Yiddish Tales

es fills the room. Rochtzi weeps. Be

and the whirr of a mill, are heard in his snoring. And her weeping-it

K THE

he Kabtzonivke Jews, and thereby make a living for his wife and children. But the hard word went forth to him that he should not disclose this secret decree to anyone, and should even forget it himself for a goo

hildren into God's world, have I known a child scream so loud a

very sleepy (Ezrielk was born late at night), or some one had put him out of temper, but one way or another little E

eived Ezrielk, slaps, blows, and stripes rained down upon his he

wear the phylacteries and the prayer-scarf on the day of his marriage), he was a very poor specimen, small, thin, stooping, and yellow as an egg-pudding, his little face dark, dreary, and weazened, like a dried Lender herring. The only large, full things about hi

ill he was sixteen or even seventeen, but our Ezrielk was married

ir children in infancy, and, as you can imagine, they pressed the Rebbe very closely on this important point, left him no peace, till he should bestir himself on their behalf, and exercise all his influence in the Higher Spheres. Once, on the Eve o

he marriage contract. It was a little difficult to draw up the contract, because they did not know which of our two friends would have the boy (the Rebb

e either both boys or both girls, so that their vow to unite the son of one to a daughter o

"real world" within the first month, but

s. The true Jewish soul once born into the world holds on, until, by means of var

lished: Reb Selig Tachshit had a daughter bo

s bright, and white as snow, with sky-blue, star-like eyes. Her hair was the color of ripe corn-in a word, she was fair

Kabtzonivke girls envied her, and every Kabtzonivke woman who was "expecting" desired with all her heart that she might have such a son as Ezrielk. The reason i

s's Ezrielk was deeply versed in the Law, and could solve the hardest "questions," so that you might have made a Rabbi of him. He was, moreover

unger, thirst, and need, the sick, their aches and pai

familiar tunes an

ou get them

he kept them shut while he sang), his tw

ear how ever

nd so wonderfully that the Kabtzonivke Jews began to feel too happy, people

e a not-good one had introduced himself into the child (which God forbid!

erit of the Rebbe's miracle-working! So the Chassidim told him the story. The Rebbe, long life to him, sent for him. Ezrielk came and began to sing.

he must sing. He gets his tun

ten years old, that is, till he fell into

s sinful world in order that he may more or less perfect himself, and that it is therefore needful he should, and, indeed, he must, sit day and night over the Torah

at. There is nothing wrong with the vessel, a goodly vessel, only the wine is still very sharp, and the ferment is too strong. He is too cocky, too lively for me. A wonder, too, for he's been i

lf seriously to the task of s

ish child (which must needs get used to blows) may cry and scream, and the more the better; it showed that his method of instruction was taking effect. And when he was thrashing Ezrielk, and the boy cried and yell

he might begin to recite the prayers in Shool before the congregatio

rowd of people, not only from Kabtzonivke, but even from Kameniv

ife and the joy of life had vanished from his singing, and the terrorful weeping, the fearful

ad the service often, but what a stir he cau

irst U-mipné Chatoénu led by the twelve-year-old Ezrielk, sta

ide the Old Shool felt a shudder go through them, their hair st

and implored, "on a

d the Old Shool, and he went in. As you may suppose, he was much longer in coming out. He was simply riveted to the spot, and it is said that he rubbed his eyes more than

e with his mother to

r has killed me! Reb Yainkel, d

g bad about Ezrielk. What is the matter? Did he hear him inton

ungs, are all sick. Every little bone in him is broken. He mustn't sing or study-the bath will be his death-he must have a long cure-he must be sent

one drop of Jewish blood left in his veins, wouldn't he know that every true Jew has a sick heart, a bad lung, broken bones, and deformed limbs, and is well and strong in spite of it, bec

parents; he sent his assistant to them more than once, but it was no use,

vice in Shool, like the Chassidic child he was, had a dip nearly every mo

o him, was fond of Ezrielk, almost as though he had been his own child. The whole time

story of the doctor, he remar

s after his marriage, and to sing as befor

were filled in, each was an only child, and both Reb Seinwill and Reb Selig undertook to board them "forever." True, when the parents wedded their "one and only childre

ht well give thanks for not having died of hunger in the course of it, such a bad, bitter year as it was for their poor

bitants of Kabtzonivke, regardless of this, now began to envy them in earnest: what other coupl

nd money whereby they might entice the wonderful cantor and secure him for themselves. There was great excitement in the Shools. Fancy finding in a little, thin Jewish

amenivke carried the day. Not one of the others could have dreamed of

ere my grandfather and great-grandfather used to pray. Believe me, brothers, I would not do it, only they give me one hundred and fifty rubles earnest-money, and I want to pass it on to my fa

large town of Kamenivke. There he intoned the prayers as he had never done before, and sh

h Jews, even the richest Gentiles (I beg to distinguish!) came to hear him, and wondered how such a small and weakly creature as Ezrielk, with his thin chest and throat, could bring out such wonderful tunes and whole composit

t a kind of pain in his throat and ch

ith, a tailor, a shoemaker works with his hands, and his hands hurt. Cantors and teachers and match-make

Kamenivke Jews licked their fingers, and nearly ju

in this way, and

ot have fallen to the floor between them. The whole street in which was the Great Shool was chuck full with a terrible crowd of men, women, and children, although it just happened to be cold, wet weather. The fact is, Ezrielk's Lamentations had long been famous throughout the Jewish world in those parts

ing, with a voice that struck terror into his hearers; the whole people saw, heard, and felt, how a strange creature was flying about among them with a fiery sword in his hand. He slashes, hews, and hacks at their hearts, and with

ielk's melancholy voice, and suddenly something snapped in his throat, just as when the strings of a good fiddle snap when the

lost his voice forever, and would r

Yainkel. "His voice is b

utcher to consider and take counsel as to what Ezrielk should take to in order to earn a livelihood for wife and children. They thought it over a long, long time, talked and gave their severa

ving to fairs, and traded in anything and

ained he opened a grocery shop for Channehle. He himself (nothing satisfies a Jew!) started to drive about in the

isposed of the whole of his property, paid his debts, rented a larger lodging, and started trading in several new and more ambitious lines: he pickled gherkins, cabbages, and pumpkins, made beet soup, both red and white, and offered them for sale, and so on. It was Channehle again who had to carry on most of the business, but, then, Ezr

, working themselves nearly to death (of Zion's enemies be it spoke

ou remember the picture drawn at the time of his wedding?-well, then try to imagine what he was like now, after those seven years we have described for you! It's true that he

to live? Even Reb Yainkel and all the Ho

e heard him, because he was hoarse, but he sang without ceasing. Was it likely he would be a successful trader, when he was always listening to what Heaven and earth and everything around him were singing, too? He only wished he could have been a slaughterer or a Rav (he was apt enough at study), only, first, Rabbonim and sla

t bitter end would have been his, if Reb Shmuel B?r, the Kabtzonivke scribe, had not just then (blessed be the righteous Judge!) met with a sudden death. Our Ezrielk was not long in feeling that he, and only he, should, and, indeed, must, step into Reb Shmuel's shoes. Ezrielk had been an expert at the scribe's work for years and years. Why, his father's house and the scribe's had been nearly under one roof, and whenever E

came scribe i

ery poor man, and left a roomful of hungry, half-naked children behind him, but then-what Jew, I a

-YOSSEL

hink than talk, no matter what was being said to him. Even when he was scolded for something (and by whom and when and for what was he not scolded?), he used to listen with a quiet, startled, but

ith a horse, or a donkey, or the wall, or a log

y, and studied the look in his eyes, he woul

g that you don't know, and that you don't understand,

and gentle words, as you would speak to a little, ignorant child, sm

as a ladies' tailor as well. Summer and winter, day and night, he worked like an ox, and yet, when the Kabtzonivke community, at the time of the great cholera, in order to put an end to the plague, led him, aged thirty, out to the cemetery, and there married him to Malkeh the orphan, she cast him off two weeks later! She was still too young (twenty-eight), she said, to stay with him

that so versatile a tailor as Yi

it just shows you

r what I sha

nything, and who made nothing at all, that is, since he displayed his imagination i

ossel made Reb Yecheskel the teacher a pair of trousers (begging your pardon!) of such fantastic cut that the unfortunate teache

uried at the expense of the community. If she was to be buried at all, it was the only way. But the whole town was furious with the old woman for having cheated them out of their expect

esses by the clock, and still did not die, that it was a sign that he had in the course of his long

hetting their teeth for "Aunt" Leah's fortune, and now sh

bout he

over the roof a

the unfortunate consequence was that she died. The Funeral So

number of children, little and big. Who doesn't see that? It looks simple enough! Either one keeps it for oneself and the two little boys (with whom Reb Binyomin used to sleep), or else one gives it to the wife and the two little girls (who also sleep all together), or,

hey and not I? Why them and not us? Why the others and not them? Wel

his brains over these questions, till the Almighty had pity on his

ngland! I must adapt it to some useful purpose, so that Heaven and earth may envy me its possession!" And he

Yossel, you se

see

you understand it, really

ink I

know what

qui

d have told you that myself.

aterial, bea

w many winters this quilt has lasted already? But enough! That is not why I have sent for you. We are neither of us, thanks to His blessed Name, do-nothings. The long and short of it is this: I wish to make out of this-you understand me?-out of this material, out of this piece of stuff, a thing, an article, that shall draw everybody to it, a fruit that is worth saying the blessing over, something superfine. An instance: what, for example, tell me, what would yo

them! Just think: trousers and upper garment in one! He had been so overjoyed, he had felt so happy. So sure that now everyone would know who Yitzchok-Yossel Broitgeber is! He had even begun to think and wonder about Malkeh the orphan-poor, unfortunate orphan! Had she ever had one single happy day in her life? Work forever and next to no food, toil till she was exhausted and next to no drink, sleep where she could get it: one time in Elkoneh the butcher's kitchen, another time in Yisroel Dint

ten (no evil eye!) by her, by the bride herself. He had taken great pleasure in watching her face. He had known her well from childhood, and had no need to look at her to know what she was like, but he wanted to see what kind of feelings her face would express during this occupation. When they led him into the bridal chambe

d he, Yitzchok-Yossel Broitgeber, the bridegroom, sat beside the bridal bed on a little barrel of pickled gh

had not yet driven away the Angel of Death. From some of the neighbo

and snored as loud (I beg to distinguish!) as Casp

had promised himself, that he had sworn, once and for all, to show the Kabtzonivke Jews who he is, and then Malkeh the orphan will have food and a bed every day. He would have done this long ago, had it not been for those trousers. The people are so silly, they don't understand! That is the whole misfortune! And it's quite the other way about: let someone else try and turn out such an ingenious contrivance! B

ntelligent man, a man of brains and feeling. And think how many years

sel, make an end! What

ryth

is t

gown for you

d t

-gown with

er t

coa

el

dre

esides

trousers an

ing m

not

insta

dded winter pe

t, and only that!" said

ked away the quilt under his a

hat about taking my measure

a fair-sized sheet of paper out of one of his deep pockets, folded it into a long paper stick, and begun

h that? Are you measu

o need to teach a skil

about th

settle t

I am a trader, you understan

e gu

ow muc

d I know?

nd half

l, w

chok-Yossel, it mus

ust

abtzonivke village elder, richer than Yisroel Dintzis, the tax-gatherer, and more exalted than the bailiff himself was Yitzchok-Yossel, that is, in his own estimation. All that he wished, thought, and felt was forthwith created by means of his scissors and iron, his thimble, needle, and cotton. No more putting on of patches, sewing on of pockets, cutting out of "Tefillin-S?cklech" and "little prayer-scarfs," no more

ill pour in from all sides)-buy a little furniture: a bed, a sofa, a table-in time he will buy a little house of his own-she will com

he feels it, she wil

omen's Shool, lighted a second groschen candle, sat down in front of it with wide open, s

t the wh

chievement, but hardly was it day when he a

zchok-Yossel! I see by your eyes that

e for yours

ke, Cheike, Shprintze, Dovid-Hershel, Yitzchok-Yoelik!

on the scene. Even the four little ones poppe

sel untied h

duuuuss

trousers wi

STEI

889 in Jedency and from 1896 in Leowo, Bessarabia; removed to Odessa, in 1905, to become correspondent of New York Warheit; writer of fables, stories, and ch

VELI

own, for he rented the corn-fields of its richest inhabitant; and as the lawyer of the rich citizen was a Jew, little Maxim imagined, when his father came to lose his tenantry, that it was owing to the Jews. Little Struli was the only Jewish boy he knew (the chil

oth become bankrupt, when each argued to himself that the other was at

his Savior, over at the other end of the town, by the well, where the Government and the Church ha

n other nails driven in with hammers, and torn scrolls of the Law, and the his

h them, its strength

earned that Christian children were carried off into t

when he passed the Shool at night, and he used to dream that Struli stood o

is white shroud, armed with the Shofar, and suddenly a heartrending voice broke out with Min ha-Mezar, and Maxim, taking his feet on his shoulders, ha

. Their fathers died, and the increased diffic

y sons of widowed mothers; only Israel's mother had lately died, bequeathing to the Czar all she had-a sold

turned all at once into Russian soldiers, and too nicely brought up to march from Port Arthur to Mukden with only one ch

gain under the fortr

ooking pot, received punches from the same offi

nd, like a born Bessarabian, in his Yiddish m

after a hard day, Struli began to talk sixteen to the dozen. He called out

the homelike names and phrase

he rows of sleepers, and sat down

ping of porridge, more than he could eat,

ng him in Roumanian, and a thrill of

Japanese bullet, and there happened

out of his head. "Help, I am killed!"

from the earth, he tore off his Four-

d passed through, only grazing the flesh of the left

, Struli," he said, greeti

ghted Struli's Semitic eyes, and he took the ot

be "countrymen," of one

ad been accomplished, but each one knew that he thanked God for havi

idrash, "Two men with one pair of eyes and one pair of feet between them." Maxim carried on his shoulders a wooden box, which had now became a burden in common for th

they were two men grown into one, and they provided for

li into Maxim's ear, and the other turned on him his two glaze

smile played

" he repeated, a

ling, something that could atone and compensate for all they ha

at they had no near relations and but few friends, while the girls who had coquetted with Maxim before he left would never waste so much as a look on hi

nd there remained only one black care, one all-o

war was distinguished by the fact that the greater number of wounded soldiers went home "on sick-leave," and the money ass

a smile of mingled apprehension and confidence. The sound feet stepped hesitatingly, keeping behind Israel, and it was hard to say which steadied himself most against t

r from somewhere a long way off, a whistle for a whistle, and the train set off, slowly at first, and then gradua

er. "Something to eat? Where are we

was the anniversary of his mother's death-if he

to a Klaus?" he inq

e way down that side-

ed of the other,

ere

e syna

f a Jewish Shool had not left him, and a thou

ldishly imploring, that he could not resist i

ormer to the east and the latter to the west. Maxim and Yisroel stood in the western part, enveloped in shadow. The Cantor had just finished "In

, the Ashré and the Kaddish ended, there was silence. The congregation stood up for the Eighteen Benedictions. Here and there you heard a half-stifled sigh. And

over him, and he felt, as he watched Yisroel repeating the Kaddish, that the words, which he, Maxim, could

embers of the congregation approached the "Mand

d not understand at first

face. He gave the coin to his companion, and explain

they both cried, after

the same thought

o into pa

HE M

l of seventeen, awoke laughing; a sunbeam had broken through the rusty windo

was ashamed to recall, but the dream came

her dreams, she would have lain down in her

a piece of good luck for you! It's a sign of a

ot want to fall out with her mother to-day,

naked foot stretched out and an open stocking in her hands, wonde

and for the moment he is riveted to the spot. His eyes dance, the blood rushes to his cheeks, he gets a

gold locks, betakes herself to the kitchen, where her mother, with her usual wor

a fool! Run down to the cellar, and

ellar, and found the onio

. Greenery! greenery! summer is coming! A

prouts!" she cried, ru

hs! My enemies' eyes will creep out of their lids before there will be f

!" thought Sossye,

she went on to remember that to-day was the first Passover-cake baking

ts that stood about in the room and fitted ever

flour-boy, a two weeks' orphan, carried the pot of flour for the Mehereh, and poured it out together with remembrances of his mother, w

bridge-may they pay for it, süsser Gott! May they live

ll into the dough, with thoughts of his own grandchildren: this o

difficulty. The dough gets stiffer every year, and th

and then into another, till another shovel throws them out into a new world, separated from the old by a screen thoroughly scoured for Passover, which now rises and now falls. There they are arranged in columns, a reminder of Pithom and Rame

ntiles call them "blood," and assert that Jews need blood for their Matzes

ng and cleaning of clean rolling-pins with pieces of broken glass (from where ever do Jews get so much broken glass?), and the whole town is pr

, because another day you will not find them

ppeared at a table beside a pretty, curly-haired girl. He

e fingers, and there is such laughter among the spectators

elf. There is a spark in the embers of his being w

that no girl would hit a complete stranger, and that the blow only m

a minute trying to distinguish Sossye's voice in the peals of

with one pointed corner, so that he may perhaps kno

well-to-do housemistresses, who last year, when they came to bake their Matzes, gave Yom-tov money to the oth

stamps two or three Matzes with hieroglyphs at once, in order to show

all b

he door of the baking-room, he answers with two, gets three back, Sossye pursing

ye's is pulled in two. "Brennen brennt mir mein H

old Berke. "Songs, indeed!

ir life, if they were me. I've left two children at home fit to scream their hearts out.

ms another, evidently "expecting" herself. Indeed, she has

em? Do you think I cry my ey

nherit her place at the Matzes

, you're a grass-widow (to no

my enemies as he'll s

time! After

, or do you want

eal of laughter, and the shove

r nose at him, as much as to say, "Fie, you shameless b

er scolded, the Matzes-printing-wheel creaked and squeaked, the bits of glass were ground against the rolling-pins, there was

ugh the small window-a white spot ju

d whispering in their ears: "What if it is Matzes-kneading, and what

e, in which all have equal share, and which has not forgotten

ng to set, and promised ano

gul-gul-gul-

ells calling the Chr

ced round the tables a

, and gloomy thoughts settled do

coming on!" and mothers'

ly gave a terrified leap across th

whispered the hot Matzes. W

, how soon they will set about providing them with material f

FRIS

in Warsaw; Hebrew critic, editor, poet, satirist, and writer of fairy tales; translator of George Eliot's Daniel Deronda into Hebrew; contributor to Sholom-Alechem's Jüdische Volksbibliothek, S

E WH

he event as one recalls a dream. Black clouds

llar of fire lighting up the men and their doings, and the fire

e upon a time three people ate. Not on a workday or an ordin

s, but before all the people in the great

three, but the chief Jews of the com

o understand, and how I sometimes used to think the Rabbi and his Dayonim had done wrong. But even then I felt that they were doing a tremendous thing, that they were holy

ever forget the day and the men, and what was done on

as had not been for long, an

ven, and had spread abroad among the towns an

istant land, and entered our little

ke flies, and those who were le

those days! Who knows the names of the corp

there was not a house where there lay not one dead-n

t there died a mother and four children, and in the house opposite we heard wild cries one wh

es lay about in the streets like dung. They stuck one

he Solemn Days, and then the most dre

er that day as

of Atonement-the re

not as usual the precentor and two househ

aces, and draw on the robes and prayer-scarfs, the Spanish hoods and silver girdles; and their shadows sway this way and that along the walls, and might be the

something, and the Dayonim, too, and

the consent of this congregation, we give le

i neither preached nor lectured. He only called to remembrance the souls of those who had died in the course of the last few days. But how long it lasted! How many names he mentioned! The minutes fly one after the other, and the Rabbi has not f

roan rising from the depth of the human heart, cleaving the sky and reaching to Heaven. Never since the

no one left

ty, and after that the Psalms, and then chapte

and pray, and my eyelids are heavy as

ofézun-and the a

wn, up and down. And among them I see the bad angel w

congregation had fallen during the night, and died before our eyes, and lay wrapped in their p

isten or to ask questions, lest he should hear what had happened in his own house.

t, the day that followe

he whole picture, and I think I am standin

ent Day in t

ble, and there is a fascination in his noble features. And there, in the cor

ever saw a n

is white like silver, but the thick, long hair of his head is whiter still, and his face is blanched,

w he was a man of God, one of the greatest authorities

leniency in all his decisions,

at day in Shool is

is black eyes gleam and shine in the pa

ple are waiting to hear what the Rabbi will

bbi begins

r and higher every minute, a

of prayer, of the living and of the dead, and of the pestilence that has broken out and t

le comes to a man, he must look to his deeds, and not only to those which concern him and th

ow I began to tremble when I heard t

of dirt, which is dangerous to man, and of hunger and thirst, which are

abbi goes

them. There are times when one must turn aside from t

k to accomplish? And suddenly I see that he is weeping, and my heart beats louder and louder. What has

hand to the two Dayonim to the left and right of him. He and they whisper together, and he says somet

tand them, because the words do not enter my brain. A

s, "With the consent of the All-Present and with the consent of this

in the Shool, not an eyelid

efore my eyes. The shadows move to and fro on the wall, and amongst the shadows I see the dead who died yester

tonement-not to fast, because of the cholera-because of the cholera-because of the cholera ... and I begin to cry loudly. And it is not on

are soft and gentle, and every now and the

me to turn aside from the Law. We are to live thr

and declares that he takes the whole responsibility on himself, that the people shall be innocent

u leave to

e like arrows sh

are deaf, and

th his former voice, an

till my strength fails? Think you I have not strug

m also plead w

ll on his breast. There is a groan from one end of the Shool to the oth

ike one speaking

r yet transgressed a law. But this is also a law, it is

the Rabbi whispers a f

e Dayonim, and they nod

should live many years and grow very old, I shall never forget what I saw then, and even now, when I shut my eyes, I see th

belong to

h themselves, who shall say how th

the Rabbi, and his voice does not

ame be p

ate that day, t

nce, and spread all around, and reach the

n: three

is before me, there are three Jews sitting in a

nes of the place: the tax-collecto

var, glasses of red wine, and eatables. And the three sit with playing-c

o belong to

SEPH BER

d Jewish literary, spiritual, and timely questions; contributor to Hebrew periodicals; editor of Bet-Midrash, supplement to Bet-Ozar ha-Sifrut; contributed Ueber den Zusammenhang zwischen Ethik und Aesthetik to Berner Studien zur Philosophie und ihre

ARY S

s if they'd

great top-boots, my wide trousers, and my shabby

e military cap on my head is a beauty, and no mistake, as big as Og king of Bas

face, yellow and weazened, with two large

a grey jacket, narrow, close-fitting trou

eyes, why they shine so, why my face

dier, and have to serve only two years and eight months, and not three years and eight months, because I

ths, I feel the same as though it were to be forever; I can't, somehow,

tricks, to do my duty and obey orders, so that they

d clean the windows, or polish the flooring with sand, or clear away the snow from the door, I make no fuss

ordered me to car

en I look at the vessel in which the water is carried, my heart begins to flutter:

row, or the day after, they wake me at th

o with Ossadtchok to f

ash me with one finger. It is as easy for him to carry a pail of wat

shouldn't mind about that. But God in Heaven knows the truth, that I won't be a

tending he is a poor creat

that more t

"privileged rights," but I can't sleep in peace: I dream all night that

may have time to clean our rifles, polish our boots and leather girdle, brush our co

something shouldn't be properly cleaned, and they should say that a Jew is so lazy, he doesn't care if hi

's. I can't make it look the same as theirs, do what I will, and the head of my division, a corporal, shouts at m

-I am sure it is older than I am. Every day little pieces fall out of it, and

buttons. And next morning, when the corporal takes hold of a button and gives a pull, to see if it's fi

le night's

o that our stomachs fall in and our chests stick out. I am half as one ought to be, because my

coat, but it's no use. He loses his temper, and calls me greasy fellow, screams again

the gym

o the yard, which is very wid

the sun warms us throu

and however much I swallow, it's not enough, I should like to take in all the

eap and go through all sorts of performances with our hands and feet,

e got to jump it. If the worst comes to the worst, I shall fall and bruise myself. Suppose I do?

ng run, and when I came to the ditch, I made a great bound, and, lo and behold, I was

ditches, and over mounds, and down

er or swinging myself over a high bar

st rung with my right hand, but I c

hok, and so there I hang and kick with my feet, till my right arm begins to tremble and hurt me. My

to get higher, if only three or four rungs,

ll asleep, and stand and look at it: perhaps I can think of a way to m

him. He bends down a little, lowers his head, rests his hands on his knees, and we hop over him one at a time. One tak

only I can't raise myself into the air. And if I do lift myself up a little way, I remain sitting on th

ad, so that I may see there is nothing dreadful about it, as though I did not jump right over him because

don't believe me. They say, "It won't

comes to "theory," the corpo

himself no one kno

when one of the others doesn't

umin, you

, but he is apparently not pleased with my way of r

eat were hot," and he looks at me angrily, as much as to say, "You may know theory

again an

answer the question as he likes it done: smartly, all

cannot catch me up, and when I have got to the end, he is still following with his finger and reading. And whe

says, "that

know it then. For instance, take my comrade Ossadtchok; he says that, when it comes to "theory", he would rather g

ead, he could study the whole thing by

ys, "will ever

very much: However was I t

rty pounds), and if I walk three versts, my feet hurt, and my h

: a rifle, a cloak, a knapsack with linen, boots, a uniform, a tent, bread, and onions, a

, and I went. At the beginning I found it hard, I felt weighted to the earth, my left shoulder hurt me so, I nearly fainted. But afterwards I got very hot, I began to breathe rapidly and dee

t, because I did not feel so very cheerful, and second

was easy, I seemed to be carried along rather than to tread the earth, and it appeared to me

soaked through, and grew heavy. The mud was thick. At three o'clock in the morning an alarm

shook, and my teeth chattered with cold. That is, I was cold one minute and hot the next. But the marching was no difficulty to me, I sca

hed again. Then we halted for hal

n a whole night

who ought to have marched, but another regiment, and we ought no

p, there was no straw on which to pitch our tents, but we managed somehow. And so the d

. It seems I got a bit of a chill at the man?uvres, I cough every morning, and sometimes I suffer with my feet. I shiver a little at

sometimes they do my work, but not just for love. I get three pounds of bread a day, and don't eat more than one pound. The rest I give to my comrade Ossadtchok. He eats it all,

w other soldiers to read and wr

e to be taught, but he neve

ou" to me instead of "thou," and sometimes invites me to share his bed-I can br

m town tipsy, and makes a great to-do: How do I,

before him "at attention," and de

rns kind again, and calls me to him; he l

ves me a report to draw up, or else a list or a calculation

y help, only it wouldn't do for him to confess to

is not satisfied, he will

in the orderly-room, a Jew can't be an army secretary; secondly, because he is certain

e said to me then, "I shou

although I not only respect him, I tremble before his size. When he comes back tipsy from town, and finds me

re, and other times

BERSC

in business, in Ekaterinoslav and Baku; editor, in 1903, of Ha-Zeman, first in St. Petersburg, then in Wilna; after a short sojourn in Riga removed to Warsaw; writer of novels and short stories, almost exclusively in

N AND

or accompany her to the grave. There was not even one of her kin to say the first Kaddish over her resting-place. My wife and I were the only friends she had at the close of her life, no one but us cared f

house-of-study near by, where she prayed twice every day. She was about sixty, rather undersized, and very thin, but more lithesome in her movements than is common at that age. Her face was full of creases and wrinkles, and her light brown eyes were somewhat dulled, but her ready smile and quiet glance told of a good heart and a kindly temper. Her simple o

eat help in the old woman, who smilingly taught her how to proceed with the housekeeping. When our first child was born, she took it to her heart, and busied herself with its upbringing almost more than the young mother. It was evi

me that here lay yet another reason; her attentions to the child, so it seemed, awakened pleasant memories of a long-ago past, when she herself was a young mother caring for children of her own, and loo

res to be true. Her history was very simple and commonplace, but very tragic. Perha

ut on the whole it was a good business and profitable, and it afforded them a comfortable living. Besides, they were used to the country, they could not fancy themselves anywhere else. The very thing that had never entered their head is just what happened. In the beginning of the "eighties" they were obliged to leave the estate they had farmed for ten years, because the

ile she told the story of that first misfortune. It was a bitter Tisho-b'ov for them when they left the house, the gardens, the barns, and the stalls,

d been used to drive into the town now and again, but that was on pleasure trips, which had lasted a day or two at most; they had

an to show signs of illness, brought on by town life and worry. This, of course, made their material position worse, and the knowledge of it reacted disastrously on his health. Three years after he came to town, he died, and she was left with six children and no means of subsistence. Already during her husband's life they had exchanged their first lodging for a second, a poorer and cheaper one, and after his

t listen to her. Parting with them, forever most likely, was bad enough in itself, but worst of all was the thought that her children, for whose Jewish education their father had never grudged money even when times were hardest, should go to America, and there, forgetting everything they had learned, become "ganze Goyim." She was quite sure that her husband would never have agreed to

have turned out differently! They would not have been bustled off to the end of creation, and

They took with them two hundred rubles and sailed for America, and with the remaining three hundred rubles she opened a tiny shop. Her expenses were not great now, as only the three younger children were left her, but the s

e most hopefully about the future, when their position would certainly, so they said, improve; but the mother's heart was not to be dece

she wept over her fate-to have a son living in a Gentile city, where there were hardly any Jews at all. And the next letter from America added sorrow to sorrow. Avròhom and Rochel had parted company, and were living in different towns. She could not bear the t

us. Avròhom had secured steady work with good pay, and before long he wrote for his younger brother to join him in America, and provided him with all the funds he needed for travelling expenses. Rochel had engaged herself to a young man, whose praises she sounded in her letters.

t, whether she would or not. The occasion was one which a mother's fancy had painted in rainbow colors, on the preparations for which it had dwelt with untold pleasure-and now she had had no share in it at all, and her heart writhed under the disappointment.

from her son Yossef, so that she was not even obliged to keep up the shop, but the mother in her was not satisfied, because she wanted to see her children's happiness with her own eyes. The good news that continued to arr

other and little sister to come and live with him. At first the mother was unwilling, fearing that she might be in the way of her daughter-in-law, and thus disturb the household peace; even later, when she had assured herself that the young wife was v

ack to her. And this especially with regard to Yossef, who sometimes complained in his letters that his situation was anything but secure, because the smallest circumstance might bring about an edict of expulsion. She quite understoo

Yossef invited her to spend several months as his guest. No sooner had she gone, than the mother realized what it meant, this parting with her youngest and, for the last years, her only child. She was filled with regret at not having gone with her, and waited impatiently for her return. Suddenly sh

arations for the start. These were just completed, when there came a letter from Yossef to say that th

nd, that he should at last be coming back, for God would not forsake him here, either; what with the fortune he had, and his aptitude for trade, he would make a living right e

this: news came that the danger was over, and Yossef would remain where he was; but as far as she was concerned, it was best she sho

one minute to doubt her children's affection. And we, when we had read the treasured bundle of letters from Yossef and Rivkeh, we could not doubt it, either. There was love and longing for the distant mother in every line, and several of the letters betrayed a spirit of bitterness, a note of complaining resentment

became her constant secretary, and one day, when writing to Yossef for her, I made use of the opportunity to enclose a letter from myself. I asked his forgiveness for mixing myself up in another's family affairs, and tried to justify the interference by dwelling on our affectionate relat

here are certain things not to be explained, while the impossibility of explaining them may lead to a misunderstanding. Thi

d a packet of Hebrew books, which had been left by her husband, to her son Yossef, and to inform him of her death by telegram. "My American children"-she explained with a sigh-"have certainly forgotten everything they once learned, forg

to my letter written during her lifetime came now that she was dead. Her children thanked

he Pale. It was enough that she should have to live forlorn, where would have been the good of her knowing

SH

t, 1893; first English story in The American Hebrew, 1906; associate editor of Jüdisches Tageblatt; writer of sketches, short stories, and biographies, in Hebrew, Yiddish, and English; con

LE IN

who was always tormenting me with Talmudical questions and with riddles, once

immediately replaced the bitten-out piece with my hand, so that the hole should not escape. But when I had eaten up the Beigel, the hole had somehow always disappea

r breakfast, Beigel for dinner, Beigel for supper, Beigel all day long. They also observed that

, and asked the Rebbe, in the mid

eaten a Beigel, what

le in a Beigel? Just nothing at all! A bit of emptiness! I

e lives and learns. And America has taught me this: One can have Beigels without holes, for I saw them in a dairy-shop in East Broadway. I at once recited the appropriate blessing, and then I asked th

s the

the shape of candles. But this reform cost him dear, because the united owner

er of the universe, and bakes Beigels without holes! Have you ever heard of such impertinence? It's just revolution! And if a person like this is allowed to go

sell Beigels without holes was against the constitution, to which the first party replied that the constitution should be altered, as being too ancient, and contrary to the spirit of the times. At this the second party raised a clamor, crying that the rules could not be altered, because they were Toras-Lokshen and every letter, every stroke, every dot was a law in itself! The city papers were obliged to publish daily accounts of the meetings that were held to dis

YEARS

ront parlor, and began tapping the velvet covering of the sofa with her fingers. T

a cushion, but there it was, by bad luck, in the very centre, and ma

any had brought children, and you never have children in th

e took the opportunity to inspect her entire set of furniture. Eight years ago, when she w

seats losing their spring, but to-day all this struck her more than formerly. The holes, the rents, the da

ture was old, that she would soon be ashamed to invite people into her parlor. And her hus

and went out to do her bedroom. There, on a chair, lay her

pened the wardrobe, for she wanted to make a general survey of her belongings. It was such a light day, one could see even in the back rooms. She took down one dress after another, an

od by the sideboard on which were set out her best china service and colored plates. She looked them over. One little gold-rimmed cup had lost its handle, a bowl had a piece glue

e wardrobe, and on the china, had not spared the woman, though she had been married only eight years. She looked at the crow's-feet by her eyes, and the lines in her forehead, which the worrying thoughts of this day had imprinted there even more sharply than usual. She tried to smile, but the smile in the glass looked no more attractive than if she had given her mouth a twist. She remembered tha

And the desire to live was stronger than ever, even to li

something new: her husband was tired of her usual dishes. He said her cooking was old-fashioned, th

so as to win back her husband's former

dreamt of a world without tears and troubles, of a time when men should live as brothers, and jealousy and hatred should be unknown. In those days he loved with all the warmth of

racking his brain with speculations, trying to grow rich without the necessary qualities and ca

age he was as worn as their f

ent anxieties reflected in their faces, with wrinkles telling different histories of the cares of life. She saw old faces, and the young

and dancing and jumping till the whole street seemed to be jumping and dancing, too. Elder people turned smilingly aside to make way for them. Among the children Rosalie espied tw

from school, and when she had given each little face a motherly ki

ned to their childish prattle about

s in every corner. The home wore a new aspect, and the sun shone e

ndwiches, and looked at them as they ate-each child the picture of the mother, h

es worn, the china service not being whole, about the wrinkles round her eyes and in her forehead. She only mind

D PI

893, first sketch published in New York Arbeiterzeitung; 1896, studied philosophy in Berlin; 1899, came to New York, and edited Das Abendblatt, a daily, and Der Arbeiter, a weekly; 1912, founder and co-editor of Die Yiddishe Wochenschrift; author of short stories, sketch

SHLO

in the country, sent his two boys to live with their g

can't be helped!" and he engaged a good teacher for

heir Law, as the saying goes, standing on one

d more indoors than out, and he used to listen

tor in my old age!" h

. Reb Shloimeh sat with a smile on his lips, and laughing in his heart

teacher shows it to be so by the light of reason, and Reb Shloimeh becomes graver, and ceases smiling; he is endeavoring to

e begins to tell of even greater wonders. He tells how far the sun is from the earth, how big it is, how ma

you! Have you been on it? A pretty thing to say, upon my word!" Reb Shloimeh grew very excited. The teacher took hold of Reb Shloimeh's hand, and began to quiet him. He told him by what means the astronomers had discovered all this, that it was no matter of speculation; he explained the telescope to him, and talked o

he teacher's "stories." "We even know," the teacher

lieve you?" and Reb Shl

directly," answe

upted Reb Shloimeh, impatiently. He was very an

d, a celebrated naturalist and mathematician, Isaac Newton. It was

ery likely!" broke in R

s. He spoke at some length, and Reb Shloimeh sat and listened with close

eply, he only looked u

acher

years. Their exact number is not known, bu

d like to know what next! I thought

" interrupted the teacher,

," was the irate reply, and Reb S

with knitted brows. He was angry with science, with the teache

begins to weigh on his heart and brain, he would like to find a something to catch hold of, a proof of the vanity and emptiness of thei

y," he reflects. "It's ridiculous

fs!" and the feeling of helple

up?! The earth revolves! Gammon! As to their explanations-very wonderful, t

tons off his coat, puts his hat

ays," he concludes. Then he remembers t

h's head, and prove things, and once

. But he was restless all night, turning from one side to

," she said, and coughed. "I

came, Reb Shloimeh inquired

ing to tell stori

geography to-day,"

lation on which days we may learn geography

very of mine!" and

ers decreed the study of geogr

morr

sly, and left the room, missi

and moon to his pupils. Reb Shloimeh sat with his chair

"that the astronomers are able to calculate to a minute when

a knowing way, and looked at the pupils a

s continually interrupting the teacher with exclamations. "If you don't believe me, go and m

iences other than "Jewish," and when at last he did picture it, he would not allow that they were right, unfalsified and right. He was so far intelligent, he had received a so far enlightened education, that he could understand how among no

mathematical computations, demonstrations which almost anyone can test for himself, which impress themselves on the mind! And Reb Shloimeh is vexed in his soul. He endeavored to cling to his old thoughts, his old conceptions. He so wished to cry out upon the clear reasoning,

ld say, "why not? Only it

the door, Reb Shloimeh s

hole of 'your' learning is nothi

teacher, "there's a

insta

to tell you stan

,'" he answered impatie

aid the teacher. "If you like, I shall c

d Reb Shloimeh in

n't come at any other

bath," said Reb Shl

ady outside the door. "And everything else is as right as your ast

!" and the te

laxed his frown, or showed a cheerful face the whole time. And he was often seen, during those two days, to lift his hands to his forehead. He went about as thoug

teacher's appearance. "You wanted a lot

ook the snuff-box between his fingers, leant against the back of the "grandfather's ch

ir meaning, and Reb Shloimeh repeated each explanation in brief. "Physics, then, i

ranch of science. By the time the old lady woke up, the teacher had given e

ir eyes to the sky. But Reb Shloimeh had forgotten in what sort of world he was living. He sat with wrinkled forehead an

sked the old lady, in asto

s wife with a dazed look, as though wo

d lady, "you only

wrinkled his forehead still more, and once

to light the fire,"

d at the clock. "I

I was allowed to sleep so long, I'm sure I don't kn

ave a look out

e already coming out of Shool, the service is

d began to recite the Afternoon Prayer. The teacher put on his

finished reci

all that?" he asked then, looking

y," answered the teacher. "The chil

how he wrinkled his forehead, he could not expel the stranger thoughts from his brain, and fix his attention on the prayers. After the service he tried taking up a book, but it was no good, his head was a ju

talk with him. Meantime he sat down to listen. The hour during which the teacher ta

tepping with him into his own room. He felt as thoug

hloimeh's face. Reb Shloimeh looked at the floor, his br

you understand-not a little boy-a pupil-an e

ll see!" answered t

re, as if he had been forced to confess some very ev

be delighted!" and

and he began to talk about the terms, and it was arranged that every day for an hour and a half the teacher should re

become depressed, very depressed. He does not sleep at nigh

thoughts o

wrong, understood head downwards. And it seemed to him that if he had known in his youth what

o beg donations is no poorer for them, and the pauper for whom he begged them is the same pauper as before. It is true, he had always thought of the paupers as sacks full of holes, and had only stuffed things into them because he had a soft heart, and c

it all lies before him as clear as on a map-he would be able to make every one understand. Only now-now it was getting late-he has no strength left. His spent life grieves him. If he had not been so active,

the side, a burning in his brain, and he was wrapt

help once for all, so that the other need never come for help again. That can be accomplished by waken

he had only understood long ago, ah, how useful

come more than o

that nobody knew. They tried to worm something out of the maid, but what was to be got out of a "glomp with two eyes," whose one reply

d would cry. "How can I know, sitting in the kitchen, what they a

y left her, and betook themselves to the

er to the question, "What does

they talk abo

d!" the children

ed the o

usiness?" s

f some business or other, but that didn't succeed, either. At

do gossip!"

what

t sit a

all over the town. Of course, nobody was sat

her must turn hot

ame into anyone's head that there might be a connection between this and the conversations. The old lady settled that it was a question of the stomach, which had always troubled him, and that per

n cure," people said, and shook their heads with sorrowful compassion. They talked to him by the hour, and tried to prevent h

said, and sighed. "He's pining away-g

ue Christian, with his love for his fellow-men, and promised him a place in Paradise. "Reb Shloimeh is goodness itself," the town was wont to say. His one lifelong occupation had been the affairs of the community. "They are my life and my delight," he would repeat to his intimate friends, "as indisp

heir money-always squeezing them for charities. They called him the old fool, the old donkey, but without meaning what they said. They used to laugh at him

nt marriage, he set up a business. His wife was the leading spirit within door

elf a grandfather, he retired from business, and l

ry in every respect, such was Reb Shloimeh's life, and for all that h

it were with a wave of the hand

ame again the pain in his side and caught his breath, but Reb Shloimeh took no notice, and went on thinking. "Something must be done!" he said to himself, in the tone of o

mud Torah, where he had already long provided f

with spiritual things-i

eyes, laid his forehead on his hands, and a sweet, happy smile parted his lips. He pictured to himself the useful people who would go forth out of the Talmud Torah. Now he can die happy, he thinks. But no,

town was i

s, in the houses. Hypocrites and crooked men, who ha

almud Torah into a school! That we won't allow! No matter if w

he heard nothing. He thought it would end there

e asked the teachers. "Fanat

rouble," replie

e opposition had collected, and they got onto the platform, and all began speaking at once. It was impossible to make out what they

platform, put them on again, and was once more reading the Pentateuch. They saw this from the platform, and began to shout louder than ever. Reb Shl

e name of the Holy Torah, it is resolved to take the children away from t

nt in his heart. He stared at the pla

ey perish, with their name and their remembrance! We are not short of Gentiles-there are more every day! And hatred increases, and God knows what the Jews

scoundrel!" The words all but rolled off his

latform, "and whoso despises the decree, his end shall be Gehenna, with

he speaker threw a fier

n Reb Shloimeh, expecting him to begin abusing the speaker

e, wished the bystanders "good Sabbath," and wa

anyone. "People are not so foolish as all that," he thought, "and they wouldn't treat him in that way!" He sat and laid plan

immortality. And now she saw with horror that he was like to throw away his future. But how ever could it be? she wondered, and was bathed in tears: "What has come over you? What has happened to make you like that? They are not just to you, are the

re were goings-on in the town, too. The place was aboil with excitement. Of course they

s work!" explained on

a clever man, so book-learned. How can the teac

e. "In the Talmud Torah, under his direction, they wanted for nothing, a

it would be better to

, penitently. And a resolution was passed, to the effect that

street, saw how the men threw themselves about, rocked themselves, bit

d how all held that the children were not to be allowed to go to the Talmud Tora

down, never mind! The

no relations or protector in the town, had not come. They had been frightened and talked at and not

ed at the teachers as though ashamed in their prese

pulled himse

get the better of me," and he ran ou

ns of the children. But they all looked askance at him

hildren to the Talmud Torah," he begged

them of the sort of people

was n

have lived without all that, and our children will live as

tories," they would say in another house. "We don't

sold mine?" Reb Shloi

who was talking of you?" the

red and depressed. The old w

her hands. "What is the matter with

asked no questions: they had only to look at h

sank into h

king sideways, but mean

"We will find something else to do, get hold of some other childr

east, turned his look sideways, and thoughts he could not piece toget

o such a thing to me! Well, there you are! There

finished life had made on him of late, and immediately after it all the plans he had thought out for setting to right his whole past life by

yone so happy, so happy! He would have worked with his last bit of strength, he would have drawn his last breath for the cause to which he had devoted

not far from the bed, and talked among themselves. He wanted to lift his hand and draw it across his forehead, but somehow he doe

hought, "I am fi

with his hand: "Verfallen!" but the lips wou

, wishing to read in their faces whether there was danger, whether he was dying, or whether there was still hope. He look

her came

eh?" asked

ope," the teacher replied, so earnest

hough he meant, "So may it be! Ou

eachers all

imeh, "good, ha? There's a

ly, "you will get well again, an

e God!" he answere

very day. The having lived wisely an

a foot, a broad, sweet smile spread itself over his fac

o think once more about doing something or other. "People must be taught, they must be taught,

lse!" And he set to work thinking where it should be. He recal

s, and have no strength left for study. One must teach them, he thinks. The master is not likely to object. Reb Shloimeh was

re lively, and is continually

nd how happy he felt, when, leaning on a stick, he stept out i

toward him had changed for the better,

would have counted himself the happiest of men, if he had been ab

d not see

there is a God in the world, and that people cannot do just what they like. The great fanatics overflowed with eloquence, and saw in it an act of Heavenly vengeance. "Serves him right! Serves him righ

atter with him. And when they heard that he was better, that he was getting well, they really were pleased; they were sure

he clung to his wickedness,

e sick. Reb Shloimeh felt inclined to ask them if they had come to stare at him a

you, Reb Shloim

Shloimeh, almost in spi

the others b

heir seats. Then they stood a bit, wished him a speedy return to health, and

le town knew of the visit, and

you are in, there is no getting out! Give the d

et, they stared at him and shook their heads, a

deed, it brought the tears to his eyes, and he began

h a hearty "Welcome!" but he fancied that here also they looke

," he said, "one must

t for an hour or two, talking, telling stories, and at las

here, and interested the workmen deeply. Sometimes they would all of one accord stop wor

motionless as statues, till Reb Shloimeh f

all in time!" he would say, i

Reb Shloimeh remained a little thrown out. He lost the thread of what he was tel

his own way

workmen began to take interest in every book that was brought them

ard something from Reb Shloimeh, they threw themselves upon it, nearly tore i

doing something, that he was being re

imeh's constant visits to the bookbinder's

rugged their shoulders. They even laughed in R

ame to a speedy end. One

s from working with your stories. What do you m

e asked. "They go on

ys are ready enough at finding an excuse for idling as it is! A

ss, and there was nothing left for Reb

gain!" he

eart, a beating in his tem

it's all over. I must di

ver have begun to think about death, but now-where was the use

t home. He sat down in the arm-chai

r-mannered, more human, more intelligent. It seemed to him that he had implanted in them the love of knowledge and the inclination to stu

come to me-they must come!" he thou

ne o'clock at night, and the whole even

ater and later, and the

ent out into the street; perhaps he would

A chilly autumn night; the air was saturated with moisture, and there was dreadful mud u

at quicker. His old wife came out three times to call him into the

of the night-watchmen. Reb Shloimeh gave a last look into the darkness,

n bed. He began to feel that his end was nea

same!" he said to himself, t

ught as it were unconsciously, without giving hi

had seen here and there, comrades of his childhood, but they all had no interest for him. He kept

was silent, not taking his eyes off the door, or interrupting the train of his thoughts. It

ing at the door. Suddenly he heard

visit the sick,

nd there came in f

e his eyes, but soon a smile appeared

yfully, and his heart be

the bed, not venturing to approach the sic

rer, childre

e a litt

me!" and he poi

e up to

u all about?" he a

men were

st night?" he asked, and

ilent, and shuffle

eb Shloimeh?" a

d Reb Shloimeh, still smiling.

" he said after a pause. "I wi

hloimeh," said a workman

d Reb Shloimeh, impatient

th the teachers and the teachers

Shloimeh, another

nterrupted Reb Shloimeh

looks with the teachers, and, at

the human race, he spoke with ardor, and it was lo

or a long,

m that it was bad for him to talk so much. But he only s

better," he sa

workmen rose f

meh. It's getting lat

w, do you hear? Look here, children, to

ey moved away a few steps, and t

uired feebly, as though

they wouldn't com

eant "Well, well, I know, you needn't s

. He could scarcely move a limb, but he was very cheerful,

Now I am well," he repeated, feeling the while that his head was strangely heavy, his heart fain

to himself. He opened his eyes. The room

ought, and began to

he asked of the person

iv

whispered to himself, and cal

e to let them in, do you hear!"

at nine," adde

e his will. After writing the will

would live. He thought of what man would come to be. He pictured to himself a bright, glad world, in which all men would be equal in happiness, knowledge, and

ally be?" he as

hat his question referred, for his face told them it was

e lost himse

see with his mind's eye nothing but happy

ining a great heap of happiness-happiness with

amentation d

ndered. "Every one will h

The room was packed with people. Beside him stood all h

little grandchildren, a g

the happy tim

op lamenting, but at that moment his eye

le, and made a sign with his head. People did not know what he m

t up; those ar

you, in the-hope of a-good time-as I die-in-that hope. Dear chil-dren-" and he turned to the workmen, "I told you-last night-how man has lived so far. How he lives now, you know f

red on his lips, an

his heart, without any sign of repentance? What else could they say of a man who spent his last minutes in telling people to learn,

family declared in court that their father w

for they mean well-they kn

L

ere, to New York (1893); worked as capmaker; first sketch, "A Sifz vun a Arbeiterbrust"; contributor to Die Arbeiterzeitung, Das Abendblatt, Die Zukunft, Vorw?rts, etc.; prolific Yiddish playwrig

PI

ll fly out at you as if you had invited him to a swing on the gallows. The fact is, h

end of August. Shmuel came home

ah,

band?" was

id Shmuel, as though alarmed

Shall you go to the s

's the fun

of by way of an exception? A

hat, e

ole s

with a shake

ered Sarah. "Are you going

ld I want

ng to sleep

ng a

arbolic acid, and d

erved Shmuel, "but th

asked Sarah, beginning to lose patience. "What have you been

hmuel

now, we belon

ot more than a week since you took a whole dollar there, and I'm not likely to have fo

aga

wit

stammered Shmuel,-

. "Is that the only thing

h. It's nothing but trouble and worry, trouble and worry.

done?" said his wife

en't set eyes on a green blade of grass.

hed his wife, and

for once, and give the children a breath of fresh air,

, suddenly, and Shmuel has soon

be ten cents there and ten back-that makes fifty cents. Then I reckon thirty cents for refreshments to take with us: a pineapple (a damaged one isn't more than five ce

live on that two days, and it takes nearly a whole day's earning. You can buy

one day in the year! Come, Sarah, let us go! We shall see lots of other people, and we'll watch them, and see how they enjoy themselves. It will do you good to see the world, to g

ve no time to go about sight-seeing. I on

to the slack times, I know where there's an Eighth Street, and a One Hundred and Thirtieth Street with tin works, and an Eighty-Fourth Street with a match factory. I know every single lane

id his wife, and this tim

his wife decided to join the l

Yossele habitually went barefoot, he failed to bring about any visible improvement, and had to leave the little pair of feet to soak in a basin of warm water, and Yossele cried, too. It was twelve o'clock before the children were dressed and ready to start, and then Sarah

n anything?" asked S

ren and the traps. "No,

in their places. Sarah, too, fell into a doze, for sh

hey got some way up town

ll-my head is so dizz

r," answered Shmuel. "I suppos

aid his wife. "I'm af

glance at poor Shmuel, who was so frightened that he dropped the hand-bag with the provisions, and then, conscious of the havoc he had certainly brought about inside the bag by so doing, he lost his head altogether, and s

Much good may it do him! You're a workman,

hole thing, and said nothing, but

on the other, and carried the bag with th

ttle and mother will give you some bread and sugar. Hu

ed her as she walked, while Bere

s," said Sarah, "may his

s they turned

it down in the shade," sa

el was about to speak, but a glance at Sarah's face told him she was worn out, and he sat down beside his wife without a word. Sa

ps under the trees. Here was a handsome girl surrounded by admirin

grees her vexation vanished. It is true that her heart was still sore, but it was not with the soreness of anger. She was taking her life to pieces and thinking it

bout the trees and the roses and the grass, and li

began to spot with rain, and before they had time to move there came a downpou

Shmuel caught up two of them, Sarah another two or three

ngry!" be

" wailed Yossele

ere soaked, and the pineapple (a damaged one to begin with) looked too nasty for words. Sarah caught sight of the bag, and was so angry, she was at a loss how to wreak vengeance

ontinued to cl

r and buy a glass of milk and a fe

ft?" asked Sarah. "I thought it

just five c

quick about it. The po

stall, and asked the price of a

mister," answ

t his finger, and returned to hi

l, where's the mil

d twenty

rah could no longer contain herself. "They'll be the ruin of us! If y

stopped begging f

to do?" asked the

arah. "Go home,

rk. Sarah was quite quiet on the way home, merely remarking to

-bag, for the pineapple, for the bananas, for the milk, for the

t possessed me. A picnic, indeed! You may well ask what next? A poor wretc

supper, as he always liked it, even in slack times, but there was no supper given h

c, oi, a

NA

from work, taken off my coat, unbuttoned my waistcoat

waiting for my reply, in came a woman wit

ce. She had nothing on her head, her sleeves were tucked up, she

seh's wife,

Gricklin's

isitor, "Grickli

n a coat, and begge

mine, he was a capmaker, and w

same tenement as myself, but it was the fi

an, "don't you work in the

yes,"

me from work with all other respectable people, and my husband not? And it isn't the first time, either, tha

ow," I repl

le in such a way that I bega

r eyes. "What do you mean by that? Don't you two leave the

me a few blocks, and then went off in another direction, and that one day

ome friends," I

hter. "Who? Whose? Ours? We're greeners, we are, we have no

said, "but that is

wife. "I'll teach him a lesso

words she

f poor consumptive Manasseh being taught a "les

nt to write, and he read only Yiddish-a quiet, respectable man, I might almost say the only hand in the shop who never grudged a fellow-worker his

I wondered to myself, an

day before; but the poor operative looked so low-spirited, so thoroughly unhappy, that I felt sure his w

e going home from the wor

come to see y

I answered. "She seemed s

gry, she's fit to kill a man. But it's her bitter heart, poor thing-she's

gave a

I go other days after

es

ou like

Mister G

s further," said Manass

agreed, and we w

ed me into a narrow street, not

astonishment. We were standing alongside a piece of waste ground, wit

the garden, "how delightful it is! One so s

ngs that grew there were unknown to me, and I was ignorant of their names. Only one thing had a familiar look-a few tall, graceful "moons" were scattered here and

utiful they are! I can't take my eyes off them. I am capable of standing and looking at them for ho

ost himself a moment in

cucumbers lay along the ground like pussy-cats, and the stalks and leaves spread ever so far across the beds. The beans fought for room like street urchins, and the pumpkins and the potatoes-you should have seen them! And the flowers were all colors-pink and blue and yellow, and

ve workman had grown younger and healthier. His fac

the garden, "I had some cuttings of rose-trees at home, in

was a

uired, "and w

to air on the top of the bask

esture with his hand, and

he worked came into my mind,

IT FOR

inflammation of the lungs when it

of grief and despair-they even tho

had the courage to throw themselves into the cold and grizzly arms of death. They o

they named her Dvoreh, aft

ense of the word, and their naming the child after

bout quit

asked his wife, "how sha

," replied th

o I," said

, automatically, gazing at her pretty baby

nceforward. When the first child had lived to be a year old, the parents had made a f

ond child it

ainfully, infinitely, but when it came to the a

going too far if I say t

t was different: terrible pictures of death, of a child's death, would rise up in the midst of their joy, and their gladness suddenly ended in a heavy sigh. They would be at the height of enchantment, kissing and hugging the child and laughing aloud, they would be singing to it and romping with it, everything else would be forgotten. Then, without w

ooking at their little lau

her question and is silent, because

have buried their first-born c

it came to her second, it was nearly the same thing, only Dobe said, "Ginzbu

ll of terror for them, because their eldest-born had died in her third year, a

the other. This conviction, this fixed idea of theirs, was that when Dvorehle reached the

it was a terrible time! And-and the child fell ill, wi

t they called superstition, that the belief in a Higher Power beyond our understanding still had a root in their being, if you had spoken thus to Ginzburg or to his wife, they

hild's cot, began to speak,

? Perhaps? Perhaps?"

" asked Ginzbu

is?" Dobe went on. "The sam

dence of circumstances

e other, as if somebody had

wife's meaning, and an

n't talk

s would occur within twenty-four hours. What this meant to the Ginzburgs would be difficult to

eepless nights, their hearts half-dead within them, they shed no tears, they were so much more dead

e lived through the death of their first child with all details-his father's death, his mo

day of the month is it?" And then

rmurs, as if he were

same day?"

nzburg. "I was thi

g, and fell into a

with a soft step, take a chair,

er, his heart is full to bur

I have brought a remedy for t

me!

pon her neck and kiss her, but

for my Yohrzeit?" she inquires,

ity on us, sa

ve, only you must

obs louder),

dle-make hast

from his wife, and

ild is dying! Fly

e child, a chill went thro

or came

ailed the unhappy mother, and he, Gin

utinized the c

There was something dreadfu

" and the Ginzburg

tles of hot water!-Champagne!-Where is th

to hand and rea

self with the child, the par

sked Dobe

on know," sa

shadow into a corner of the room, and

for?" asked Do

e answered in a strange voice, and

r, and father and mother fell upon the

lamp burnt brig

IMES TH

s being long and dark as the Jewish

y live in a basement, separated from the rest of the world by an air-shaft, and when the sun gathers his beams round him before

re it is really light, and so it comes to pass that when other people have left their beds, and are

ply: They do rise with aching sides, and if you say, "How can people be so lazy?" I can

f lying in bed if

fe is a never-ending struggle with poverty, and they have come to the conclusion that the cheapest way of waging

(I beg to distinguish!) work is dreadfully slack. When

put by during the "season," and in the second place, you must cut down your domestic expense

winter, the money goes all the same: it's bitterly cold, and you can

g. Coal was beyond them, and kerosene as dear as wine, and yet how could they possibly spend less? How could t

ty and cold? There is nothing in particular to do, anyhow. What should there be, a long winter evening through? Nothing! They only sat and poured out the

r only, three-year-old child. Avremele did not understand why he was put to bed so early, but he asked no que

hed, the stove would soon go out of

ught against pover

ging chea

t sleep out, Brekli

pose the time to

stens att

st eight o'clo

ou think so?"

of knives and forks? Well-to

is time, in the Tsisin," said Breklin

ether," says Yudith, and husband and wife

er Breklin wake

matter?" in

ache wit

Yudith, and they b

e now?" wonders Breklin,

o'clock," s

ve it. It must be a grea

nd you'll hear the housekeeper upstairs scolding

t drags!" sighs Breklin, and

ing, but as much to

till all alive, and

ghs Breklin over and over, a

ght we

ep?" asks Bre

through such a long night? I'm l

asks Brekli

hat we can have for dinner to-morrow that

Breklin again, and is

e it is Yudith) "wha

morning," is Br

sense!" Yudit

rning soon!" H

th, good-naturedly, "and so you think it will soo

ou don't know what you're sayi

emele always wakes at midnight and

from under Avrem

s awake after all!" and Yudith r

's cold," s

ld, sonny?"

e!" replie

loser and closer round him,

night

es!" groa

dith, and they start

to calculate how long it is since they married, how much they spend

the basement begins to lighten, whereupon the Breklins jump out of bed, as though it

HAM

e army, in Kovno, for four years; went to Warsaw in 1900, and to New York in 1911; Yiddish lyric poet and novelist; occasionally writes Hebrew; contributor to Spektor's Hausfreund, New York Abendpost, and New York Arbeiterzeitung; co-editor of Das zwanzigste Jahr

UT

ck hair that falls in twisted ringlets, but, of course, the ringlets are only seen w

e he has them only in part, and that is why his eyes are

nd the Cheder is darkened, so that it oppresses the soul. Lebele loves the moon, the night, but at home they close the shutt

is a delight, it is so pleasant and cheerful, and the Rebbe go

e, at the sun? What

dare he, Lebele, disapprove? He is only a little boy. When he is grown up, he will doubtless curtain the wind

lready set, the street is cheerful and merry, the cockchafers

s father is a kind man when he talks to strangers, he is so gentle, so considerate, so confidential. But to him, to L

my fine fellow? Have y

se it's a wild absurdity! It amuses him, because he is only a little boy, while his father is a great man, who trades in wood and corn, and who always knows the current prices-when a thing is dearer and when it is cheaper

w many chapters he has mastered, and if he answers five, his father hums a tune

t? Why so

t, and feels guilty

her makes him tran

ate Kim

passing the night,'" a

they sit down to supper. Lebele's father keeps an eye

es the father, and Lebele holds the spoon

and in correct Hebrew, according to custom.

Thou dost feed and sustain us.' Well, come, sa

a great hurry, although he longs to run out int

and Lebele has to keep all his wits about him. The moon, round and shining, is already floating through the sky,

almud against the morrow's lesson. He delays there a while gazing at the moon,

ndoors,

as though a wind came along with his father's words, and he grows cold, and he goes

eart sinks. His father goes out, and Lebele sees the shutters swing to, resist, as though they were bein

nts to be in the street, whence sounds come in through the chinks. He tries to sit up in bed, to peer out, also through the chinks, and even

re, eh? Do you want me

his pillow, pulls the coverlet over his hea

ARITAB

opes. "Ulas," say the Klemenke shopkeepers and traders, "is a Heavenly blessing; were it not for Ulas, Klemen

wherewithal-the shopkeepers nee

efore Ulas, and he hasn't a penny wherewith to buy corn to trade with. And the other dealers in produce circulate in the market-place wi

t will be lively

ecstasy, "in three days' tim

ain, snow, or storm on that day, so that not even a mad dog should come to the market-place; on

s head. A charitable loan-where is one to get a

e, but they only answ

Money-just b

hayyim that he re

B?res?" suggests his wife, who tak

at myself," answers

t?" asks

I haven't the courage," only that it doesn't sui

im! He won't

n't hurt,"

a rich man, and living in the same street, a neighbor in fact, and tha

ercoat!" says Chayyim to h

answers. "It's the best thin

iled to the wall, smoothed his beard with both hands, tightened his ea

haven't got any white

ered, and began slapping him wi

d a little clothes-br

apping him on the shoulders, and she went on, "Well

aid Chayyim, almost a

sigh, and muttering, "Very likely, isn'

the light rooms, the great mirrors, the soft chairs, Loibe-B?res himself with his long, thick beard and his black eyes with their "gevirish" glance, the lady, the merry, happy children, even the maid, who had remained in his memory since those two visits-all these

or the shock of disappointment; but he felt that if he gave way to that extent, he would

les over the fair? I shall tell him that as soon as ever I have sold the corn, he shall have t

older, and he tries another sort of comf

ance won't date from to-day-we've been living in

him the greeting due to a gentleman ("and I could swear I gave him my hand," Chayyim reminded himself). Loibe-B?res had made a friendly reply, he had even stopped

eaven forgive me, one does

with his reply, "I answer

is time even more leisurely and ind

he distance. He coughed till his throat was clear

ng to persuade himself that the coat was still good, so

indows looking onto the street flashed into his eyes, the windows

own accord to his lips. Then he felt asha

r" escaped him once more, "Help, might

d with a clean white table-cloth, and drinking

led out a boy of twelve, on see

e boy, still more merrily, fixing Chayyi

ng at Chayyim, and he thought every moment

d to himself, made a step forward, and, w

and I saw you sitting-so I knew you were at ho

oibe-B?res, smiling. "You've com

this reply, and, with a glance at the

im a glass of tea," c

ght Chayyim. "May the Al

nd would gladly have fallen onto th

are you about?"

to God, o

you," and then was sorry: it is not the proper thi

with it!" Loibe

nt man!" thought Chayyim, ast

omething?" ask

little bit of business, thank Heave

etching now?" it occur

it seemed better to Chayyim

uch!" he declared in a

ome oats ready?" inqu

ot them quite cheap," replied Chayyim, with more warmth, forgetting, wh

tle speculating?" asked Loibe-B?res.

hayyim, proudly, "I have neve

s. "How am I going to ask for a loan now?" and Chayyim wanted to

a good thing of it, you

back, but after a glance at Loibe-B?res' shining face

I have nothing

k of his head. "Why are you boasting like that? Tell him you want twenty-f

nd happy way of talking, praised his business more an

e sat there so long, or have talked in that way. It would have been b

l face, at the two little boys who sat opposite and watched him with sly, mischievous

n covered him. He

eady?" observed Lo

he might yet save himself, but, stealing a glance at the two boys wit

the two little boys with the mischievous eyes are putting out their tongues after him, and

to burn, and he makes has

WO BR

, the second sixteen-have been at the college that stands in the town of X-, five Germa

k eyebrows. Berele is taller and stouter than Yainkele, his eyes are lighter, and his gla

h their own torn clothes; and in their dreams they saw their native place, the little street, their home, their father with his long beard and dim eyes and bent back, and their mother with her long, pale, melancholy face, and they heard the little brothers

so fast, so loud, but the carriers were very busy; they came charged with a thousand messages from the Dalissovke shopkeepers and traders, and they carried more letters than the pos

find it directly-no, I don't

thirsty eyes and aching hearts; stood and waited, hoping he would notice them and say something, if only one word. But Lezer was always busy: now he had gone into the yard to

, lost patience. Biting his lips, and all but crying with vexation,

eet with somebody or other, or be absorbed in a conversation, and Berele

t one-there

dly call to Yainkele to come away. Mournfully, and with a br

!" Yainkele would say a few min

" Berele would mu

anded them a letter

tter r

Chil

you herewith half a cheese and a quarter of a pou

h, and do not q

, your

im He

ry love. They wrote an answer at once-for letter-paper they used to tear out, with fluttering hearts, the first, imprinted pages in the Gemoreh-a

Berele?" asked Y

ll right,'" Berele

ele persuaded himself. Then he g

lose the

ered Berele, angrily, and th

letter; and Lezer the carrier grew more preoccupied and cross, and answered either with mumbled words, which the brothers could not understand, and dared not ask him

uing me for? Letter? Fiddlesticks! How much do you pay m

heir thin little legs shook, and tears fell from their eyes onto the

they longed all the time just to go and look at Lezer the carrier, his horse a

in the way described, the two brothers were sitting in the house of the poo

w," said Yainkele, staring at the

nails," answered Berele,

imagined Yainkele, "and Mother is comb

gh!" decided Berele. "How can w

dead!" added Yainkel

id Berele. "When people

and the carrier won't

. "Shut up, donkey! You make me laugh," he went on,

all at once he gave a bound into the

I say! Let's wr

agreed Berele. "O

got last night. You know, at my 'Thursday' they gi

" said Berele, "just e

will write it?"

, "I am the eldest,

ave four

s worth more th

half, and you'll

Come and b

s ran to buy a card

the way home, as he contemplated the small post-card. "We wi

t be able to

le. His heart was already full of words, like a sea, and he wanted to pour it

lodging, and sett

nd Yainkele sto

a whole line. Why did you put 'to my belov

In the sky, eh?" asked Bere

away, and stared with terrified eyes at Berele, as he sat there, bent double, and w

creamed Yainkele,

f yet," answered

le, crossly. The longing to write, to pour out hi

learnt in "The Perfect Letter-Writer," and his little bits of news remained unwritten. He had yet to abuse Lezer the carrier, to tell how many pages of the Gemor

can no longer contain himself-he sees that

ward with a cry, and

s more!" be

hree words; but that which he wished to express required yet ten to fifteen words, and Berele, exci

roke into hysterical sobs, as he saw

thy son,'" begged Be

uld read so much of Berele at home, and so little of him, flew into a passion, and came and tried

that one ought to put it. His anger rose, and he began tugging at the card.

villain!" cried Berel

do it!" wail

rele, gazing in despair at the

hrew himself against the wall, tearing his hair. Then Berele

HIS

ll the prayers, even when he prays alone, and who is longer over them than other people, had already folded his

e artistically to the higher octave, then to fall very low, and to rise again almost at onc

sure no one was standing beside him. Seeing only old Heno

hylacteries under his arm, the unsuccessfu

ttered, "it never once

oon, as he stood praying with the choristers before the altar, nearly the same t

the memory of the unsuccessful "Hear, O Israel" of two weeks ago and of

ome. Contrary to his usual custom, he began taking rapid steps, and it looked as if he were running away from someone. On reaching home, he put away hi

The day is too short for you!" exclaimed the cantor

pened wide with fright, "I sing a note, a

ve pity on me! Don't say, 'it grates'! because i

ed with the dinner to sympathize and to understan

fens me. When you sing in the choir, I have to

white as chalk, and on

mad? What are yo

atiently. "You've made a fool of yourself long e

t one must eat, if only as a remedy; not to eat w

d anything wrong; but this time she said nothing at all, and he was reassured. "It was my fancy-ju

y years old, and it had happened to the can

again. He bent his head, and thought deep

ru

call out in that strange voice?"

"Why do you say 'in that strange voice'? Who

und as of tear

y! As nonsensical-Wel

eggs for me!" begged

ednesday! Have you got to chant the Sabbath pra

apiece, two rubles, five rubles, one hundred rubles.

earn so much mone

over with me?" said the c

perhaps it was imagination, but he was afraid to say all that, and Grune did not understand what he s

ote as though he were examining some one. Finding himself

th the eggs!" His one

ht them with a cros

and we're pinchi

ot think the eggs were what he cared about; he would have liked to say, "G

ay be only an id

g further, he began to dri

ake a few cantor-like trills. In this

so soon as all that! Never mind Meyer Lieder, he drank! I don

, and he swallowed mo

le unsuccessful "death" rang in his ears, and

ll of a sudden. But that time he didn't care. On the contrary, he was delighted, he knew that his voice was merely changing, and that in six months he would get the baritone for which he was impatiently waiting. But when he had got the baritone, he knew that when he lost that, it

-hearted, and never refused anything to the outstretched hand. He took care of his voice, and trembled to lose it, only out of love for the singing. He thought a great deal of the Klemenke Jews-their like was not to be found-but in the interpretation of music they were uninitiated, they had no feeling whatever. And when, standin

heir stories turned and wrapped themselves round cantors and music. These stories and legends we

ed to him the singers were different people-bad people! They must be laughing at him among themselves! And he began to be o

that he was a great deal thought of, that his voice was much talked of. He saw in his mind's eye a couple of cantors whisper

n quite u

d would begin to sing, to try his highest notes. But the terror he was in took a

pale and thin, his eyes were sun

th you, cantor?" said

, thinking they had already found out. "You ask what is

hat is why I ask you w

thing more than ups

out some new piece for the So

that his voice was gone, he would perhaps have been calmer. Verfallen! No one can live forever (losing his voice and dying was one and the

tor resolved to get at the tru

r meat, and the choir had gone home, only the elde

outh and shut it again; it was difficu

he broke

sse

s it, c

re you an h

tared at the ca

asking me to

antor said, all but wee

all he

at is wrong

honest man, and tell me

! What is the matte

h: Do you notice

ng at the cantor, and seeing how pale a

n, you tell me the truth to my

e a month," ans

a month, a mont

erspiration that covered h

el, that it's lost n

be aware that the conversation turned on somethi

should I lose? Money? I have no

o much of a musician not to understand. Loo

cer

be cheerful. "Why must it be for certain? Ver

r, and as a doctor behaves

the cantor, like an obed

quavers-draw it out!" commande

tor dre

you ple

r sang ou

ppeared to be lost in tho

on

rev

ou likely to get another voice? At

wn beside the table, and, laying his head on

d heard of the misfortune-that

an. "He won't keep us so long with his trills on Sabbath.

A

to lengthen, and there was no more petroleum in the hut to fill his humble lamp; his wife complained too-the store of salt was giving out; there

bacco; we haven't got an

had no work to give. Antosh had only one hope left. Just before the Feast of Tabernacles he would dri

ce buying his thin horse in

y of the village Jew. "Not yet," was the Jew's daily

not dreaming how very much An

lated with business accuracy that it would be best to take the fir-boughs into

nk a measure of water. Then he harnessed his thin, starved hors

greedily, seeking out t

ulating on a return of three gulden, and it seemed still too little, so that he went on cutting, and laid on

the reins. But scarcely had he driven a few paces

oned fearfully, cut down five more boughs, laid

s thoughts travelled slowly too, as t

he could buy for the return for his ware. At length the calculating tired him, and he resolved

oths and the houses seemed to be twirling round him in a circle, and dancing. But he consoled himself with the thought that eve

ed at his heart. He drove on. Two Jewish women were standing before a

gh?" queried An

ith your fir-boughs," they

astonished. "Too soon-to

thinking, "Berko said himself, 'In

had told him. It was possible that he had counted the days badly-had come too late! There is no doubt:

nguid horse, which let his weary head droo

nd prayer-books in their hands. When they perceived the peasant with the cart of fir-boughs, they

u there?" som

Fir-boughs! Buy, my dear friend, I sell

burst out

egun!" said another. Antosh was confused with his misfortun

t salt, soap! I

ly moved. They saw the poor, starving peasant standing ther

athetically. "He hoped to make a fortune out

said a third, "else it might cause a Chillul h

firewood," said another,

no! It's a

hat the Jews were saying among themselves. He could only guess that they were talking about him. "Hold!

per, whose shop was close by. "Give him, Chayyim, a few jars of salt and othe

gly!" said Chayyim

a religious precept, as surely as I am a Jew!"

He gave him out of the stores two jars of salt, a bar of

for joy. He could only stammer in

called out one, when he had packed

and a second hand h

or

or

d m

all sides; his astonishment was such tha

l man, who was well supplied for the festival, because his daughter's

ive home, in t

lp, bit off a piece of cake, and declar

entile," remarked s

Did you expect him to beat y

ancholy impression on the crow

KA

obbe. In the room it was dismal to suffocation. The seven children, all girls, between twenty-three a

g in low, broken tones out of a big Gemoreh, and continually raising his head, giving a nervous glance at the curtain, and then, without inquiring what mi

er who broke the stillness-"Let it be a boy f

, Lord of the World!"

th broken heart and prostrate spirit,

at the seven girls, gave vent to a deep-drawn Oi, made a gesture with his

ion; their father's conclusion quite crushed them

four-year-old, in the t

there will be a

out a Kaddish!" g

eel that soon, very soon, the "grandmother" will call out in despair, "A little girl!" And Reb S

ng so quietly and indifferently, the stars seem to frolic and rock themselves like lit

allen!" he says, crossing the yard ag

ear that it should be a girl only grows upon him

use is in

is i

rely may I be well!" with this news the se

ed Reb Selig, as though

ced the "grandmother." "As soon as I

the same bewilderment, and he leant against

girls to

d the "grandmother," "I hav

elig, overcome with happiness,

me of Jacob, but he was called

laughed at his Cheike for believing in such foolishness; but, at heart, he was content to have

pression on his chest more frequent. But he held himself morally erect, and looked death cal

e, after a fit of coughing, "would Alterke be able t

exclaim in secret alarm. "You are going to l

pposes I am afraid to die. When one

prayer-book and imitating his fathe

e turned delightedly to her husban

face. Then an idea came into his head: Alterke will be a Tzaddi

eat!" wailed Al

ite bread which was laid aside

began

Who bringest forth!"

answered

ght him to say grac

terke to him and bega

: Bo

ted the child a

tt

tt

saw Alterke, in imagination, standing in the synagogue and repeating Kaddish, and heard the

her more trying than ever before. He could just drag himself early to the synagogue, but going to the afternoon service had

er where Cheike's bed stood, and where Alterke slept beside her. Selig had a feeling that he would die that nigh

woke wit

troking the little head-"

first sleep out, sprang u

the little table with the open Gemoreh, lifted

ter

t, T

u like me

nowing what "to die" meant, and t

d Reb Selig, in a strangled voice, an

" promised

you kno

ha

w, say: Y

peated the chil

skadd

stadd

ted the Kaddish wit

rke, who repeated wearily the difficult, and to him unintelligible words of the Kaddish. And Alterke, all the whil

THE ORCH

having greeted him, asked "Where do you come from?" and he answered, not without pride, "From th

is father-in-law, he became a teacher, the town altered his name to "the Wilner teacher." Again, a few years later, when he got a chest affection, and the doctor forbade him to keep

or a business in which he need not have to do with a lot of people in

, they want to be always talking! They want to tell

e ruin in which Rabbi José, praying there, heard the Bas-Kol mourn, cooing like a dove, over the exile of Israel. And then he longed to float away to that ruin somewhere in the wilderness, and murmur there like a dove, with no

could not afford to hire an orchard for more than thirty rubles. The orchard was consequently small, and only grew about twenty apple-trees, a few pear-trees, and a cherr

there was a continual "fair." What should he want there? He only wished to be alone with his thoughts and

s, but Avròhom does not mind, he is drawn back to the trees that

and the "Stations," two volumes of the Gemoreh which he owns, a few works by the later scholars, and the Tales of Jerusalem; he take

Later on, when Avròhom has got to know the dog, he will even take him into the orchard, but the first time there is a certain risk-one has to know a dog, otherwi

aims the owner, laug

, shamefacedly, and feelin

r, graver. "There is no hut there

nd," begs Avròhom, "i

the owner shrugs his shoulders, a

e ground, stretches himself out full leng

es. It seems to him that the trees also wonder at his coming so

couldn't help it

trees have understood everyth

ound, and goes to every tree in turn, as though to make its acquaintan

to his liking. Such a ruin is inwardly full of secrets, whispers, and melodies. There the tears fall quietly, while the soul yearns after something that has no name and no existence i

and how the mother is, and he feels he has done his duty, if, when obliged to go home, he spends there Friday night and Saturday morning. That over, and the hot stew eaten, he returns to the orchard, lies down under a tree, opens the Tales of Jerusalem, g

o bend under the burden of it, Avròhom must perfo

s and pears, Avròhom collects them, makes them into heaps, sorts them, and awaits the marke

t do away with it. Young gentlemen and young ladies come into the orchard, and hold a sort of revel; they sing and laugh, they walk and they chatter, and Avròhom must listen to it all,

eart he bids farewell to the trees, to the hut in which he has spent so many quiet, peaceful moments. He conveys the apples to a

ag themselves along sick and disheartened. They cough and groa

ê!" and he spits. "Wh

legends in the Tales of Jerusale

er, always warm and fine. And ev

ll through the autumn and part of the winter, Avròhom drags himself about with a basket of apples on his arm and a yearning in his heart. He waits for the dear summer, when he will be able

DAVID

er; went to Warsaw in 1898; at present (1912) in America; first literary work appeared in 1900; writer of stories, etc., in Hebrew and Yiddish; c

AND THE

ide of him, a passing guest, a Libavitch Chossid, like the Rav himself, a man with yellow beard and earlocks, and a grubby shirt collar appearing above the grubby yellow kerchief that envelopes his throat; to the other side of him, his son Sholem, an eighteen-year-old yout

e telling lies. Up to twenty-five years of age he was a Misnaggid, but under the influence of the Saken Rebbetzin, he became a Chossid, bit by bit. Now he is over fifty, he drives to the Rebbe, and comes home every time with increased faith

and somewhat angry, at those sitting at table, then a groaning sigh. But the Rav is ashamed to imitate him, or is partly afraid, lest people shou

himself, seizes the bottle rather awkwardly, as though in haste, fills up his glass, spills a little onto the cloth, and drinks with his head thrown back, gulping it like a regular tippler, after a hoarse and sleepy "to your health." This has a bad effect on the Rav's enthusiasm, it "mixes his brains," and he turns to his son for help. To tell the truth, he has not much confidence in his son where the Law is concerned, although he loves him dearly, the boy being the only one of his children in whom he may hope, with God's help, to have comfort, and who, a hundred years hence, shall take over from him the office of Rav in Saken. The elder son is rich, but he is a usurer, and his riches give the Rav

he Law before his son, and he knows perfectly well that n

that he now looks at his son in a piteous sort of way. "H

is father, but in his heart he wonders at him; it seems to him his father ought to learn more about his heretical leanings-it is quite time he should-a

from the very sweetness of the Blessed One's kiss, a spark kindled in Sholem's eyes, and he moved in his chair. One of those wonders had taken place whi

lem is fascinated. He wishes to die anyhow, so what could be more appropriate and to the purpose t

t violently while he made ready, but the very act of writing out a poem after dinner on Sabbath, in the room where his father settled the cases laid before him by the townsfolk, was a bit of hero

He counted on the fact that when the Rav awoke from his nap, he always coughed, and that when he walked he shuffled so with his fee

ants to collect his thoughts for the new one, but something or other hinders him. He unfaste

ransformed by Sholem's brain into a theme for romance, must now descend into his heart, thence to pour itself onto the paper, and pas

e sees nothing more, but he feels a light, ethereal kiss on his cheek, and his soul is aware of a sweet voi

urned over and over so rapidly that the mind is unconscious of its own efforts. His poetic instinct is searching for what it needs. His hand works quietly, forming letter on letter, word on word. Now and again Sholem lifts his eyes f

the exposition of the Torah, and he required to look up something in a book. The

ty to see Sholem's when he caught sight of his father, who, utterly taken aback

inclined to weeping, and he retired into his own room. Sholem remained alone with a very sore heart and a soul opprest. He

The beadle was snoring on a seat somewhere in a corner, as loud and as fast as if he were trying to inhale all the air in the building, so that the next congregation might be suffocated

s; then, again, he felt he must make an end, free himself once and for all from the paternal restraint, and become a Jewish author. Only he felt sorry for his father; he would have liked to do something to comfort him.

ands, but a stone lay on his heart, a heavy stone; there were tears in his eyes, and he was all but crying. He needed

he called

her bed. "I feel bad; my foot ach

got no further with her; he even mentally repen

, and found none, and came at last to the conclusion that it was a work of Satan, a special onset of the Tempter. And he kept on thinking of the Chassidic legend of a Rabbi who was seen by a Chossid to smoke a pipe on Sabbath. Only it was an illusion, a deception of th

with a look of absorption and worry, than he stopped short. He was afraid to go up to his s

ed the Rav gently, with downcast eyes.

andkerchief, tied it round his neck, and glanced at his son with a ki

e town, the old man cough

is all

swer a word, and his father had to

s? Eh? Sabbath-b

ed and w

e fixed on a horse that was moving about with hobbled legs, while th

rite Hebrew, too, once upon a time, but break the Sabbath! Tell me yourself, Sholem, what you think! When you have bad thoughts, how is it you don'

t I certainly am, there isn't the smallest doubt

ut it. What harm can it do to tell him? No harm whatever. I also used to be tempted by bad thoughts. Therefore I bega

hands and wrinkling his forehead. Carried away by what he was saying

ery now and then we come to a stumbling-

y the cry of "fire." He quivered from top to toe, and seized his earlocks with both hands. For there could be no doubt of the fact that Sholem had now broken the Sabbath a second time-by carrying the fo

man was about to say something, probably to begin again with "What is all this?" Then he hasti

gan panting. "Azoi!

od, so long as he held the papers, it being outside the Eruv. His ank

," he called to Sholem, who had moved a few steps aside. Sholem came a

oe

elt that he was growing weak again, and tried to stiffen hi

t meant to r

t you want to be, is it? A Jeroboam son of Nebat, to lead others

e was afraid to leave it in the field, lest Sholem or another should pick it up later, so he got up and began to r

folio into his girdle, and, without moving a s

Prayer, Shegetz!" c

own. Before he came to the Eighteen Benedictions, he gave another look at his son, and it seemed madness to t

his father's will: for the first time in his life, he not

One and His Name is One, and His people Israel one nation on the earth, to whom He gave the Sabbath for a rest and an inheritance. The Rav wept and swallowed his tears, and his ey

art beat fast, for he knew his father would throw the manuscript into the fire, where it would be burnt, a

Tatishe, please

back without looking h

She is ill, she mustn't be upset.

R BL

ired the trade of carpenter in order to win the right of residence; studied medicine; began to write in 1906; came to New York in 1908

O

ose

gnedly, so that no one should know what happens the

slav by a wooden bridge, lies anoth

other like tombstones, with their meagre grey walls all to pieces, with the broken window-panes stuffed wi

f all season and reason. They talked of a livelihood, of good times, of riches and pleasures, with the same appea

referred not to reach out into the world with their thoughts, straining them for nothing, that is, for the sake of a thing so plainly out of the question as a competence. At night the whole town was overspread by a sky which, if not grey with clouds, was of a troubled and was

hem as though with a thick, damp, ston

gh they knew there was none to give them. They did not hear the sighs and groans of their friends and neighbors, filling the air with the hoarse sou

to the continued existence of breathing men, even these they saw no longer. Sile

rays pierced beneath the closed eyelids, before a

teous sounds filled the air. One gigantic curse uncoiled and crept from house to house, from door to door

burning eyes, they crawled over one another like worms in a heap,

they are in a melting-pot with heat and exhaustion, but there are counter-balancing advantages; one can live for weeks at a time with

lement sky, an enfeebled sun, a si

possessed by gloomy despair. It never even occurred to them to tear their neighbor's bite out of his mouth, so depressed

their roofs and howled in their all but smokeless chimneys like

of a burial-society, of a little hospital or refuge, a Rabbi, of providing Sabbath loaves for the poor, flour for the Passover, the dowry of a needy bride-the Pidvorkes were ready! The sick and lazy, the poverty-stricken and hopeless,

sbands-they knew about the Pidvorkes a hundred miles round; the least thing, and they pointed out to their

round the Pidvorkes a river so transparent, so full of the reflection of the sky, you could not decide which was the bluest of the two. Pereyaslav at any rate was not affected by any of these things, perhaps knew nothing of them, and certainly did not wish to know anything, for whoso dares to let his mind dwell on the like, sins against God. Is it a Jewish

cleverer than others. They, too, bear children and suckle them, one a year, after the good old custom; neither are they more tho

bands; they swallow their contempt by the mouthful without a reproach, and yet they are exceptions; and yet they

ash-box-they stand in their shops with miscellaneous ware, and toil hard. They weigh and measure, buy and sell, and all this with wonderful celerity. There stands one of them by herself in a shop, and tries to persuade a young, barefoot peasant woman to buy the printed cotton she offers her, although the customer only wants a red cotton with a large, flowery pattern. She talks without a pause, declaring that the young peasant may depend upon her, she would not take her in for the wor

presently the tumult increases, there is a cry, "Cheap fowls, who wants cheap fowls?" Some rich landholder has sent out a supply of fowls to sell, and all the women swing round towards the fowls, keeping a hold on the peasant's cart with their

isten as though they each wanted to pull the whole market aside. There is a shrieking and scolding, until one or another gets the better of the rest, and secures the peasant's wares. Then only does each woman r

simply must! One is only human-one is surely not expected to wrangle with him about every farthing?)-then, when there is nothing more to be done in the shops, they begin to gather in knots, and every one tells at length the incidents and the happy strokes of business of the day. They have f

customer, and sold something which she had all but thrown away, and not only sold it, but better than usual; or else they tell how late their husbands sleep, and then imagine th

mble with pleasant excitement, and a

of some sort at the Rabbi's. You can imagine how early it was, because I didn't even want to wake Soreh, otherwise she always gets up when I do (never mind, it won't hurt her to learn from her mother!). And at half past seven, when I saw there were no more peasants coming in to market, I went to see what was going on indoors. I heard my man calling me to wake up: 'Sheine, Shein

r husband had called to rouse her (he also usually woke her after market), she answered that on that morning she did not intend to get up for market, that he might go for once instead. This appare

fell into a brown study; she felt herself in a very, very critical position, because when a girl comes to that age, one ought soon to marry her. And there is really nothing to prevent it: money enough will be forthcoming, only let the right kind of suitor present himself, one, that is, who shall insist on a well-dowered bride, beca

ch-experienced wives. They knew all about teething, chicken-pox, measles, and more besides, even about croup. If a young mother's child fell ill, she

that is, appeared at different times and different places, in which case it was positively nothing serious, but only t

ve money of her own. They knew as well as their mothers that a bridegroom would present himself and ask a l

hey went over to the discussion of their connections

ur and be silent in a bad!) had as yet ever (far be it from the speaker to think of such a thing!) given birth

, that they never got a good word from the

erything, the very wrinkles vanish from their shrivelled faces, a spring of refreshment and blessedness wells up in their hearts, they are l

ng things that have happened in their quarter, but no one else gets to know of them; th

uietly as always. But the event was so extraordinary, so cruelly unique-such a thing had not happened since girls were girls, and bridegrooms, bridegrooms, in the Pidvorkes-that it inevitably became known

hough they themselves were responsible for the great affliction. An appalling misfortune, an overwhelming sense of shame, a yellow-black spot on their reputation weighs them to the ground. Uncleanness has forced itself into their sanctuary and defiled it; and now they seek a remedy, and means to save themselves, like one drowning; they want to heal the plague spot, to cover it up, so that no one shall find it out. They stand and think, and wrinkle the brows so used to anxiet

for whom the news is no novelty, for many more and more complicated mysteries have come to their knowledge, even they look sad, while the swallows, by the depressed and gloomy air with which they skim

le's iniquity, but he re

d, neither dragged aside nor laid forcible hold of, were singular

They stood with hands folded, and turned feverishly to every newcomer

pirit had made its way into their life, and was keeping them in a perpetual state of terror; and that, were they now to hold their peace, and not make an en

nsult. Their hearts beat faster, but without violence. Suddenly there was a shock, a thrill, and they looked round with startled gaze, to see whence it came, and what was happening. And they saw a woman forcing her way frantically through the crowd, h

having, with her own hands, beaten off three peasants who wanted to strangle her husband, he, they d

o, Breindel!" begg

ngue? Never you mind, I shall take no water into my mouth. I

out so!" beg

her right fist, and, fighting the air w

trouble. Don't let us be frightened, and we shall spare ourselves in the future. We shall not be in terror that to-morrow o

forward in support of Breindel's proposal. Soreh Leoh said: She advised going, but only to him, the bridegroom, and telling him not to give people occasion t

ll not be counted worthy to have us come be

gan to look round, and no one knew who it was speaking. At first the young voice shook, th

something, the best would be to say nothing to anybody, not to get excited, not to ask anybody's help, and let us make a collection out of our own pockets. Never mind! God will repay us twice what we give. Let us cho

eased; the world grew lighter again. Every one felt envious in her heart of hearts of her to whose apt and golden speech they had just listened. Everyone regretted that such an excellent plan had not occurred to herself. But they soon calmed down, for after all it was a sister who

ut the dowry was six hundred, and now he says, that unless they give one thousand, he will break off the engagement. What, says he, there will be a summons out against him? Very likely! He will just risk it. The que

"learning," there was no need to be afraid of them; and if once in a way they wanted some for themselves, nobody had the right to say them nay. Others said that the husbands were, after all, the elder, one must and should ask their advice! They were wiser and knew best, and why s

ly knew that she also must shriek, scold, and speak her mind. And who knows what would have come of it, if Breindel-Cossack, with her powerful

oken such golden words, had not left her side, now stepped forward, and her voice trembled with emotion and pleasant excitement as she said: "Malkehle and I think like this: that we ought to go to Chavvehle, she being so wise and so well-educated, a doctor's wife

their children for nothing; she always accompanied her husband on his visits to the sick-room, and often left a coin of her own money behind to buy a fowl for the invalid. It was even said that she had written about them in the newspapers! She was very fond of them. When she talked with them, her manner was simple, as though they were her equals, and s

the rest. Never mind! It doesn't matter telling her. She is a Jewish daughter, too, and will keep it to herself. These things happen behind the "high windows" also. Whereupon they all breathed more freely, and went up the hill to Chavveh. They went in serried ranks, like soldiers, shoulder to shoulder, relief and satisfaction reflected in their faces. All who met them made way for them, stood aside

tle window-panes. But beside nearly every hut stood a couple of acacia-trees, and the foam-white blossoms among the young green leaves gave a refreshing perfume to the neighborhood. Emerging from the streets, they proceeded towards a pretty hill planted with pink-flowering quince-trees. A

white glass shades, upheld in the right hands of two statues carved in white marble. The distance had not wearied them; they had walke

was immediately before the ceremony, and he insisted obstinately that unless a silver box and fifty rubles

t would have been Chayyim Treitel

even in cases where he disliked her, and they quarrelled. No indignity they suffered at their husbands' hands could hurt t

ouse in the distance, they all cr

were filled with enthusiasm for the common cause, and with a pain that will

although apt, incisive phrases came into her head, one after another, she felt that she would never be able to come

ht of the tall flowers arranged about a round table, in the shelter of a widely-branching willow, on which there shone a silver samovar.

h a sweet smile, and her eyes awoke answeri

rprise on Chavvehle's part, any more tha

like any sage, and were filled w

ent, and led the women into her summer-parlor, for she had evident

d it hardest to speak were the selected spokeswomen, Breindel-Cossack and Malk

nt to tell me," she said, "for otherw

d come. They all wished silently that their children might turn out one-tenth as good as she was, and their impulse was to take Chavvehle

ssionate as she gazed at the faces of her sisters; it seemed as though they w

was so intense as to be almost seen and felt. The women held their breath, and only exchanged roundabout glances, to find out what was going on in each other's mind; and they looked first of all at t

d her head, and

of what it is about. Do you want my he

they had it from Chavveh herself? Was she not one of their own people? Had she not the same God? True, her speech was a little strange to them, and she was no

wiped their tearful eyes, so that Chavveh should not remark them. Chavveh saw the difficulty they had in opening their hearts to her, and she began to spea

ot hungry. We have come to consult

to speak in a soft voice, but

eak to us in Yiddish, not in Polish. We a

hole of Breindel's speech, made another motion

you with pleasure, if

len, one must speak. You know Rochel Esther Leoh's. She is engaged, and the wedding was to have been in eight weeks-and now she, the good-

how great was their distress, and found, to her regr

ot be so dismayed. It is certainly very bad news, bu

ore, but did not kn

e us. Are we to give him all the money he asks, or shall they both know as much happiness as we know what to do e

speaking and imploring, as their stricken hearts, their deep shame

now that the misfortune has happened, one must be brave enough not to lose one's head, and not to let such a thing happen again, so that it should be the first and last tim

rstood ea

conscious of a definite purpose. Now they all felt they knew just what

ther. Mind you, they had even now no definite plan of action, it was just Chavvehle's sympathy that had made all the di

he air throbbed, and at last a high, sharp voice rose above t

e man, break into the house-of-study just before they call up to the Reading of the Law

is ri

munica

im in p

prayer-scarf, and swear by the

r! Sw

very new suggestion was hastily and hotly seized upon by all together, and there was a grinding of teeth and a clenching of fists. Nature herself seemed affected by the tumult, th

rt of the Shool, climb into the round millstones, and all s

the Shool!" cried

of the Shool. When they got into the town, they fell on each other's necks, and kissed each other with tears and joy. They kn

shuddered to h

omen, gathered in the court of the Shool, and stood with

uneasily, the girls had their faces o

on to the highest millstone, and

scandal such as is not to be hid, and such as we do not w

reindel could not be heard, but it was not lon

shall be called to the Reading of the Law; that people s

em! Nothing to do with

w of them, shall not come within their four e

Then we will take her to the burial-ground, and the child shall be born in th

ut mus

ut mus

ut mus

her r

serves

the speaker, and more women were climbing ont

t the top of the marriage-hall, with her hair flowing loose about her, all the girls shall surround her, and the Badche

es

es

it

apost

re in a tumult of shame and suffering. They thirsted and longed after their former life, the time before the calamity disturbed their peace. Weary and wounded in spirit, with s

SCHA

and to New York for a short time in 1907-1908; now (1912) in business in Switzerland;

WAS

only nine years old, one soon forgets, and Mey

doors than indoors, in the wild streets of New York. Tartilov and New York-what a difference! New York had supplan

ally was

re and learnt, he heard a banging of doors in the street, and through the window saw Jews running to and fro, as if bereft of their senses, flinging themselves hither and thither exactly like leaves in a gale, or as when a witch rises from the gr

Rebbe used to beat him; neither did it particularly grieve him. It probably made no great impression on his mind. After all, what di

d go home, and once, when he screamed, they nearly suffocated him, after which he sobbed and whimpered, unable to stop crying all at once. Now and then he fell asleep, and when he woke everything was just the same, and all thr

m, and a stranger took him home. And neither his father nor his mother had a word t

stained, and something about her whole appearance so rumpled and sluttish-it reminded one of a tumbled bedquilt. His father walked up and down the room in silence, looking at no one, his bo

s mother lay the whole time in her berth, and was very sick. Meyerl was quite fit, and his father did

entile got such a fright that he began crossing himself, and he spit out, and his lips moved rapidly. To tell the truth, Meyerl was frightened himself by the contraction of his father's mouth, the grind of his teeth, and by his eyes

n to feel giddy, and it was not long before the

was now a "boy," he went to "school," made snowballs, slid on the slides, built little fires in the middle of the

And suddenly there was an end of it all. The father only walked back and forth over the room, and she turned to look after him like a child in disgrace, and looked and looked as though forever wanting to say something, and never daring to say it. There was something new in her look, something dog-like! Yes, on my word, something like what there was in the eyes of Mishke the dog with which Meyerl used to like playing "over there," in that little town in dreamland. Sometimes Meyerl, waking s

ess was dangerous. Her face glowed like an oven, her lower lip bled beneath her sharp white teeth, and yet wild, te

orn deep into his paw, and he squealed and growled angrily, and sucked his paw, as though he were try

fing incessantly at his cigar, his brow like a thunder-cloud and occasional lightnings flashing from his eyes. He n

it was like being in Shool during the Solemn Days at the blowing of the ram's horn, when so many tall "fathers" stand with prayer-scarfs over their

his father was gloomier than ever, and his mother, when she looked at him, had a still more

new-what exactly, it would have been hard for Meyerl to say. Anyhow it was something good, very good, for

ouse joined hands through the windows, opened now for the first time sinc

c, where it had lain many years between one Passover and another; his father brought in a dinner service from the street, one he had bought cheap, and of which the pieces did not match. But the exhilaration of the festival made itself felt for all that, and warmed their hearts. At home, in Tartilov, it had happened once or twice that Meye

the frying-pan. When a neighbor came in to borrow a cooking pot, Meyerl happened to be standing beside his mother. The neighbor got her pot, the women exchanged a few words about the coming holiday, and then the neighbor said, "So we shall soon be having a rejoicing at your house?" and with a wink and a smile she poin

G

eavy wagon were just crossing the bridge outside at a trot,

ast meal on the Eve of the Fast of the Destruction of the Temple. And when Meyerl, with the indifferent voice of one hired for the occasion, sang out the "Why is this nigh

ok, or the white table-cloth, or her dress. His father never looked at her. Did he see she was crying? Meyerl wondered. Then, how strangely he was reciting the Haggadah! He would chant a portion in long-drawn-out fashion, and suddenly his voice would break

grace to themselves in a whispe

open th

appearance of the Prophet Elijah, whose goblet stood

upon the Gentiles, w

look at his father, and felt the hair bristle on his head with fright: straight and stiff as a screwed-up fiddle-string, there stood beside the table a wild figure, in a snow-white robe, with a dark beard, a broad, bony face, and a weird, black flame in the eyes. The teeth were ground together, and

better kill me! Shloimeh! k

d down the street like leaves in a storm, the white-faced Rebbe sat in his chair, his under lip trembling, his mother lay on her bed, looking all pulled about like a rumpled counterpane. Meyerl saw all this as clearly and sharply as though he had it before his eyes, he felt and knew that it was not all over,

in alarm, and whispered among themselves, and still the wild curses filled the room, o

hearts! Pour out Thy wrath upon the lands where Thy Name is unknown! 'He

h shall p

hem-o'er

them-dest

er Thy h

LOM

ppurim was published in 1903, and A St?dtel in 1904; wrote his first drama in 1905; distinguished for realism, love of nature, and description of patriarchal Jew

MPLE

irls, is fond of dressing

ent is high, and times are bad. The father earns but little, and there is a deal wanting towards her three hundr

ng men as dogs, only every dog want

t when she stands in front of the glass, she sees her bright face and rosy cheeks and the fall of her black

here is time and to spare, and on S

are." But what should old-fashioned women like her know about it? Anything will

ch he thinks nobody sees, and nudging his neighbor, "Look, fire and flame!" and she, Feigele, behaves as though unaware of his presence, walks straight past,

a dog-and yet he looks at her, and you turn round again, and yet again, pretending to look at something else (because it isn't proper), but you just glance over your shoulder, and he is still lo

, to the end of the avenue, where, catching her eye, he nods a "Good Sabbath!" Feigele answers with a supercilious tip-tilt of her head, as much as to say, "It is all the same to me, I

walk ahead stiffly and firmly, with your head high, let him follow and look at you. And he looks, and

h a girl friend, and he following, Feigele turned aside do

n, too, at the othe

rshadow and obscure, it grows dark, t

htly and pleasantly

e there, their hearts

say the f

makes no sign, implying that she neither knows who

ear their own beating hearts

on, do you know

now quite well what you are after, but don't be i

s her a nudge. "Did you

rl think she is the object? And she presently prepar

ul night,

eautiful

bjects, first with fear and fluttering of the heart, then they get closer one to another, and become more

ental, they meet by chance in the company of two other people, a girl friend of hers and a chum of his, and then, little by

they

ven more gladly silent. Evening, and the last sunbeams were gliding over the ears of corn on both sides of the way. Then a breeze came along, and the ears swaye

g to know you for a

followed me l

are s

thinking abo

thinking abo

rse about all sorts of things, and there se

darker an

e to walk clo

es a start, but his hand steal

e sky, he bends his face,

appears rather cross, but he knows it is put on, and very s

d every day now they steal aw

le. And then, as people do, he came to know when the work would be done, and Feigele behaved as though she

ually in and out of the house, coming and going as

w quite well why a young man comes to the home of a young girl, but they feigned ignorance, thinking to thems

ble on which burns a large, bright lamp, and sitting beside

day's work, sleep on their beds behind t

mes Eleazar laughs aloud, takes her by the

you wan

all, nothi

agine you are taking somebody from the street, just as she is; there

, the shifts and the bedclothes, of

as engaged, and expected the marriage contract to be drawn up any day. Feigele's mother was jubila

n, a worn-out peddler, bent sideways with

t of pleasure, a taste of jo

all, her cheeks look rosier and fre

and sews, and the whole

' gewollt, hob'

ch azo

wollt a she

r Gott

ening com

at are yo

doing? Wait, I'll

ort of

that stands in the stove corner, takes somet

e you got the

s down beside him, brings from under her apron a picture

girl I know-for me, for us. I shall ha

s or

-a paradise, I tell you, just a little paradise! Everything in it

shall sit together, side by side, just as we

she says, laying a hand on his shoulder, while with the o

happy, so l

attractive gloss on every object in the room, on the walls and the table,

ent, lost in th

two hundred and forty rubles already. I shall make it up to three hu

are very unjust, and I'm

uth to your face?" she asks, lo

d away, pretendi

u feeling hurt? I was onl

behind the curtain, warning them that it is time to go

Feigele's fat

summer: the former sent a snowfall, the latter a burst of sun. The sno

old man ill: he became weak in

still less for firing, and Feigel

led face reddened, the teeth showed between the dra

e doctor, who pr

sted, and gave up part of her wages, and when this was not eno

g, and they sat together beside th

ou so sad,

me to be cheerful,

Feigele, and he

e I put a farthing in

ou want to

look, as though something had frightened her. "Are you

my whole life. What do I want with your money? See here, my five fingers, they can earn all we

, with downcast eyes. "And y

ou marrying my mother or me? An

e is s

you just as you are-and you'l

r apron to her eyes, and

ds its brightness over the little room,

the old people is audi

shoulder, and her thick b

leazar," she whisper

h them now, how bad things are, they have pawned everything,

will all come right. And to-morrow, mind, you are to go to the postoffice, and take a little of the dowry, a

" she echoes

" and his eyes flash into hers. "

him, and a smile

so happy

the first time with her bank-book, took ou

grieved expression; she frowned, and pu

ng in bed turned hi

w his only child had toiled for those few rubles. Othe

g the two young people. He had not long to l

d, the veins on his temple swelled, a

ow, and turns to the wall, he

y of the children's happiness

o a fortune all at once, to have a lot o

came in: "There, take the whole of it, see if I love you! There, tak

e father's bed, sh

els happier than she ever felt before, t

s, hiding her fac

repeating in his kind, sweet voice, "

e to the wall, and the beating of h

idence in Eleazar, she feels

ds, she feels him rolling the

t smile steals over his face, as though he would say, "Have no

eels so happy

igele takes out one ruble after anoth

nd muses, and looks at the c

rinkled, he grows weaker, he f

bank, the stamps in her book grow less and less,

t he did not require so much, that h

nd so do the stamps in Feigele's book. The day he died saw th

nd sews till far into the night, and with every seam that s

for every stamp that is added to the account-boo

WISH

look at her husband, who was sitting beside a finished meal, a

her! I haven't a b

e, and can't manage them! Why! People will be po

o? Couldn't you stay at home sometimes to care for them and help me to bring

o start a quarrel with me now? The brideg

hehle, eh?! For God's sake! Go in to h

d went into the next room to hi

, for her bosom rose and fell like a stormy sea. On the bed opposite lay the white silk wedding-dress, the Chuppeh-Kleid, with the black, silk Shool-Kleid, and the black stuff

s dishonor? to make me the talk of the town?

well for Genendel Freindel's daughter to wear a wig,

re of herself than you: she is more educated than y

e made n

ure, and now you want to spoil it for us? Remember, for God's sake, what you are doin

by the door, and approached her daughter. "Let us try on the wig, the hair i

stiff and cold, and it flashed through her, Who knows where the head to which this hair belonged is now? A shuddering enveloped her, an

tood and looked at

earing large scissors, and the wig and a hood which she had brought from her ho

he room, because the bride had locked her

ought out the bridegroom, an eighteen-year-old boy with his mother's milk still on his lips, who, in a silk caftan and a fur cap, was moving about the room in bewildered fashion, his ey

in, dear daughter. There

id the groom's mother, and kissed her

l made

a wig and a hood for the processio

truck up the "Good Mor

lleh-leben, the guests a

k hold of the plaits i

away from her, and fell

en! My heart won't

th hands, to protect it f

daughter? my life,

. The apostate who wears her own hair after marriage will have her l

t through the gir

mother-crown

e, was to be cut off, and she was never, never to have it again-she was to wear strange hair, hair that had grown on another person's head, and no one knows

y hair, give me

irl to the marrow, s

elf out of her mother's arms, made one snatch at the scissors,

May God Hims

ese which she had brought for the wedding breakfast for her own guests. She wanted to take the bridegr

ssion to the Shool wearing her own hair in the fa

led by the way find their only ec

ung round her head, as though she feared that someone might come by night to shear them off while she slept. He had come home excited and irritable: this was the fourth week of his married life, and they had not yet called him up to the Reading of the Law, the Chassidim pursued him, and to-day Chayyim

thout returning the dowry," after which he would pack up his things and go home. But when he saw his little wife asleep in bed, and her pale face peepin

Channehle ...

frightened start, and loo

you call? Wha

he said, lifting up the white night

in, and wanted to t

nnehle, I want

Stübel. When he came home to dinner, he sat down to the table in silence. When he wanted anything, he asked for it speaking into the air, and when really obliged to exchange a word with her,

t to say to me?"

people's eyes. Has not God decreed that we should belong together? You are my wife and I am yo

her clouded her thought and will. She felt helple

Jewish daughter, and His blessed Name will help us, and we shall have pious Jewish children. Put away this

o her. Nobody had ever yet spoken to her so gently and confidingly. And he was her husband, with wh

head lightly

gave you grace and loveliness, I know. It cuts me to the heart that your hair must be shorn off, but what is to be done? It is a rule, a law o

hair with its cool odor. In that hair dwelt a soul, and he was conscious of it. He looked at her long and e

ed, more with his eye

she only bent her

e drawer, and took ou

s, still half-asleep and dreaming. The scissors squeaked over her head, sheari

site the bed. A shock went through her, she thought she had gone mad, a

, and the little room was fil

LAR'S

d house opposite the well and inhabited by the baker, issues thick smoke, which spreads low over the market-place. Beneath

uit and vegetables, and around them women, with head-kerchiefs gathered round their we

o stand quarrelling with you! A

e, wears a large, dirty apron, and her broad, red face, with the compo

is mine as well as yours!" answers Taube, pulling her kerch

stall, and Taube, standing by idle

l say Kaddish for you," she shrieked, and came to a sudden stop, for Taube had intended to bring up the s

quarter of pears to her

your husband wouldn't have died, and your child woul

flew into a ra

May you be a sacrifice for his littlest finger-n

of her husband's death and of causing her son to be ashamed of her, but she

re hurrying across the market-place to Evening Prayer in the house-of-study

airs she left in the market-place; nobody would steal them), and with two

ful of baskets, she thoug

or everyone knew how hard she had worked during his illness, it was her saying that Yitzchokel was ashamed of her, that sh

er, she started once

such a thing, Lord of t

at Yitzchokel was ashamed of her, was all Ye

hat business is he of yours

l, Thou art a Father to the orphaned,

heh, the rich man's wife, standing in the door of her shop, an

wered Taube, pointing with one finger towards the market-place, and, without so mu

e other room disputing with Necheh's boys over the Talmud. She knew that on Wednesdays Yitzchokel ate his "day" at Necheh's table, and sh

e," she thought with a start, "when he finds me with a chicken in my hand. So his mother is a market-woman, they will say, there's a fine partner for you!" But she had not left the kitchen. A child who had never cost a farthing, and she shoul

ve made him well." Soon the door opened, Necheh's boys a

or in no time. She knew that she had caused him vexat

im? And she had poured out her bitterness of heart upon Yente's head for this also, that her son had co

arrel, pay her out for it, let h

woman walking and sco

the little to

ul of baskets, dragged herself u

a-me!" came voi

r ceased calling out Mame! One child's voice was tearful: "Where have you been all day?" another'

e to draw my breath!" cried the

out for something, and presently the

ewing-machine beside a bed, sign of a departed tailor, and a single bed opposite the lamp, strewn with straw, on which

, and he could no longer provide for his family, Taube had started earning something on her own account, and the worse the co

r the tailor's cheerless existence, and Lezer was comforted on h

mething to traffic with, and, seeing that Yitzchokel was a promising boy, they placed him in the house-of-study

to eat? There, at the rich man's table, he had the best of everything, but it grieved her that he should eat in strange,

and go straight into the house of Reb Zindel the rich, to breakfast, and a pang went through her heart. She was still on

e provision for him in rich houses, treated him as if he were no market-woman's son, but the child of gentlefolk, and yet every day when I give the other

w would he turn out if he were left to you? What is a poor p

"but when I portion out the dinner fo

children's supper, the same feeling came over

bed, she stood the lamp on the table,

opened, and he, Y

in, his pale face telling out sharply agai

g!" he said

spect, without knowing exactly why, and it was borne in upon her

of the case, sat

wiped the globe with her apron,

ea, Yitzchokel?" she asked

ve just h

an a

as s

wo apples on it, and a knife, and

legantly as a grown-up man, repe

n apple, she felt more like his moth

y peeled the second apple,

to do, nobody to study with, nobody to ask how and where, and in which book, and he advises me to go to t

mekarev-sein, and other high-sounding bits of Hebrew, which she did not understand, overawed her, and she felt she must co

Dayan says so," s

ntaries; Reb Chayyim, the author of the book "Light of the Torah," is a well

r child, because she was the mother of such a child, such a son, and because, were it not for he

bered her husband,

only he could have had thi

l minded

or at the thought of Yitzchokel's d

er Yitzchokel away from her; her Yitzchokel was wearing a fur cap and locks like theirs, and he held a large book

l athinking, and fancied she was sitting beside her son, who was a Rabbi in a large town; there he sits in shoes and socks, a great fur cap on his head, and look

isturbed her

chokel's shirts for the journey; she recalled with every stitch that she was sewing for Yitzchokel, who was goi

able, gazing into a book. The mother would have lik

hokel were up b

main in health"; one sister woke and began to cry, saying she wanted to go with him. The mother em

dly forth onto the cold morning dew on the roofs, and there was silence over all, except in the market-place, wher

en groschen,' and

walked thus through the market-place, and, catc

waited for an "opportunity" to come by on its way to

ce with the dingy mist rising from the fields, and t

he barrier, and waited

opek-pieces out of her pocket, and put the

ers. She secured a seat for Yitzchokel for for

forget your mother!

kel was

knew it was not the thing for a grown-

art, the passengers made

other!" he called ou

nd study, and don't forget you

further, till it was climbi

aze; and not till it was lost to view in the

at should lead her

round it, and the gravestones were

r into the "field," looking for something among the tombs, and when he

has driven away to the

have bought up the whole cart-load of fruit. There would

She was conscious of having done a great thing, and this dissipa

not being able to read it herself, she took it to Reb

sses, cleared his throat th

huvossi ha

translation?"

a mother," explained Reb

ed, she put her apron to

bserved this

he translation, Reb Yochana

wouldn't understand-it is an expo

ords awed her, and she liste

Yakov; tell him to study diligently. I have all my 'days' and I

, took back the letter, put it in her pocket

"I will show it to the Daya

the dinner, and fed the children, than

d with books covering the walls, and a man with a

question?" asked the

N

t th

from my Yi

d at her, took the letter, and be

e fellow knows what he is saying," sai

med from Ta

lived! if only

bam ... Tossafos is righ

the market-woman's so

the Dayan, at last, "I

what?" aske

t do you w

ay?" she asked

u, you wouldn't understand," r

reeting to his mother. And she came to Reb Yochanan, and he read her the Yiddish phrases, w

othing in the letter for

do you

" he said

least what

brew, Torah, you

hen, I won't

and don't drive

resolved to go that

e this into Yiddish," she s

ok the lette

ere for you

yly, "excuse me, transl

tion of a passage in the To

e letter in Hebrew, but aloud, s

e word, it's Hebrew!" persis

s all," said the woman, "but it'

a while, then he b

emembered he was expounding the Torah to a wom

n it for you," he said compassionate

etter, why mayn't I hear it? What does it matt

turned c

down at the table, took down the lamp from the wall,

curred to her that she was defiling i

er-book from the bookshelf, and l

ed the covers of the book, and pl

SI

me of taking his part, I will w

n animals and birds (I beg to distinguish!) carry out God's wishes: whenever a bird flies, it fulfils a precept, because God, blessed is He, formed i

f, because why? Do you suppose he takes pleasure in transgressing? Isn't h

is sent to persuade a Jew to sin, he weeps and sigh

eface, I will tell y

led Reb Avròhom, but afterwards they ceased cal

e town, a God-fearing Jew, beloved and honored by all,

pride. He used to recite the prayers in Shool together with the strangers by the door, and quite quietly, without any shouting or, one may say, any special enthusiasm. His prayer that rose to Heav

re hardest on him after the affair, acknowledged that he was a great lover of Israel, and I will add that his sin a

mple Jew, the very com

urning, and his wife and children are round him, and they sing hymns together, well, the driver dozing off over his prayer-book and forgetting to say grace, I tell you, said Reb Avròhom, the Divine Presence rests on his house and rejoices and says, "Happy am I that I chose me out this people," fo

mble origin; he had lived till he was thirteen with his father, a farmer, in an out-of-the-way village, and ignorant even of his letters. True, his father ha

cheerfully I try to obey God's behest, to make the world green with grass!" And the sky made answer: "See, earth, how I try to fulfil God's command, by spreading myself far and wide!" and the few trees scattered over the fields were like witnesses to their friendly agreement. And little Avròhom lay and rejoiced in the goodness and all the work of Go

etty, the earth so sweet and soft, everything is so deli

study, he saw the head of the Academy sitting at one end of the table, and around

crying, and his hair coming out through the holes, and his boots slung over his shoulder, like a pea

nswered in a low

upil. Avròhom applied himself earnestly to the Torah, and in a

een him! He just stood and talked, as one person talks to ano

whole Academy, "I can learn better than he, but when it comes

lf, and lived by his ten fingers. By day he sat and sewed with an open prayer-book before him, and recited portions of the Psalms t

he walls remained in shadow. He studied with ardor, with enthusiasm, only his enthusiasm was not for beholders, it was all within; he swayed slowly to and fro, and his shadow swayed with him, and he softly chanted the Gemoreh. By degrees his voice rose, his face kindled, and his eyes began to

though he had dozed off where he stood, for pure delight. The

had to close their eyes against the brightness of his face, the light that shone out of his eyes! And he

his cloak and sp

of it, and they found out who it was that night in the house-of-study, the people began to believe that he was a Tzaddik, and they came to him with Petitions, as Chassidim to their Rebbes, asking him to pray for their healt

on, except that they brought more pet

ng as his eyes can behold it, and even though a man should sit, which God forbid, in a dungeon with closed windows, a reflection will make its way in through the chinks, and he shall rejoice in the brightness. But with the poor light of a lamp it is otherwise. A rich man buys a quantity of lamps and illumines his house, while a poor man sits in darkness

eased. And I'll tell you another thing, I was the first to mention it to the Rebbe

e Reb Avròhom and talked to

ey lasted

ked at us, pitifully and appealingly, as though to ask us if we knew which way she ought to go, to the right or to the left, and prese

t seemed as if the whole world were wrapped in a prayer-scarf woven of mercy, and we fell into a slight mel

f the new moon?" We turned towards the moon, laid down our bundles, washed our hands i

his voice quivered like a violin, and his eyes called to peace and unity. Then an awe of Reb Avròhom came over me for th

hich Thou hast made by Thy goodness and great mercy, and these are over all Thy creatures. They all l

that she was still looking at me, and

nd had time enough to go to th

his left hand, while he greeted incomers with his right. We went up to him, one at a time, shook hands, and said "S

his eyelids with his fingers, and looked

oked at the Rebbe,

re offended by s

ly packed with Jews, one pushing the other, or seizing hold of his girdle, only beside the ark

door among the poor guests,

h!" called

aw now appeared, and their jewelry, their preci

repeated the praye

ened by his lashes, and he recited the Sanctification in a loud voice, giving

" was call

sons-in-law to the left, relations to the right o

e stood r

ings, to his sons and sons-in-law first, and t

xpound the Torah. The portion of the week wa

raise her, and this Mitzveh is specially incumbent on the priest. This is the meaning of 'the seven lamps shall give light over against the candlestick,' by which is meant the holy Torah. The priest must bring the Jew's heart near to th

ed suddenly, "Avròhom! Co

r went u

tand? Did you make out t

knowledgment. I must raise you, even though

the room, people waiting t

asked the Rebbe, n

through you? That you are the 'handle of the pestle' and the rest of the Jews nowhere? God's grace is everywhere, whichever way we turn, every time we move a limb we fee

, shut his mouth before he had made an end, and had the Rebbe no

e!" he commande

b Avròhom

you have

t from everywhere. The Chassidim kept their eye on him, and persecu

en he acts according to his wickedness, fulfils God's

DOB BE

time in 1908; contributor to Die Zukunft; co-editor of Ha-Olam, Wilna; Hebrew and Yiddish write

TRY

ere. Feivke had hardly ever met, or even seen, anyone but the people of Kozlov and their children. Had it not been for his black eyes, with their moody, persistent gaze from beneath the shade of a deep, worn-out leather cap, it

oad of hay under a hot sky, and shouting to his companions, till he was bathed in perspiration. At other times, he gathered himself away into a dark, cool barn, scrambled at the peril of his life along a round beam under the roof, crunched dried pears, saw how the sun sprinkled the darkness with a thousand sparks, and-tho

me to bed! But his parents troubled precious little about him, seeing that he was

the sooner he would have to present himself before this terrifying, stern, and unfamiliar God, who was hidden somewhere, whether near or far he could not tell. One day Feivke all but ran a danger. It was early on a winter morning; there was a cold, wild wind blowing outside, and indoors there was a black stranger Jew, in a thic

e, reddened, and made some inaudible answer. The black stranger threw up his eyes, and slowly shook his head inside the wide sheepskin collar. This shaking to and fro of his head bode

on a bleating voice, and, turning to the wall, commence a series of bows. Feivke felt that his father was bowing before God, and this frightened him. He thought it a very rash proceeding. Feivke, in his father's place, would sooner have had nothing to d

en years old, just such a Feivke as we have described

of that year into a hard and dreary time. She went slowly about the house, as in a fog, without help or hope, and silent as a shadow. That year they all led a dismal life. The elder children, girls, went out to service in the neighboring towns, to make their own way among strangers. The p

She had torn him away from an early morning of excitement and delight such as could never, never be again. Mikita, the son of the village elder, had put his father's brown colt into harness for the first time. The whole contingent of village boys had been present to watch the fiery young animal twisting between the shafts, drawing loud breaths into its dilated and quivering nostrils, looking wild

ow-set leather hat down to his great, black feet,

d devout boy, and Go

ldren had aged and weakened the once hard, obstinate woman, and, left standing alone in the doorway, watching her poor, baref

all the way. He did not yet quite understand whither he was being taken, and what was to be done with him there, and the impetus of the brown colt's career through the village had not as yet subsided in his head. Why had

away and hide in the wood? He would willingly stay there for the rest of his life. He would foregather with Nasta, the barrel-maker's son, he of the knocked-out eye; they would roast potatoes out in th

gh and through with a soft, clear light, and heard the rustle of the leaves beneath his step, a strange terror took hold of him. The wo

, wondering, and was blinkin

where a

eared out

t-to-day you must be a good boy," said the smith, repeating his

is great, bare, black feet. "But if

hear the other people say it, you can say it, too! Everyone must say Amen, then

yonder where the pale, scarcely-tinted sky touched the earth. There, on a hill, sits a great, old God in a large sheepskin cloak. Everyone goes up to him, and He asks them q

it could remember, as an old, blind beggar, who went the round of the villages, feeling his way with a long stick. And one day Feivke and another boy played him a trick: they placed a ladder in his way, and Anishka stumbled and fell, hurting his nose. Some peasants had come up and caught Feivke. Anishka s

aiming at the pigeons with stones, and a stone of Feivke's had hit the naked figure on the cross that stood among the graves. The Gentile boys had started and taken fright, and those

that the hour had come when he would be called to account for what he had do

lage, the sun had begun to set. The village river with the trees beside it

s pointed his finger at the that

ay smooth and still in the shadow of the trees. The bridge was high

be able to answer,"

he difficulty? One just ups and answers!" said his father, gently, but Feivke

ooks. Feivke remained obstinately outside the crowd, and hung about the stable, his black eyes staring defiantly from beneath the worn-out leather cap. But he was not left alone long, for soon there came to him a smart, yellow-haired boy, with restless little light-colored eyes, a

do you

of his nose, and turned

! What are you doing ther

no.

a torn cloak th

... T-t

d boy took Feivk

'll see what they'll

owing and bending along the wall and beating their breasts-now they said something, and now they wept in an odd way. People coughed and spat sobbingly,

round him, blinking shamefacedly and innocently with his weak, red eyes. Round him

he lip," said the chicke

r without a tie and with a pointed brass stud. This young man held a wh

Reb S

d Mattes, subserviently, still smiling roun

od as to

s look at the boys, and made a

y let himself down onto the hay, whereupon the young man app

, go on!" urged the boys, and

leeve, make him get up and escape, but just then Mattes raised himself

ed. Feivke got very red, and silently tried to tear himself out of the boy's hands, making for the door,

ck your t

know, on New Year's Eve I went with my grandfather to the town! I

inen socks and a handsome bottle of strong waters against faintness in his hands. To judge by the size of the bottle, his sturdy looks belied a peculiarly delicate constitut

s the

ikely. The Kozlov smith's boy. He

rub a little horseradish under his eyes, and he'll weep like a beaver. Listen, you Kozlov urchin, you just keep your hands in

n-faced boy wa

? And then he comes to our h

er, and he stood barefooted in their midst, looking at none of the

at a time, and are distant from the Lord of All, and when the Awful Day comes, they want to take Him by storm, by violence. The noisiest of all was the prayer-leader himself, the young man with the white collar and no tie. He was from town, and wished to convince the country folk that he was an adept at his profession and to be relied on. Feivke stood in the stifling room utterly confounded. The prayers and the wailful chanting passed over his head like waves, his heart was straitened, red sparks whirled before his eyes. He was in a state of conti

e gave a loud thump on the table, and there was silence all around. Feivke started and opened his eyes. The sudden stillness frightened him, and he wanted to move away from the table, but he was walled in by

hemmed in by the tall, strange men in robes swaying and praying over his head. A cold perspiration broke out over him, and when at l

g his head and making signs to some one with his long stick, calling out to him that here was Feivke. Feivke looked hard, and there in the depths of the wood was God Himself, white all over, like freshly-fallen snow. And God suddenly grew ever so tall, and looked down at Feivke. Feivke felt God looking

r the sleepers with something in his hand. This tall, white figure sank slowly onto its knees, and, bending silently over Matte

it?" he as

, the prayer-leader, with a bo

er mind, it will do you good! You are fasting, and the

s, blinking at him reproachful

dewy window-panes. A few of the men bedded in the hay on the floor were waking up. Feivke stood in the mid

you staring at me for? Do you w

rner, and continued to sta

am had dissolved into thin air. When they once more brought out the scroll of the Law in its white mantle, Feivke was standing by the table, and looked on indifferently while they uncovered the black, shining, crowded letters. He looked indifferently at the young man fro

d he felt as though some great misfortune had befallen him. Fear and wonder continued to oppress him, but not the fear and wonder of yesterday. He was tired, his body burning, while his feet were contracted with cold. He got away outside, stretched himself out on the grass behind the inn and dozed, facing the sun. He dozed th

asleep? You've had noth

o.

ey recited the Eighteen Benedictions. The Benedictions ended, the young man began to trill, but in a weaker voice and without charm. He was sick of the whole thing, and kept on in the half-hearted way with which one does a favor. Mattes forgot to look at his prayer-book, and, standing in the window, gazed at the tree-tops, which had caught fire in the rays of the setting sun. Nobody was expecting anything of him, when he suddenl

r, you've ma

les pushed his way up to him, and imitating the young man's

his father. Then he suddenly advanced to the fr

biessi!" he hisse

ace!" and another: "Aha! the Kozlover smith's boy must be a first-class scamp!" The p

n, but the whole company of boys follo

d boy. "Have you ever heard the like? He actually wanted t

t and with the gesture of one who likes to

ot a remedy for him here, for w

Feivke from behind, by his two arms, and

ontche, give it

imself free, and was making for the chicken-face with nails spread, when he received two smart, sounding boxes on the ears, from two great, heavy, horny hands, which so clouded hi

A few of them reproved Mattes for his son's behavior. Then they dispersed, till there remained behind the inn only Mattes

r there at hom

e red streams flowed before his eyes, and someone unknown to him stood at his head and recited prayers. Onl

in, took Feivke by the hand, set him on hi

seen, and partook of some refreshment. There was no more davvening, but in Feivke's ears was the same ringing of bells. It now seemed to him that he saw the room and the men for the first time, and the old Jew si

gave a cough, bowed to the co

d thundered so loudly that Feiv

H

ing home-home again-so I w

year to you also! Wait, h

so brightly and the old man talking so loud. Why need he speak in su

ndy, too-and a bit of cake! He fasted too, ha? But he can't recite the prayers? Fie! You ought to be beaten! Ha? Are you goin

, where the young half-moon had floated into view. "Mother will be expectin

n quickened his pace. Presently he stopped to look around-no Feivke! He turned back and saw Feivke sitting in

ter? Why are you sitting

attered out with hi

it you so h

tched himself out on the ground

ol

you well

oked fixedly at his father, with his bla

there? Tate, wh

ippur. Mother is fasting, too-get up, Feivke, and come home. Mot

e insisted, still sitting in the road and shaking like

wn again on t

come hom

way off, from the tall bridge, came a sound of heavy footsteps growing lou

are you doing there? Are you casting s

boy, and he won't come home, or he can't. What am I to do

azy devil, get up!" Feivke did not move from the spot

A visitation of Heaven! Why don't you beat him more? The

t sort of a boy he is," answered Matt

town, to the asylum for the sick poor. The smith's wife came out and s

ng to cart loads of fresh earth to secure the village against overflowin

AST O

crowned with hoary honor, hidden away in the thick woods. Generation on generation of them had been renowned far an

long since dead-talked of them as great-grandchildren talk of the riches of their great-grandfather, the like of which a

mp shining in the darkness, such was the lustr

erein grew beet-root and onions, while the hop twined itself and clustered thickly along the wooden fencing. Well-to-do Jews still went about in linen pelisses, and smok

r to the well, filled it, and poured a quart of water into the pottage. The newcome

a broad mangled collar, repeated the "Prayer of the Highway," and set off on foot to Volhynia, that thrice-blessed wonderland,

k of the thumb. The Lithuanian guest, teacher or preacher, the shrunk and shrivelled stranger with the piercing black eyes, sits in a corner, merely moving his lips and gazing at the floor-perhaps because he feels ill at ease in the bright, nicely-furnished room; perhaps because he is thinking of his distant home, of his wife and children and his ma

h Volhynian "stuffed monkeys," the brusque, tongue-tied guest is suddenly una

e our Rabbis at

ls of the great men of Mouravanke, with their fiery intellects, their iron perseverance, who sit over their books by day and by night. From time to time they take an hour and a h

ey walk round them on tiptoe, giving them their four-ells' distance,

way we study

ns the sash over his pelisse in leisurely fashion, unbuttons his waistcoat across his generous waist, blows

ds before a high granite rock, the summit of which can barely be discerned. Is he terrified by the dark and bushy brows, the keen, penetrating looks, the deep, stern wrinkles in the forehead that might have been carved in stone, they are so stiffly fixed? Who can say

lebrated Rabboni

beards. It was very seldom one of these beards showed a silver hair. They were stern, silent men, who heard and saw everything, but who expressed themsel

on inherited from his father a tall, old reading-desk, smoked and scorched by the candles, in the old house-of-study in the corner by the ark, and a thick, heavy-kn

tly village-born and from a long way off, barefoot, with turned-up trousers, his boots slung on a big, knotted stick across his shoulders, and a great bundle of big Hoshanos. The youth stood in the centre of the house-of-study with his mouth open, bewildered, and the boys quickly snatch

er midnight, he would open the stove doors, and study by the light of the glowing coals; of how he once forgot food and drink for three days and three nights running, while he stood over a difficult legal problem with wrinkled brows, his eyes piercing the page, his fingers stiffening round

till late in the generations, gathering in might with each generation in turn. They rose, these giants, one after the other,

e day's pitch-burning, between Afternoon and Evening Prayer, range themselves in leisurely mood by the doors and the stove, cock their ears, and listen, Jewish drivers, who convey people from one town to another, snatched a minute the first thing in the morning, and dropped in with the

tion of thought, grew from generation to generation. And in those days the old people went about with a secret whispering

on; the ninth of the Mouravanke

his day: the sons philosophized too much, asked too man

ld because of a book he had written, and had acquired the title of "professor." When the old Rav w

N

iercing, more searching than before. This is all that was ever said in the town about the R

rk, wrapped in his Tallis, and expounding to a crowded congregation. He had a clear, resonant, deep voice, and when he se

speechless expectation. For a minute or two the Rav stood with his piercing gaze fixed on the people, then h

d set myself up to expound the Torah to a townful of Jews, when my own children have cast the Torah behind them. Therefore I now open

s sonorous voice soon reduced them to silence, and once more the Torah w

the town was still used to see him before daylight, a tall, solitary figure carrying a stick and a lantern, on his way to the larg

d spread round and about. People said of him, that he was growing up to be a Light of the Exile, that with his scholastic achievements he would outwit the acutest intellects of all past ages; they

bout greatly perturbed, because their Rav was an old man, his

to come to them, so that he might take the place of the Rav on his death, in a hundred and twenty years-seeing that the said young Cha

s with lowering brows, and never raised

N

g him the Rabbinate. The messenger was swift, and soon the

ir for him to sit in while he waited at the meeting-place. This was by the wood outside the town, where all through the week the Jewish townsfolk ear

ravelling-wagon in which sat the celebrated young Charif. Sholom-Alechems flew to meet him fro

the Charif to enter the town till he had heard

nd little children stood expectant, all eyes were f

e a bright idea, and lit up his face. He began to speak, but his was not the familiar teaching, such as everyone learns and understands. His words were like fiery flashes appearing and disappea

s into his forehead. He saw before him the Charif, the dried-up youth with the sharp eyes and the sharp, pointed nose, and the evil thought came to him, "Those are

is sermon, but he did not say it. The whole assembly was gazing with caught breath at his half-closed eye

tarted in his chair, and when they rushed forward to assist him

tood up among his startled flock. He made a leisurely motion with his ha

u can go in

n cloak, like a mourner. The congregation saw him lead the young Rav into t

ill si

behind the pulpit among the s

s filled with wailing. Old and young lifted their voices in lamentation. The young Rav looke

ood up to his full

are not

aks of it at dusk, when the sky is red as though streaming with fire, and the men st

re was a report that the old Rav had bre

ilor, and his funeral was on a wet Great Hosannah day. Aged folk said he

OLK

LEVER

r, is very great. Hereby hangs a tale, which, to o

dear child, it will i

, who believed that Jews require blood at Passove

lery, had a Jewish overseer, a

and no scholar, was well-disposed, and served the Count with heart and soul. He would have gone through f

with him, and took pleasure in hearing ab

, "Tell me the truth, do you

the Jew, "I lov

"I shall prove to you that y

"Why does my lord say

s have said so. Indeed, I can scarcely hold you to blame, since, according to your false notions, the Divine command is precious, even when it tells us to commit murder. I should be no more to you than was Isaac to Abraham, when, at God's co

stain on your pure hearts? How long will you disgrace yourselves? Does not my lord know that this is a great lie? I, as a believing Jew, and many besides me, as believing Jews-we ourselve

our gums should begin to bleed, we have to spit the piece out. And in face of all these stringent regulations against eating the blood of even beasts and birds, some people say that Jews require human

words, and these two men, being both uprig

y they kept it a secret from the people. And he said as much to the Jew, who, in his turn, believed the Count, because he knew him to be an honorable man. And so it was that he began to have his doubts, and

thought about wit

nt lent him money to trade with, and God prospered the Jew i

d was much given to good wor

e assisted the Rabbis and the pious in all the places round about, and earned fo

pious and influential Jew, who is a wea

Jew was

nd which they share with those only who are at once pious and

once mentioned. But the Jew felt sure that the Count would never have lied to him, an

so that the Rabbi opened his eyes in astonishment. He gave

received him with open arms, and gave him honor as unto the most powerful and wealth

l me of the commandment which it is

thing, the Jew remained, to remind

very particular to say to you! Let us go

him into an empty room,

not be abashed, but speak freely,

t it is a secret belonging only to the Rabbis, to very pious Jews, and to the wealthy who give much alms. And I, who am

betray the secret, but will make you happy forever,

declare that Jews do not require blood, fr

perform the great commandment which God gave in secret. I am not learned in the Law,

on hearing such words from a Jew, a simple countrym

all sincerity that his corelig

such a simple heart the we

t words would jus

e to-morrow at this time, and I will grant your request. But till then you must fast, and yo

Rabbi had told him. Next day, at the appointed time

ogue, and they went in there togeth

ted some black candles, threw off his shoes, too

ark, took out a scrol

Law is the most sacred of all things, and tha

requires blood at Passover, may all the curses contained in the two lis

as greatl

re sworn an oath, and now, for his sa

ept much,

u, pardon me and give me a hard penance, as hard as you please.

old a few very near relations, just to show them how people can be ta

use us falsely, that they may see how useless it is to t

, and they will become, through sufferi

RY AND

t German, and Yiddish; Heb. = Hebrew, and Aramaic; pl. = p

ttempts to reproduce the colloquial "German" (Ashkenazic

ice. See Eighte

e of an Atonement Day prayer, at every mention of which the wo

b.). The Heb

ord of a Psalm verse used

(Ger.). Klemen

also). That's

ps often convey a moral lesson to the bridal

oy of thirteen, the age

ghter of the Voice"; an

r.). Ring-

). House-of-study, u

). Interference wi

). Grandmoth

). Sour soup ma

r Nicholas I, torn from his parents as a c

bbath, over which the blessing is said; always made

Talmudic scholar

ism of the Talmudists, and laid stress on emotionalism in prayer and in the performance of other religious ceremonies. Th

ligious practice used exten

rim) (Heb.). Jewi

"Desecration of the Ho

e vowel "i"; in Volhynia

g. Sayin

ity on Jewish religious law, usual

h (Heb.)

rlech (Ger.).

the Holy Days, between the morning and afternoon services. Though the number of benedictions is actually nineteen, and at some of the services is reduced to seven, the

oel (Heb.)

(Heb.

d a town, to mark the limit beyond which

t day preceding Purim

all the legends, tales, apologues, pa

d garment worn under the ordinary clothes; c

m space required

the youngest child to h

Wholly estranged from Jewis

). The Jew

). The nether

mud folio. It is usually read with a peculiar singsong chant, and the reading of argumentat

and Ger.). A subtle,

tial, rich man.-Gevirish

Gentile; a Jew estranged f

with Slav. en

e. The Sabbath pr

xodus recited at the home service o

) (Heb.). Osier withe

eventh day of the Feast of Ta

ers of the Rebbe or Tzad

leven months after their death, and thereafter on every anniversary of the day of their death; applied to an only son, on whom wil

(Heb.

(Heb. and Ger

and Russ. dimi

(Slav.

ral part of the public service, of which

blech (Ger.

blessing recited over wine in us

itage"; a conventic

(Little Russ.) "

yer recited at the synagogue on

Ritually clea

eb. and Ger.).

ing given to a man and his wife by the latter's p

e Talmud, the codes,

eb.). Here's

tween the holy and the secular"; equivalent to "excuse the compariso

eb.). A collect

as-Lokshen, macaroni m

The Evening Pra

Heb.). P

ial letters of Morenu ha-Rab She

he Eve of the Day of Atonement, in ex

the spread of modern general education among the Jews, especially in Eastern Europ

unleavened bread us

er-in-law; expresses chiefly the reciprocal relation

-in-law; expresses chiefly the reciprocal relation

The "quick" doug

(Heb.).

ure verses attached to the door-pos

miletic exposition

The Afternoon Pr

.). "Out of the d

y, a temporary congregation, gathered together, usually in a village, from several

er the Pentateuch, portions of which are studied, dur

the Chassidim. The Misnagdic communities are le

dment, a duty, the doing

(Ger.).

er. and Heb.

th (March-April), in whic

ncluding prayer in t

). "The world of fal

(Heb.). Wor

. "The world of trut

ans of livelihood; b

oems for festivals and Holy D

(Heb.).

ay. Prayer on setti

carf. Se

s.). For

). The Feas

bi Solomon ben Isaac, a great commentator; a

eb.).

r.; sometimes applied to the Tzaddik of the Chassidim; and

. Wife of

eshiveh) (Heb.). Headmas

osters or hens used in a ceremony

ervice on the first

b.). Peniten

ration of the first breach made in the

ic pronunciation). Pea

(Heb.)

eb.). The Di

"Abomination;" a

and Heb.). Bad lu

ecially guarded and watched from the harves

b.). Ritual

ed on New Year's Day and the Day

nto you"; greeting, salutation, especial

a Yiddish author, N

., Schul')

h (Heb.). The

. See Eightee

s from New Year to the D

les lighted in me

try filled with chop

formation, Tallesim) (H

(Heb.). See

em (Heb.). S

Heb.). Free co

i cited in the Mish

Noise; tu

Ger. and Russ.

(Heb. and Ger.).

ng and fasting to commemorate the destruction

Law in general, and the

n. Se

Heb.). "Righteous"; title

words of a prayer for the restoration of the sacrificial service, r

jesty," the first two words of a Piyyut reci

(Ger.). Los

). Two inches

er.). Fou

t. T

Heb.). Tal

.). Anniversa

Heb.). Day o

(Heb.).

ittle Rus

w' ... before the Rav."-The Rabbi with his Day

ithout meat. In connection with fow

nd Simeon are fictitious plaintiff and defendant

a half-circle," etc

worthy of both tables!"-W

ce requires that meat should be salted down for an

To pray in stocking-feet is a

espassed," etc.-The

ls them out thirty-nine

All-Present," etc.-The Introducti

-scarf," etc.-They are worn first when a boy is Bar-Mitzv

en break the wine-glass,

the sacrificial fow

of Chassidim broke some p

ht to board with their pa

t of the All-Present," e

their journey from the living to

ry of the heathen who asked, first of Shammai, and then of Hillel,

ir eyes to the sky."-To look for the appearance of three s

Rabbinical type for one who not only sins

day."-See note

dnesday," "Tuesday."-

months' 'boar

rammar, and could write

son of Nebat."-See

head of the house is clad in his s

ouses of well-to-do families meals were furnished to poor students, each stud

rt-like garment?"-The worshippers in the sy

suppose I am to li

. The expression is used when planning for a future to come after the death of the person sp