by Zalman Velvel

The idea for these novellas appeared one summer day in 2004.

“Zalman,” the Rebbetzin asked on shabbos, “would you tell a story to the campers?”

The campers were a group of eighty Hasidic girls, ages ten through fourteen, and their counselors, ages eighteen through twenty. They were spending the summer at his synagogue’s sleep-away camp.

So by accident, Zalman found himself in a different role than a story writer, where he had a safe distance from his audience. No, he was going to be up close and personal.

First, he adapted the series, “The Goldberg Family Conversion” to an oral reading. It grew into a novella.

Then he wrote a new series of stories, “The Rabbi’s Daughter,” about two fourteen year old girls. One was a daughter of a Chabad Rabbi, the other a non-observant girl. They were thrown together by an accident, and a challenging friendship  followed. This also grew into a novella.

The Rabbi’s Son was the series that followed. It was about the fifteen year old son of a great Rabbi, who was expelled from yeshiva for the third time. Another novella.

Enjoy!