by S. Y. Agnon
And in came Rabbi Yehudah Mendel, one of the last of the followers of Rabbi Uriel, whose soul is treasured on high. As long as Rabbi Uriel had been alive, a bond had extended all the way to his home from the Land of Israel. Once he passed away, nothing in the whole world had any value for Rabbi Yehudah Mendel until God put it in his heart to go up to the Land of Israel.
Then in came someone else whose name we have forgotten.
And in came Leibush the butcher, whom the Land of Israel afterwards spewed forth because he spoke in its disfavor, saying, Have you ever seen a country where you can find nothing but mutton?
And in came Rabbi Shmuel Yosef, the son of Rabbi Shalom Mordekhai ha-Levi of blessed memory, who was versed in the legends of the Land of Israel, those legends in which the name of the Holy One, blessed be he, is hallowed; and when he commenced lauding the Land, people could see as it were the name of the living God engraved on the tip of his tongue.
And when they all came together, Hananiah stood at the entrance, holding in his hand the kerchief containing his prayer shawl and phylacteries and other baggage, like a man who is prepared to set off at once.
The women stood in the Women’s Section, while the men were sitting in the House of Study. There was Mistress Milka the coral-seller, who had entered into a second marriage on condition that her husband go up to the Land of Israel with her, and who had received a divorce from him because he would not go; and near her Feiga, her kinswoman, the widow of Rabbi Yudel of Stryi, may he rest in peace, a descendant of gentry and trustees who used to send money to the poor of the Land of Israel; and near her Hinda, the wife of Rabbi Alter the slaughterer; and near her Tzirel, the wife of Rabbi Pesach the warden; and near her Esther, the wife of Rabbi Shmuel Yosef, the son of Shalom Mordekhai ha-Levi; and near her Sarah, the wife of Rabbi Moshe, grandson of Rabbi Avigdor the communal president, of blessed memory; and near her Pessel, the daughter of Rabbi Shelomo ha-Kohen, who had just been widowed at that time and joined her father on the journey in order to bear her suffering in the Land of Israel.
Then up rose Rabbi Shelomo ha-Kohen to his feet, and set his two hands on the table, and bowed his head, and said to them, Why do you wish to go up to the Land of Israel? Surely you know that many sufferings come upon wayfarers besides their being pressed for food, and they fear evil beasts and robbers, particularly upon the sea.
To this our men of good heart responded, saying, We are not afraid. If we are deserving in His eyes, may he be blessed, he will fetch us to the Land of Israel; and if we are not deserving (God forfend!), then we are deserving of all the troubles that may befall us.
What Rabbi Shelomo said to the men he said to the women as well, and as the men answered so answered they.
Whereupon Rabbi Shelomo said, Happy are ye who cleave to the Land of Israel, for the Land of Israel was created only for Israel, and none can remain in the Land of Israel save Israel. All the things I said, I said only in order to increase your reward.
Thereupon Rabbi Alter the slaughterer put his hand on the shoulder of Rabbi Alter the teacher, and Rabbi Alter the teacher put his hand on the shoulder of Rabbi Alter the slaughterer, and they began dancing and singing:
‘Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! When the Lord turneth the captivity of his people, Let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad.’
Rabbi Shmuel Yosef, the son of Rabbi Shalom Mordekhai ha-Levi asked Rabbi Moshe, Perhaps you know the tune to which your brother, Rabbi Gershon of blessed memory, sang the verse, ‘The King hath brought me into his chambers’?
That tune, said he, it is not our practice to sing because my brother departed from the world therewith; but I know the tune to which he sang the verse, ‘Draw me, we will run after thee.’ If you wish to hear it, I shall sing it for you.
All those assembled lowered their heads, and Rabbi Moshe began singing, ‘Draw me, we will run after thee.’
Then Rabbi Yosef Meir rose and said, Would that we might merit to sing the verse, ‘The King hath brought me into his chambers’ in Jerusalem, the holy city. Those assembled responded, Amen, and they proceeded to their homes in peace.
When they left the House of Study, the whole town was already deep in slumber. The houses lay in the secret place of night, concealed by the darkness. The moon was still hidden in the skies, and only stars lit up the summits of the mountains. Buczacz lies on a mountain, and it seemed as though the stars were bound to her rooftops. Suddenly the moon came out and lit up all the town. The river Strypa, which had previously been covered by darkness, suddenly gleamed silver, and the market fountain overflowed in two silver rivulets. One of the company said, I never in all my life knew that this town was so pleasant. It seems to me that there is nowhere in the world a town as pleasant as ours.
That, responded his companion, is just what occurred to me this very moment.
Every city, remarked Rabbi Alter the slaughterer, in which decent and pleasant people live is decent and pleasant.
And now, added Rabbi Alter the teacher, those decent and pleasant people are going to go up to a truly pleasant place.
At that very moment one of the women was saying to another, I don’t know what has come over me: for first I think that I have never seen such a lovely night, and then it seems to me, on the contrary, I have already seen such a night, and the very things I hear now I have heard before. I know that is not so, yet I cannot be certain it is not so.
To which her companion replied, Perhaps we have already journeyed once before to the Land of Israel, and everything we have heard and seen here we heard and saw before on some other night.
In that case, said the first, why are we here and not in the Land of Israel?
My friend, said the other, we have already been there.
If we have already been there, said the first, how is it we are here?
My friend, said the other, ere you go asking how we come to be here, I shall ask you how we came to be exiled from the Land of Israel and how we came to be scattered among the nations.
I cannot make out what you are talking about, said the first.
My friend, said the other, didn’t you tell me that it suddenly seemed to you that you had seen such a very night as this before?
Well, they hired themselves two long, high wagons covered with a kind of booth, and turned their household goods into money except for those utensils which they would require for the way; and they packed away their money in their clothes. They filled their boxes with pots and pans, and glasses and ladles and plates, and smoked meat, and fine pellets of baked dough that last a long time without going bad; and then they went to request permission from the dead to depart.
Some went to the graves of their fathers and their kindred, while others went to the graves of great pious folk, the constant props of the world, who had accepted burial outside the Land, entailing the pangs of having to make their way to the Land of Israel by rolling through caves and tunnels at the End of Days, all in order that meanwhile they might protect the town from evil decrees. At the graves our company burst out weeping, for they were very moved; the graves of the pious always arouse people to repentance. And they went on weeping until they reached the threshold of the cemetery. There they turned their faces back to the graves and looked at them.
Then came Rabbi Abraham the circumciser, who had inducted more than half the town into the covenant of our Father Abraham, may he rest in peace. He took a circumcision knife and passed it under the soles of each and every one of the company, saying, Children, I make this blade to cut under you in order that the dust of your city may not hold you. And he likewise passed the knife under his own feet.
Thereupon they all burst out weeping and went back home. They put on big boots especially prepared for the journey, with heavy iron nails on the soles to make them last a long time; the boots could be heard from one end of the town to the other when they walked. And that is why people in Buczacz say of noisy folk, They make as much noise in town as if they were going up to the Land of
Israel.
They made the rounds of all the synagogues and Houses of Study in the town and passed through all the streets, discoursing about the Torah, praying and giving charity, so that they might never have to return to those places to make amends for any blemishes which they had been the cause of. Then they went from house to house to take leave of the living; and they asked each and every person separately, Perhaps you have something against me, or perhaps I owe you some money? Then they opened the charity boxes of Rabbi Meir the Miracle Worker and made bundles of the money to take it to their brethren in the Land of Israel; and they kissed each and every mezuzah on each and every doorpost, until they reached the river Strypa.
When they reached the Strypa, they paused to beg indulgence of the waters, saying, All the rivers run into the sea. We pray you, waters of the Strypa, do not be angry with us on our way. Finally they entered their own House of Study and prayed. At length they mounted their wagons, the men in one wagon and the women in another. The wagoner took the men’s wagon and entrusted that of the women to Hananiah, whom he had appointed his assistant, as is the practice of wagoners who have two wagons and entrust one to one of the travelers and do not charge him any fare.
All the town went out to speed them on their journey, except the rabbi. For the rabbi used to say, Those who proceed to the Land of Israel before the coming of the Messiah remind me of the boys who run ahead of the bridegroom and bride on the way to the bridal canopy.
Chapter three
The Departure
They departed the town and entrusted themselves to the horses. The horses lowered their heads and sniffed the way they were required to take. The wagoner mounted one wagon and Hananiah the other. Then the wagoner tugged at the horses’ reins and urged them on. The horses raised their heads and prepared for the way, but still delayed their going, lest anyone had forgotten something and had to return. But nothing was to be heard save the sound of people weeping at leave-taking; so the horses lifted their legs and started off.
Hananiah took the whip in his right hand and cracked it over the heads of the horses, who turned their heads, looked at him, and went on. Those of the women who were accustomed to travel to markets and fairs said, Never in our lives have we had such an easy journey as this.
Are you a wagoner?, the women then asked Hananiah.
No, said he, I am not a wagoner, but horses are horses and know what is required of them, so they go.
Are you telling me, said the wagoner to Hananiah, that you are not a wagoner? The very way you crack your whip shows that you are one.
Never did I drive a wagon and horses in my life, said Hananiah, except for the time when I saw a Jew and his horses drowning in the river and got them out and took him back to his home.
In this way they journeyed for nearly two hours through fields and forests and villages until they reached the Holy Congregation of Yaslovitz. Here the wagoner whistled to his horses and stopped the wagon, for it had been agreed in advance that the wayfarers would make a pause there in order to see their kinsfolk in the town before their departure.
There is no town so close to Buczacz as Yaslovitz. The head of one lies, as you might say, alongside the tail of the other; nevertheless, there is no peace and good will between them. Why? Because, when the old rabbi of Buczacz died, the town elders set their eyes on his brother-in-law who was rabbi in Yaslovitz, and desired to appoint him their head. They went and proposed the post to him, but he was not prepared to accept it.
Could it be, said he, that I should leave Yaslovitz, which is a small town where nobody disturbs me in my study, and go to a large town full of sages and merchants who give the rabbi no rest, the first with their casuistics, the second with their business?
Well, what did the Buczacz folk do but take a carriage and horses, and go into his house one night and seat him on the carriage and run off with him to Buczacz. It had barely grown light, when the whole of Buczacz shone with his honor and glory, while the light of Yaslovitz grew dim. Thereafter, whenever anyone from Buczacz went to Yaslovitz, the folk of Yaslovitz would quarrel with him and try to pull his hat off since Buczacz had taken away their crown.
Now however, since our company had left Buczacz behind them and were about to proceed to the Land of Israel, all the hatred of the Yaslovitz folk vanished; the whole town gathered together to honor them and received them with brandy and cakes and confectionery and fresh water which they brought from the well.
Even the Gentiles showed them respect on account of the honor in which the Land of Israel is held. Never was so much honor and respect shown in those parts. People actually prostrated themselves before the wayfarers, and kissed their garments, and gave fodder to their horses, on account of their affection for the Land of Israel; with the exception of the Armenians, who did not share in all this, since they are descended from Amalek and Amalek is the foe of Israel. The Armenians dwell all over the country and do business with the Orientals in peppers and spices and scents, thus competing with Israel; and their country is near the river Sambation, beyond which lie the lands of the Ten Tribes of Israel; and they wage war with the pious King Daniel who slays a thousand of them together, and who dwells in Armenia in the community called The Blood of the Chick; and he is a great and mighty king, tall as a giant, and thirty-one kings pay homage to him.
It is the custom among the Armenians, if one of them should smite and kill another, for the murderer to pay three hundred and sixty-five gold dinars corresponding to the three hundred and sixty-five veins and sinews of the human body; but they cannot do anything to Israel, because they were overcome long ago by Joshua.
After the men of good heart had refreshed themselves from the journey, they entered the Great Synagogue, which was the one that school children had found hidden in the hill and had cleaned out. There the Baal Shem Tov of blessed memory used to hide in an attic to study Kabbalah; and there his soul had been exalted unto heaven. Prayers said in the Great Synagogue are never in danger of idolatry, but all of them reach the Gates of Mercy entire.
There the men of good heart prayed that they might go up to the Land in peace and not be harmed on the way by packs of beasts or brigands, neither by land nor by sea. Then they went back and climbed into their wagons, and all the townsfolk accompanied them as far as the limits of a Sabbath day’s journey. If you did not see the way the Yaslovitz folk gripped the hands of the Buczacz folk, you never have seen what affection is like in Israel. While the grown-ups stood shaking hands and embracing one another, the children patted the horses’ tails, since their hands could not reach up to those of the folk in the wagons. And that is why they say in Yaslovitz when a little fellow tries to pretend to be grown-up, Go and stroke the horses.
Chapter four
Temptation on the Road
The company traveled for several hours until they reached the Holy Congregation of Yagolnitzi, where they spent the night. In the morning they started out and came near Lashkovitz, that Lashkovitz where there is a great fair whose like is not to be found in the whole world; for more than a hundred thousand merchants come there year after year to do business with one another. At that particular time the fair was taking place, and they met small groups of merchants and wagons laden with all kinds of goods, so that the very earth groaned beneath them.
There it was that Satan came along and stood in their way and asked them, Where are you traveling?
To the Land of Israel, they answered him.
And how are you going to make your living over there? said he.
Some of us, said they, have sold houses, and others have other resources.
Don’t you know, said Satan, that journeys eat up money?
We know it well, they answered. So each one of us has labored to lay up money for the expenses of travel, for inns and the ship’s fare.
And how about stuffing the pockets of the frontier guards? he asked. And who is going to pay ransom tax for you to the King of the Ishmaelites?
How much does he ask? said they t
o him.
May you have the good luck, he answered, to have him leave you food enough for a single meal. Well then, what you must do is go to Lashkovitz and earn money. Happy is the man who dwells in the Land of Israel and does not need to be supported by the Holy Cities. How people toil to reach Lashkovitz! And now that you have come this far, will you go away without doing business?
Busy as he was with the men, Satan certainly did not ignore the women. Kerchiefs and headcloths and dresses he showed them, until their hearts were near bursting after the fashion of women who see fine clothes and covet them.
When your mother Rebecca, said Satan to the womenfolk, reached the Land of Israel, what did she do, according to the Holy Writ? Why, she took her veil and decked herself to show her loveliness in her fine things. And now you propose to go to the matriarchs and yet you don’t behave as they did! Why, is Lashkovitz so far away? Why, it’s in front of your noses. If a man sneezes here, people will say good health to him in Lashkovitz. Even the horses are turning towards it. The very beasts know where the road leads.
But Rabbi Shelomo took out his pouch and filled his pipe with tobacco, and struck iron against a flint, and lit the pipe, and half closed his eyes, and began puffing out smoke fast, like a man who wants to get rid of a thought. He saw that the horses were gadding about in an unusual way, wanting to go on in one direction but actually going in another. Whereupon he touched the wagoner with the long stem of his pipe and said, Take yourself towards Borsztszow. And he urged him to hurry, since folks who proceed to the Land of Israel are like they who go to synagogue, and are duty-bound to run.
The wagoner cracked his whip, and tugged the reins one way and the other, and whistled to the horses, and turned them towards Borsztszow. The horses tossed their heads and dashed on until the dust rose from under their feet. At once the wagons with the goods in them vanished, and the whole countryside filled up with the lame, the halt, the blind, and every other kind of cripple carrying waxen models of limbs, models of hands and legs. For it is their custom to take these to the graves of the holy, there to set them up as candles in order that the holy men might see their deformities and remedy them.