The Boys in The Yeshiva Whispered About Her

By Alisa Ungar-Sargon

We whispered about the artist when she moved into the storefront across the street, the huge paintings in the windows hiding her studio within—paintings of lewd women in slips, with pointy elbows and chins.

We wondered whether she might be Jewish, whether we had an obligation to help her fulfill the mitzvot. When Mordy saw the studio door propped open, we talked about how he went inside and spoke to her, how she was, indeed, Jewish! We stopped him in the hall, eager to hear what he said and what she said if more of us needed to go.

“She wants to paint me,” he said, blushing under his uneven beard.

“She said she’ll light Shabbos candles if I sit for her.”

We watched him go, and then Dovid, and then Yossi. Weeks later, the women were gone, replaced by paintings of us. We were in our black suits and black hats, but one had his undershirt showing at the top of his shirt, and the other had his glasses askew. 

Some of us liked being in the window, but the rest of us went back to ask her to take them down. We didn’t want everyone seeing us as if we were women in slips.

She must have been keeping so many mitzvot. 

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Alisa Ungar-Sargon received her MFA from Northwestern University. Her work has been included in Best Small Fictions and longlisted for the Bakwin Award. For more information, please visit her personal website at https://www.alisaus.com/