Created 24 Dec 2018  

The Rabbi is Not In

In the shtetl the worst thing you could be was an informer. No one was hated more than a person who would tell the civil authorities about another Jew. Jews had their own courts and laws to handle criminals.

No, not all Jews were honest. Even Koshovato had its unethical element. A small group of men devised a plan to bilk the insurance companies. When a man prepared to leave Koshovato for America, these entrepreneurs insured his life. When he arrived in American, then declared him dead and collected the insurance money.

The first time it worked perfectly. The second time the insurance company began to ask questions. The third time, the insurance company insisted that they would need a letter from the rabbi, witnessed by their agent.

What could the rabbi do? He could not be an informer. He could not lie and say that a man who was breathing in New York was dead in Koshovato. He did the only thing he could do. Whenever the insurance agent knocked on the door, he slipped outside and the agent was told, “The rabbi is not in.”