“It was a truism, practically a truth universally acknowledged, that no one knew as much about a person as their lawyer or their accountant. Maybe not even their shrink. But a shul president was also advantageously positioned to obtain some fine insights. Performing the mitzvah of visiting a shiva house, she might bear witness to the most astonishing family meltdowns. Reviewing a report from the membership chair, she had privileged dope on the deadbeats: the members—not necessarily of the ranks of the impoverished—who shamelessly drifted from year to year, mooching off the public weal, without paying their fees.”