Page 121 - Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen

"God made the Devil, so God is here, too," Rjvka
said.
"Pilpul, a man's game," Shifre said.
Rivka smiled. "I play the man's game. I play the
Devil's game. I play God's game. And so I stay alive.
Alive I can help you. Dead I am no help to you at all."
Without meaning to, Hannah smiled back.
"Good," Rivka said, nodding; "If you smile, you will
stay alive."
"Then tell us, Rivka, about all these rules," Hannah
said.
"First, you may call me Rivka and I may call you by
your names, but remember my number as you remem-
ber your own. You must learn to read the numbers as <
you would a name. There are good numbers and bad
numbers."
"What do you mean?" Shifre asked.
Esther walked away from them, shaking her head
and humming loudly as if to drown out the sound of
Rivka's voice.
"Esther. . ," Shifre called.
.
"Leave her," said Rivka. "Leave her. Sometimes
people get like that. They stop listening. They stop
seeing. It is as if they decide that life is not worth fighting
for. We call them musselmen. It is sad. Very sad. I will
be sorry if your friend chooses that, but if she does, I
will let her. And you must let her as well."
Shifre nodded. "I understand."
"I don't," Hannah said. "You can't just let her go."
"You will have to," Rivka said. "It is one of the hard
things you must do to stay alive. To let people go. To

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