an excerpt from the collection "The Misadventures of
Rabbi Kibbitz and Mrs. Chaipul" by Mark Binder

The villagers of Chelm dreaded Chanukah. It wasn’t the holiday itself. They loved lighting the candles, spinning the dreidle, and retelling the stories of the Maccabees and the miracle of the lights. All in all, Chanukah was a wonderful festival, except for one thing &emdash; Mrs. Chaipul’s latkes, which were served in great abundance at the village’s Chanukah party. Mrs. Chaipul’s latkes were not good. They were really not good. It wasn’t that they were too greasy (which they were) or that they were too heavy (which they were) or even that they were burned (which they always were), it was the smell. There was something slightly sickening about the smell of Mrs. Chaipul’s latkes. Not repulsive like a dirty stable, or a fish that’s been left out too long. More nauseating and unsettling, as if something was forgotten in the cellar, and you can’t quite put your finger on what it was and where it is to clean it up. The problem was that Mrs. Chaipul owned the only restaurant in Chelm. In her restaurant, her food was wonderful. However, whenever she left her own kitchen and cooked for the multitudes at the shul... It was a disaster. Especially her latkes. But now that Mrs. Chaipul had recently married Rabbi Kibbitz (keeping her own maiden name, which is another story) some of the villagers decided that perhaps it was time to broach the subject....

5.5 x 8.5 perfect bound. 81 pages, Cover illustrated by Laura Mernoff $12.95 plus $1.50 shipping and handling OUT OF PRINT