very simple and elegant, matching the dignified atmosphere of the place.
Rabbi David pulled the door aside, and the outside sun lit up the entire inner premises. “After you,” he said politely, And Shadrack stepped into the quiet sancuary ahead of the Rabbi, who closed the door quietly behind them.
“Well, this is quite an impressive place, here,” Shadrack remarked rather shyly, not completely knowing what to say. The Rabbi grinned at him, and reached to a small polished wooden container near the door, which held a number of yarmulkes. He grasped the first one on the top, and silently handed it to Shadrack.
Shadrack automatically took it into his hand, and then stared at it for a second, as though he wasn’t sure how to proceed.
“You’re supposed to wear it,” Rabbi David said in an amused tone. “Don’t worry. One size fits all.”
“Oh, Yeah.” Shadrack quickly placed the yarmulke very grandly on his head. He grinned. “Very stylish.”
“You will notice our pews are arranged in two sections. The pews separated on that wall are forthe ladies. This has nothing to do with discrimination. The men are here to pray, not be distracted by pretty faces or---“ he paused a moment, “or other distractions,”
“Understood.” Shadrack responded.
“You will notice a raised pedestal in the center front. That is called the bimah. That would correspond with your pulpit, where the Torah scrolls are placed when they are being read in the services. Next to the bimah you see a pedestal holding the menorah.
“That case on the wall is called the Ark. It is on that particular wall, because, geographically speaking, that wall is the wall nearest Jerusalem. It holds all the Torah scrolls. All handwritten. Very hard, dedicated work. Extremely precious and valuable. The Torah is what you call the Old Testament.
“You notice that we have a light burning right above the Ark door. That is the ner tamid, the Eternal Light, which signifies the command to keep an Eternal Light burning outside of the curtain that was around the Ark of the Covenant.”
“And now the grand tour is over, and we are going into the back.”
They went through the door in the corner of the back wall of the sanctuary, and a couple of steps down a small hallway, into a larger room where Elza was supervising a group of children at a work table.
“Oh, here they are,” Elza announced to the children. “The gentleman with the Rabbi is Shadrack Mahoney, the person who is hosting our Purim party this year.”
“Hello, Mister Mahoney,” the kids sang in unison.
“And hello to you, too,” he answered with a big smile.
“Mister Mahoney wants to meet you all, so don’t be shy,” Elza instructed.
“No, we won’t”, the kids sang back.
Shadrack moved to the bright earnest young man at the corner of the work table.
“And what are you up to, young man?” Shadrack bent over the young boy, who was concentrating on the artistic task on the table in front of him.
“I’m making baskets, for the party,” he said said politely. All the other children also had arts and crafts equipment spread in front of them.
“And can you tell me your name?” Shadrack asked kindly.
“I’m Nathan, Nathan Friedman. I’m twelve years old and I’m very smart.”
“You certainly are,” Shadrack laughed. “I see you working with duct tape. What are you making?”
“Well,” Nathan proceded with adult aplomb and assurance. “I’m making baskets,”
“How do you do that?”
”See, I’ve got two rolls of tape, two different colors.
See how I pull each strip of tape the same length here. And then I fold the strip onto itself down the middle. Now I keep doing that until I have several strips of both colors. Then I anchor it at one end, and lay them out like this.” He laid six strips out next to each other, and put a strip of tape at one end to hold them together.
“Now I take the other color strips, and I braid them into the pattern, like this”. He weaved the strips of both colors together, making a checkerboard pattern. Then he anchored the entire thing together with another strip of tape.
“ Now, this is the bottom of the basket. Now I’m going to make four more just like this one, and I’m going to tape them to the bottom, and then to each other, so I have the four walls taped together, making a square basket.”
Shadrack watched in silence, while Nathan proceeded to make the walls of the basket and tape them together.
“Ingenious!” Shadrack said with true appreciation. “Do you make a handle for the basket?”
“I’ll show you” , Nathan volunteered. “Look. I take the tape roll, and make a strip longer than the other strips. Then I fold it double crosswise, like this.”
He folded the tape in the center of its breadth, rather than its length. Then he proceeded to take it and twist it, and twist it, until it became a long braid-like rope. He took the ends and taped them to two of the baskets corners.
He proudly held up the dect tape work of art.
“There. Ya see?”
Shadrack beamed a big smile. “And what goes in the baskets?” he asked with a gleeful tone.
“Well, everybody gets one” Nathan explained. “That’s why we’re all here today making so many. Each basket has to have two presents in it. Something to eat and drink. Maybe candy, or fruit, and small bottle of something to drink. Then at the party, we all give gift baskets to each other.”
“And what else do you do?”
“Well, we play games,” Nathan answered. “ And then the Rabbi gets us all together and reads us the Esther Megilla.”
“And what is that” Shadrack asked.
“You don’t know that!” Nathan exclaimed with a very big surprised grin.
“Oh, well, how you gonna know. You’re a goy.” He grinned a very grown up kind of grin.
“I am?” Shadrack popped his eyes and answered in mock surprise. “Is there a cure for that?”
Nathan dissolved in a little-kid giggle, and the other boys and girls at the table erupted in a gale of laughter.
At that moment Rabbi David came by the table.
“ I see you are making friends with the help,” he remarked, smiling. “And how is my fine Nathan doing today?” .
“I”m just fine, Rabbi,” Nathan answered with respect. “I was just telling Mr. Mahoney about the Esther Megilla . It is the story of Esther from the Torah. “ He continued to Shadrack. “My favorite parts are where we get to make all the noise.”
“Nathan has been giving me a remarkable education here.” Shadrack said. “He feels it is his bound charitable duty to fill up all the hopeless gaps in my pathetic goy upbringing.”
Both men laughed .
“Nathan just made his Bar Mitzvah last month. He seems to be blossoming into the supervisor of everything
and everybody” Rabbi David said, teasing.
“Well, he definitely is smart, Shadrack remarked. “He just just made a whole gift basket with nothing but two rolls of duct tape. I never saw that done before. Made me feel like a complete moron.”
Nathan laughed outloud. His twelve year old face shone in a radient handsome smile.
“Well, I am pretty smart,” he declared again, humbly. “But I got the basket thing off the internet.”
Chapter Eight
“These people are just nuts,” Shadrack declared with finality. He sat encased comfortably in the large upholstered mahogany leather chair in George Lincoln’s office.
George Lincoln, Attorney, smiled in agreement. He was a slightly built, relaxed sort of man, with an easy smile. But He also induced a feeling of wisdom and trust in people, which is why Shadrack felt at ease hiring him.
“There really is no rhyme nor reason for these people to behave like this. They talk about, I’m not supposed to offend people. Well, how about other people offending me?”
“Well,” Mr Lincoln said thoughtfully. “If these people would be forced to admit that they were using carefully thought out legal maneuvering tactics to play games and make the Bill of Rights of no effect, maybe somebody would start seeing the wrong of it. But they make up this mindless legalese, and claim that they are being harmed somehow, by our free exercise of religion. This harm takes the form of “offense”. And the Muslims and others declare, that nobody has the right to offend them. It is all a legalese game and everybody knows it. And then, there is that separaton of church and State crap.”
“Well, can my defense be turned into an offense?” Shadrack asked hopefully. “I mean why should I cringe and cry and apologize? I did not offend anybody. My kids did not offend anybody. And who cares if they did? They wrote a happy little poem and chanted it at me. And it referred to three historical Bible people.
So, since my kids were practicing their Constitutional Rights of freedom of speech and freedom of religion, these educators have denied due process of law, used unlawful restraint, and unlawful interferrance in their entire educational process, which will effect their entire lives.
“ They are the ones committing crimes on top of crimes against my kids. And I want them to be charged criminally.”
“You are talking about a whole different ballgame.” Mr. Lincoln leaned back in his chair, and thought quietly for a minute.
“So you want to forgo asking for civil damages---monetary compensation. And bring criminal charges against the Principal of the of the school charging him with criminal actions against you and your kids?”
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