1 FICTION my after the second time does Ben hear the rabbi's question. "I said, `With what letter does God begin the 'Ibrah?' " "Uh, with an 'I. " The rabbi is a patient man and puts on his best puzzled look. "With an 'I'?" "You know, 'In the beginning, whatever, whatever.' " "Do you think God wrote the Torah in English?" "Oh yeah. You mean in Hebrew." Ben thinks to himself as he looks around the enormous library of the rabbi's living room. "With a 'bet. " "Very good. B'raisheet bara. The letter `bet.' Draw one for me," says the rabbi handing him a pen. Ben thinks, then begins to draw with the tip of his tongue poking out of the corner of his mouth. He has the expression one might have when shooting marbles for very high stakes. "Right," says the rabbi when Ben has finished but Ben has again reached his con- centration limit and is beginning to daydream. This time about The Maltese Falcon. "Now let's talk about it." Okay. You want to talk. We'll talk. How about Spencer Murphy? Let's talk about him. Why don't you start by telling me where you were the night he got his hair parted by a slug from an amazingly clean .38 automatic. I suppose you were here talking to the big man in the sky. Am I right? Well? Is He going to vouch for you? The rabbi's voice produces a sensation similar to what a sleepy motorist must feel upon opening his eyes to discover a moving road. All roads, like all rabbinic lessons, are pretty much the same and so you never know just how much you slept through. "I realize it's a rhetorical question, but you can answer it anyway." This apparent non-sequitor leaves Ben a little dazed. "Huh?" "On how many sides is it closed?" "What?" "The letter 'bet.' " "Three." "Thank you," and the rabbi sighs im- perceptibly. "That's all I wanted." Maybe that's all you wanted when you started in this lousy business but with Murphy dead and the necklace gone I'm beginning to wonder. "Which three are closed?" Ben looks over at the 'bet' which is roughly like a block print 'C' only backwards. "The top, the bottom, and the right." "And the language goes from right to left." He looks over at Ben to make sure he hasn't lost him yet. Ben nods knowingly. "So what do we learn from this? I'll tell you. The knowledge of man begins at the instant of that letter. All things knowable come after it. Put yourself inside the let- ter. Where can you see? Only forward. You can't look above" you into the heavens, or downward into the soul of man, or behind 96 FRIDAY, MARCH 3, 1989 M4v Ry Art By Maury Komins The Maltese Torah "Rabbi," thought young Ben, "I've met a lot of dames in my time. Pretty girls with long tender legs. How about your wiA Rabbi? Does she go for all of God's mumbo-jumbo?" A short story that would have made Bogart proud. MICHAEL B. GREENFIELD Special to The Jewish News