Chap­ter 2: A Bad Sign opens with a flash­back to forty-sev­en years before the dis­cov­ery of a skele­ton on Chick­en Hill. Moshe Lud­low, a Jew­ish the­ater man­ag­er in Pottstown, Penn­syl­va­nia, recalls a mem­o­rable win­ter Mon­day in Feb­ru­ary. He reflects on his time man­ag­ing the All-Amer­i­can Dance Hall and The­ater, par­tic­u­lar­ly the excite­ment sur­round­ing a con­cert by the famous klezmer musi­cian Mick­ey Katz. Despite the harsh win­ter con­di­tions, Moshe man­aged to bring togeth­er an eager crowd, cre­at­ing a sense of joy and antic­i­pa­tion for the per­for­mance. The event stands out in his mem­o­ry as a sym­bol of his ded­i­ca­tion and pas­sion for enter­tain­ing his diverse com­mu­ni­ty, though it was not with­out its chal­lenges.

The chap­ter explores Moshe’s efforts to enter­tain a mixed audi­ence, pri­mar­i­ly made up of Jew­ish com­mu­ni­ties from var­i­ous back­grounds. How­ev­er, the prepa­ra­tions for Katz’s per­for­mance were marred by a series of mis­com­mu­ni­ca­tions. Issues with poor­ly trans­lat­ed fly­ers and a lack of clear com­mu­ni­ca­tion with the con­gre­ga­tions caused con­fu­sion sur­round­ing tick­et sales, ulti­mate­ly lead­ing to finan­cial strain. Despite the logis­ti­cal mishaps, Moshe’s com­mit­ment to the event remained unwa­ver­ing. Unfor­tu­nate­ly, his finan­cial strug­gles deep­ened, leav­ing him in a pre­car­i­ous posi­tion as he attempt­ed to keep the the­ater afloat. These hard­ships seemed to add to the pres­sure Moshe already felt, but his deter­mi­na­tion kept him mov­ing for­ward, hop­ing to sal­vage the event and the the­ater.

In the midst of these dif­fi­cul­ties, Moshe finds com­fort and inspi­ra­tion in his grow­ing rela­tion­ship with Chona, the daugh­ter of a local rab­bi who faces her own chal­lenges. Chona, who has phys­i­cal dis­abil­i­ties, becomes a source of strength for Moshe, and their shared stud­ies of Hebrew texts deep­en their con­nec­tion. The intel­lec­tu­al and emo­tion­al bond between them flour­ish­es, lead­ing Moshe to pro­pose mar­riage. This union marks a sig­nif­i­cant turn­ing point in Moshe’s life, as it not only pro­vides him with a per­son­al con­nec­tion but also renews his hope for the future. Chona’s pres­ence in his life sym­bol­izes sta­bil­i­ty and offers Moshe a new sense of pur­pose. Through their mar­riage, Moshe feels rein­vig­o­rat­ed, moti­vat­ed by love and the promise of new begin­nings.

After their wed­ding, Moshe’s for­tunes take a pos­i­tive turn. With Chona’s sup­port and guid­ance, he works on improv­ing the mar­ket­ing and logis­tics for his the­ater, par­tic­u­lar­ly for the upcom­ing Katz con­cert. This time, his efforts prove suc­cess­ful, and the event far exceeds expec­ta­tions. The con­cert becomes a joy­ous cel­e­bra­tion of Jew­ish cul­ture, filled with music, laugh­ter, and com­mu­ni­ty spir­it. The the­ater is packed to capac­i­ty, a stark con­trast to the pre­vi­ous dif­fi­cul­ties he had faced. The event not only helps to restore Moshe’s rep­u­ta­tion in the com­mu­ni­ty but also brings in much-need­ed rev­enue, effec­tive­ly res­cu­ing him from his finan­cial trou­bles. This suc­cess rep­re­sents a fresh start for Moshe, sym­bol­iz­ing his abil­i­ty to over­come adver­si­ty and rebuild his place in the com­mu­ni­ty.

As the con­cert winds down and the night winds to a close, Moshe is left reflect­ing on the impact of the event and the path ahead. It is dur­ing this moment of reflec­tion that he encoun­ters a mys­te­ri­ous Hasidic dancer who had attend­ed the per­for­mance. The dancer quick­ly leaves with­out reveal­ing his name, adding to the intrigue sur­round­ing the evening. The encounter is unset­tling, leav­ing Moshe with a lin­ger­ing sense of mys­tery. Just as the evening’s cel­e­bra­tions begin to set­tle, a sud­den explo­sion erupts from Chick­en Hill, send­ing shock­waves through the neigh­bor­hood. This unex­pect­ed event casts a dark shad­ow over the night, mark­ing what Moshe per­ceives as a “bad sign.” The chap­ter con­cludes with Moshe con­tem­plat­ing the sig­nif­i­cance of this omi­nous event, unsure of its mean­ing but sens­ing that it may fore­warn of trou­ble to come.

This chap­ter weaves togeth­er sev­er­al key themes, includ­ing resilience, com­mu­ni­ty cel­e­bra­tion, and the unpre­dictable nature of fate. Moshe’s jour­ney from finan­cial despair to suc­cess mir­rors the broad­er chal­lenges of life, where unex­pect­ed twists and turns can change the course of one’s path. Through his strug­gles and even­tu­al tri­umphs, Moshe demon­strates the impor­tance of per­se­ver­ance, love, and the sup­port of those who mat­ter most. How­ev­er, the mys­te­ri­ous explo­sion serves as a reminder of the uncer­tain­ties in life, sug­gest­ing that even the most joy­ous moments can be shad­owed by unfore­seen chal­lenges. The chap­ter sets the stage for future con­flicts and high­lights the inter­play between per­son­al achieve­ment and exter­nal forces that shape our des­tinies.