Recap (Journal story with Ava, 46 CE): Galla’s family won’t listen to Ava’s warning. Nazanin is about to reveal a secret to Ava.
Present story: Daniel is worried about his father being held hostage with the Jewish students in the Library.
“We can walk over to the police station and ask them for an update, if that would help you feel better, Daniel,” Rabbi Diamond said.
“Yes, please.”
Charlie offered to come, too. It was already around ten at night. Yisroel Meir and I walked together, and Rabbi Diamond and Charlie were in front of us.
I recalled the last time we were at the police station. They said they couldn’t help us at all.
I told Yisroel Meir what I was thinking. “If the police had listened to us before and caught that Ahmed person then, maybe none of this would have happened.”
“You can’t think like that,” Yisroel Meir said. “We have to believe everything happens for a reason. Remember, we aren’t in control. Abba says, in life, we’re not in the driver’s seat. Hashem is the driver. We’re just passengers.”
My stomach was in 20 knots. I kept trying to take deep breaths. I’d left my inhaler at home, and all I needed was an asthma attack now.
It was a starry night with a full moon. I heard the whir and chirping of insects. I wished we could get in a car and just whiz to the police station, but of course, the Diamonds wouldn’t do that on Shabbos. I wanted to keep Shabbos too; it was just so nerve-wracking right now.
We stepped inside the station. An officer seated at the front desk asked us gruffly what we wanted.
Rabbi Diamond pointed to me. “His father is being held hostage in the University Library. We want an update, please, Officer.”
“Sorry to hear that. I’ll call in to see how the negotiation is going. So far, it’s a stand-off with those devils.”
We sat down on some hard chairs. Rabbi Diamond recited T’hilim quietly. He told me to repeat after him.
The officer came over to us. “You can listen to what’s going on. Come on back here.”
We followed him to a back room where there were several officers watching a big-screen computer. We saw a ton of policemen standing in front of the Campus Library, and several yards away from them was a group of protestors holding Palestinian flags.
An officer was shouting through a bullhorn. “Let the people out of the Library and we’ll work out a deal so you won’t be arrested.”
Protestors marched back and forth. “We have demands. We want BDS now! If University agrees to BDS, they go free.”
Rabbi Diamond explained that BDS is Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions against Israel. They want to hurt the Israeli economy by making the university not buy any Israeli products.
The officer shouted back, “We’re not in charge of the university, but you’re trespassing, and you’re charged with kidnapping.”
The protestors moved farther away.
It looked like it was a stalemate. The Library doors were locked, and one man was standing in front of it with a gun.
The police yelled through the bullhorn, “Let them out now!”
“How will my father get out of there?” I asked.
The protestors were screaming.
I wanted to see inside the Library – to see if my father was all right.
How could these people do this?
“Rabbi Diamond, I don’t understand this. My father has nothing to do with Israel. He doesn’t even do anything Jewish, and those students in there aren’t Israeli. Why are they holding them in the library?”
Rabbi Diamond put his hand on my shoulder. I blinked back a torrent of tears.
“It’s something we Jews have had to face for thousands of years, Daniel. They hate us because we’re Jewish.”
“I don’t get it. Why?”
“Many reasons have been given. We’re the moral compass, and no one wants to be told they’re doing the wrong thing. All I know is that when we have unity – when our people show true love for one another – then these enemies will fall away like straw. Hashem will defeat them for us.”
My stomach muscles tightened.
Just then, an officer shot into the sky. “This is a warning. Move aside.”
The officer who had brought us into the room frantically called into his radio. “Stop. Now. We can’t have guns. The situation is too dangerous. No weapons.”
Just then, someone stepped forward. He was in the shadows, so we couldn’t see who he was. “Officer, I would like to suggest a way to end this.”
I stepped closer to hear what the man was saying.
“Just call the university president. Have him come and sign some papers.”
Yes, this was the answer. Let him sign anything to let everyone free and then deal with it later.
The officer stepped forward. “Okay, let me see if we can contact him. You just bring the people out of the Library.”
“They’re going to do the BDS?” I whispered to Yisroel Meir.
“I think it’s just a strategy to get them out now,” he whispered back.
“I’ll speak to my advisor,” the man said and moved farther into the shadows.
“So, they’re going to let them out now?” I asked hopefully.
To be continued…
Susie Garber is the author of a newly released historical fiction novel, Captured (Menucha Publishers, 2025), as well as historical fiction novels Please Be Patient (Menucha, 2024), Flight of the Doves (Menucha, 2023), Please Be Polite (Menucha, 2022), A Bridge in Time (Menucha, 2021), Secrets in Disguise (Menucha, 2020), Denver Dreams, a novel (Jerusalem Publications, 2009), Memorable Characters…Magnificent Stories (Scholastic, 2002), Befriend (Menucha, 2013), The Road Less Traveled (Feldheim, 2015), fiction serials, and features in Binah Magazine and Binyan Magazine, and “Moon Song” in Binyan (2021–2022) and Alaskan Gold (2023–2024).