The Black Sheep By Esther Rapaport

The anxiety with which Ariella had fled from Acco three months earlier slowly dissipated. It was replaced by a new fear, the worry about Osher. He could do something foolhardy. He certainly was liable to. But what kind of foolhardy thing would it be this time?

She began to walk toward the Reinesses' home.

A police car, its lights off, was standing there. The police had already arrived; good. The gate was open, and she noticed a few youths talking animatedly with a policeman. She could not see Rabbi Reiness himself.

The sand was soft and warm, and she kicked at it with the toes of her shoes. Scattered shards of glass littered the beach, partially swallowed by sand. Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a broken wooden board; it was black and swollen from the seawater. The grains of sand that stuck to it almost completely concealed the words that someone had once etched into it. Ariella didn't know why she picked up the piece of wood and blew on it to get rid of the sand. The letters slowly became clearer:

The black sheep.

Was this a riddle that Osher had left behind? Did he really expect everyone to dance to his tune?

Osher and Ariella. Brother and sister who are so similar, yet so different from each other.

For as long as Osher could remember, his ADHD has gotten him into nothing but trouble, and at sixteen years old, he feels like one big disappointment to all those in his life, including himself. Ariella's ADHD, on the other hand, has manifested itself quite differently, and her challenges are of a completely different nature.

When Osher runs away from home, it is natural that Ariella be the one sent to find him. But the journey, both internal and external, that this sends them both on is something neither one could have ever imagined...

What is holding Ariella back from attempting to get remarried?

What is the decades-long secret that Reb Elazar Reiness is harboring, tucked deep in his out-of-the-box yeshivah in the remote city of Acco?

Why do the local Arabs want so much to buy Reb Elazar's building off him?

And could Osher Erenbaum, the boy who has both frustrated and delighted Reb Elazar to no end, actually hold the key to it all?