The scene: A dairy restaurant, somewhere on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

Yitz: This omelette is delicious. Here, have a bite.

Becky: No thanks.

Yitz: No, I mean it. It’s really good. The olives are killer. And the ricotta cheese is to die for.

Becky: Maybe a little. Mmmmmm.

Yitz: See? I told you it was good. Hey, are you O.K.? You’ve barely touched your waffles, and I know you love waffles. And your cappucino is getting cold.

Becky: I don’t know.

Yitz: O.K., what’s wrong?

Becky: It’s just that we’ve been seeing each other for two months now–

Yitz: Has it really been that long?

Becky: Yes. Our first date was on September 26th. Remember? The stroll in Central Park?

Yitz: Of course, how could I forget?

Becky: So it’s been two months, and I would have thought we would have made some sort of commitment by now.

Yitz: What do you mean?

Becky: I think that we should be going steady.

Yitz: (gagging on his latte’) Wo, wo, wo. Slow down there, Missy.

Becky: I think we should agree not to see other people.

Yitz: Becky, don’t be in such a hurry. We’ll get there. I just think that we need to take this one step at a time. That’s really a big move for me.

Becky: Yes, so you’ve said, many times.

Yitz: And besides, if you look at this week’s parsha, you see that out forefathers didn’t take going steady lightly either.

Becky: O.K., Yitz, I give up. Where in Toledot does it say not to date exclusively?

Yitz: I don’t know if I would put it quite that way, but if you look at the parsha, you see that when Yitzchak and Rivkah went to Gerar, the land of the Philistines, because of a famine, Yitzchak told King Avimelech that Rivkah was his sister.

Becky: So?

Yitz: So clearly Yitzchak didn’t feel the whole world needed to know about his relationship. He was a very private man, and he didn’t need to broadcast his personal feelings to everyone by announcing what his official status was with Rivkah.

Becky: Really.

Yitz: Yes, really. And not only that, but his father Avraham did the same thing, twice in parshat Lech Lecha. Clearly the forefathers were private, modest folk, who didn’t feel the need to advertise their innermost, intimate matters.

Becky: I think I see the parsha a little bit differently.

Yitz: Oh? How so?

Becky: I think Yitzchak didn’t tell Avimelech about Rivkah being his wife because he feared Avimelech would kill him because Rivkah was beautiful and desirable. It was a matter of pikuach nefesh, saving his life.

Yitz: O.K.

Becky: And if we don’t start going steady soon, it may be dangerous to your life, because your beautiful desirable girlfriend will most likely kill you. And soon. Or else she might just move on and see if there are any other fish in the sea.

Yitz: I see your point.

Becky: More omelette, Yitz?

Yitz: No, suddenly I find that I’m not so hungry.

By Larry Stiefel