Two Scholars Who Were in our Town and other Novellas

by S. Y. Agnon

  But Rabbi Yosef Meir only sighed and said nothing. He had never thought anything wrong with his wife, until the business of journeying to the Land of Israel came up, and then he had divorced her because she did not wish to go along; and once he had divorced her he had put her out of his mind. But now when the women were so disturbed at the sight of the sea, his divorced wife appeared before his mind’s eye. Rabbi Yosef Meir said, Tomorrow the Holy One, blessed be He, will send us a good wind and I shall set off to the Land of Israel, while she, poor thing, remains forsaken outside the Land.

  Within a few days the sea became calm and peace was restored upon the waters. The waves that had thought to rise up and flood the whole world now flattened out when they reached the sand, and went back. The captain ordered the men and goods to come aboard. Thereupon each of the comrades took his goods in hand and went aboard, with his wife holding on to his tails and going up with him. Once they were on board, the sailors took oars in hand to make their way through the sea and began shouting, Hoya! Hoya! Within a very short while the wind began blowing on the masts and sails of the ships, and the ship began to move.

  Chapter eight

  On the Sea

  The ship reached the point at sea where the waters move, and sailed along calmly. Our comrades stood reciting the Prayer of the Sea and the eight verses which Jonah had recited in the belly of the fish. Then, weeping, they sang Psalm One hundred and seven, which considers the kindness of the Lord and his wonders by land and sea, how he shall redeem his redeemed ones, and gather them together from all the lands, and lead them on the straight way, and satisfy the souls of those who hunger and thirst, and fill them with all good things; even if they reach the very gates of death, God forbid, He saves them by his mercies, and delivers them from their distress, and brings them to their desired haven; so that at the last they relate his deeds in song. Even if he raises the sea against them and brings up a stormy wind, he quiets the sea at once and silences the waves; and then they rejoice and give thanks to the Holy One, blessed be he, and rise from their affliction, having seen that all that comes from the Lord is loving-kindness, but that it is necessary to consider wisely in order to see and rejoice in the mercies of the Lord.

  After they finished reciting the entire Psalm, they sat down on their belongings, and took their books in hand, and read verses from the Pentateuch, the Prophets, and the Writings. When a man forsakes his home and reaches another place and finds a vessel which he had used at home, how he rejoices! How much pleasure he derives from the vessel! This is far truer of books, which are read and studied and engaged in every day. Thus Rabbi Moshe sits reading: ‘The Land must be exceedingly good if the Lord desires us and brings us unto it and gives it unto us, a land which is flowing with milk and honey.’ And Rabbi Yosef Meir sits reading, ‘I have forsaken my house, I have cast off my heritage’; and both of them finished by reading together: ‘Afterwards the Children of Israel will return and entreat the Lord their God and David their king, and they will fear the Lord and hope for His goodness.’ Finally, they put the books down and rose, and each one placed his hand on the other’s shoulder, and they sang:

  ‘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.’

  The ship made her way quietly and a pleasant smell came up out of the sea. The waters moved after their fashion and the waves dwelt together in peace; while birds of some kind flew above the ship and beat their wings and shrieked. The sun sank below the horizon, the face of the sea turned black, and the Holy One, blessed be He, brought forth the moon and stars and set them to give light in the heavens.

  One of the company looked out and saw a kind of light shining on the sea. Brother, said he to one of the comrades, perhaps you know what that is? But he did not know, and so he asked another of the company and that one asked still another.

  Then they all turned their eyes and gazed at the sea and said, If that be the lower fire which comes from hell, then where is the smoke? And if it be the eye socket of Leviathan, then no eye has ever seen it.

  Suppose, said Rabbi Alter the teacher, that it is one of the evil husks of the sea.

  But Rabbi Shelomo said, It is time to say the Evening Prayer. Then they promptly rose and prepared to pray, since there is no evil husk or demon that has any power or authority over a full prayer quorum.

  When they stood up to pray they saw that they were lacking one for a minyan. Hananiah, who had made the journey with them, had vanished. In the morning he had gone down to the market to buy his food, but he had never come back.

  Then they began to beat their heads and to wail: Woe and alas, is that the way to treat a companion! It would have been better if we had gone back and been lost. We should have held one another’s hands and come up into the ship all together, but we did not. When we came aboard, each one carried his own baggage and said, ‘All is well, my soul!’

  How hard Hananiah had toiled until he reached them! He had gone halfway round the world, and had been stripped naked, and had fallen among thieves, and had forgotten when Sabbaths and festivals occurred, and had profaned Yom Kippur, and had made his way barefoot, without boots. And then when he had reached them he had gone to all kinds of trouble for their sakes. He had rebound the books, and made cups for the oil lamps and boxes for their goods, and had not asked for any payment. All the trouble with the horses had been left to him on the way; they had been happy to have him because he would complete the minyan. But now that they had embarked on the ship and were on the way to the Land of Israel, he had been left behind. So they stood miserable and unhappy, lamenting at heart because an unobtrusive vessel had been in their midst and had been taken away from them for their sins.

  So everyone prayed separately, and while praying they beat their heads against the sides of the ship in order to divert their thoughts. Finally, everyone returned to his own place and sat down as though he were in mourning. Gradually the night grew darker and the ship went its accustomed way. The sailors tightened the masts and sails and sat down to eat and drink, while facing them our comrades sat, distress eating at their hearts. Who knew where Hananiah could be? Maybe he had been taken captive, God forbid, and sold as a slave.

  The darkness grew thicker and thicker. Rats and mice were scurrying around in the lower parts of the ship and were gnawing at utensils and foodstuffs.

  Where there is great anxiety, sleep helps to put it right. But who could enjoy sleep when one of their number had left them, and they had no way of knowing whether he was alive or dead. How much Hananiah had wandered about! How much trouble he had gone through! He had put himself in danger and disregarded his own life and had had no fear for his body, desiring only to go up to the Land of Israel; and yet now that his time had come to go up, something had gone wrong and he had not come aboard!

  At the midnight hour the comrades sat on their baggage and uttered songs and prayers in honor of the great Name of Him who dwells in Zion. The stars moved in the sky, while the moon was now covered, now uncovered. The ship went on, the waters moved as usual, and a still small voice rose from the ship. It was the sound of song and praise rising from one firmament to another, till they reached the Gateway of White Sapphire where the prayers of Israel gather and join together until such time as the dawn comes to the Land of Israel. Corresponding to the prayers of Israel, praises of the Holy One, blessed be he, rise up from the waters.

  Is it possible for water which has neither utterance nor speech so to praise the Holy One, blessed be He? But these sounds are the voices of the boys and girls who once flung themselves into the sea. After the wicked Titus destroyed Jerusalem, he brought three thousand ships and filled them with boys and girls. When they were out to sea, they said to one another, Was it not enough for us to have angered the Holy One, blessed be he, in his house, and now are we to be required to anger him in the land of Edom? Thereupon they all leaped into the sea together. What did th
e Holy One, blessed be he, do? He took them in his right hand and brought them to a great island planted with all manner of fine trees, and surrounded them with all kinds of beautifully colored waves, blue and marble and alabaster, looking like the stones of the Temple; and the plants from which the Temple incense was made grow there. And all those who saw that plant would weep and laugh. They would weep because they remembered the glory of the House, and they would laugh because the Holy One, blessed be he, is destined to bring that glory back.

  And the boys and girls still remain as innocent as ever, fenced about from all iniquity, their faces like the rosebud, just as we learn in the tale about the rose garden which was once to be found in Jerusalem. And the brightness of their faces gives light like the planet Venus, whose light comes from the shining of the Beasts that are before God’s throne.

  And the children have no wrinkles either on their brows or their faces, apart from two wrinkles under the eyes from which their tears run down into the Great Sea and cool the Gehenna of those sinners of Israel who never lost their faith in the Land of Israel. These children are not subject to any prince or ruler, neither to the king of Edom nor to the king of Ishmael, nor to any flesh-and-blood monarch; but they stand in the shadow of the Holy One, blessed be He, and call him Father and He calls them my children. And all their lives long they speak of the glory of Jerusalem and the glory of the House, and the glory of the High Priests and the altar, and of those who offered the sacrifices and those who prepared the incense and those who made the shewbread.

  And whenever the Holy One, blessed be he, remembers his sons who have been exiled among the nations, who have neither Temple nor altar of atonement, nor High Priests nor Levites at their stations, nor kings and princes, he at once is filled with pity and takes those boys and girls in his arm and holds them to his heart and says to them, Sons and daughters mine, do you remember the glory of Jerusalem and the glory of Israel when the Temple still stood and Israel still possessed its splendor?

  They at once begin telling Him what they saw in their childhood, and go on interpreting like Daniel, the beloved man, and Jonathan ben Uziel. The only difference is that Daniel and Jonathan wrote in Aramaic, while these children speak the Holy Tongue, which is the tongue the Holy One, blessed be He, uses. And at such times the Holy One, blessed be He, laughs with them; and you might say that at no other times does he laugh and smile as he does when he hears the praises of his House and the praises of those who came to his House. At such times he says, ‘This is the people which I formed for Myself that they might tell of My praise.’ And he also says, ‘Comfort ye,’ for in the future Jerusalem will be builded a thousand thousand times more great than she was, and the Temple will reach from one end of the world to the other and be as lofty as the stars of the heavens and the wheels of my divine Chariot; and the Divine Presence will rest upon each and every one of Israel; and each and every one of them will speak in the Holy Spirit.

  Furthermore, all the years that those boys and girls have dwelt in the midst of the sea they have constantly awaited salvation, and there is no ship sailing to the Land of Israel which these boys and girls do not follow. For when they see a ship at sea, one says to the other, The time has come for the Gathering of the Exiles. Thereupon, each of them takes one of the great sea waves and mounts it as a rider mounts his horse and rides until he comes near the ship.

  And as they ride they sing, ‘I will bring them back from Bashan, I will bring them back from the depths of the sea.’ And their voices are as golden bells in the skirts of a garment, and they are heard by those who go down to the sea. Indeed we have heard a tale from such as tell only the truth, of how they were sailing to the Land of Israel on the Great Sea and heard a voice so sweet they wished to leap into the sea and follow that voice; but the sailors tied them up with their belts until the ship had sailed a distance away from the voice.

  The moon sank, the stars went in, and the planets went their way. The Holy One, blessed be He, brought forth the dawn and lit up the world. As the dawn grew bright the travelers saw the likeness of a man on the sea. They stared and saw that he had a full beard, earlocks on either cheek and a book in his hand; and a kerchief was spread out under him and on it he sat as a man who sits at his ease. No wave of the sea rose to drown him, nor did any sea beast swallow him.

  And what did the Gentiles say when they saw a man sitting on his kerchief and floating in the sea? Some of them said, Such things are often seen by seafarers and desert-farers. Others said, Whoever he is, he has a curse hanging over him so that nevermore can he rest. That is why he wanders from place to place, appearing yesterday on the dry land and today on the sea.

  On that ship there were representatives of each of the seventy nations of the world, and each of them was overwhelmed and terrified at this apparition. So Israel stood on one side and the nations of the world on the other, fearful and staring, until their eyelashes became scorched by the sun. Then Rabbi Shmuel Yosef, the son of Rabbi Shalom Mordekhai ha-Levi, said, It is the Divine Presence, which is bringing back the people of Israel to their own place.

  And Rabbi Moshe wept and said, ‘The counsel of the Lord is with them that fear Him, and his covenant to make them know it.’

  Chapter nine

  Eternal Secrets

  The ship went on after her fashion and a pleasant odor rose from the water. Clear clouds floated in the sky and the waves kissed. The air was damp and had a salty tang. The fish thrust out their lips and amused the people, and the birds which fly about hither and thither not recognizing the authority of any man, nor associating with human beings, nor being fed by them, flew through the air and fluttered close to that shape out at sea. The waves went on rolling and the ship moved gently, not disturbing those in it overmuch. Our comrades sat, some of them conversing about the new souls that Israel, who are holy, receive in the Holy Land, while others were engaged in the secret questions of the universe, such as why the Land of Israel was first given to Canaan when it was actually intended for Israel. The reason being, of course, to instruct coming generations that although the nations rule over the Land of Israel and Israel is given into their hands, into the hands of Sennacherib and Nebuchadnezzar and the wicked Titus, the nations are not resident there but are driven out, nation after nation, unsuccessful there and achieving nothing but destruction until they are expelled; but Israel are established in the Land for ever. Similarly, we find that the Holy One, blessed be He, gave Bathsheba to Uriah, the Hittite, although she had been intended for David ever since the six days of Creation. Uriah died without children, but an entire dynasty of kings and princes came from David.

  The sun began to give way and returned to its place in order to make room for the moon and the stars. Stars and planets came and took up their posts in the sky, and the light shone back at them from the waves, and a sweet sound rose from the sea like the sound of song and praise.

  One of the men said to another, Brother, do you hear that voice? What is it?

  And the other said to him, The fish in the sea, brother mine, are uttering song. The same we find recorded in the special Section of Song in the Prayer Book, where it says, ‘The fish in the sea utter song.’ And the song they utter is, ‘The voice of the Lord is upon the waters, the God of glory thundereth, even the Lord upon many waters.’

  But his comrade said to him, No indeed, for I clearly heard a voice saying, ‘My help cometh from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.’

  That verse, answered the other, is uttered by the seagull; for that too we find in the Section of Song: ‘The seagull says, “My help cometh from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” ’

  Let us also sing, said our comrades to one another. And thereupon one of them began singing:

  ‘For a small moment have I forsaken thee,

  But with great compassion will I gather thee.’

  And his companions joined in the chorus, singing:

  ‘And the ransomed of the Lord shall return,

  And come with singing
into Zion.’

  The Holy One, blessed be he, has an excellent gift whose name is Sabbath, and because of his love and pity for Israel, he gave it to them. Great is the Sabbath, whose holiness shines even on ordinary people; for when the Sabbath comes, the Holy One, blessed be he, makes his blessed light to shine, and all created things shine with the higher illumination and yearn to cleave to his holiness. All the more is this true of pious hasidim and men of miraculous deeds, who reduce their own requirements and seek nothing but the pleasure and satisfaction of the Divine Presence.

  When the Friday morning arrived, our men of good heart rose early and began to prepare for the Sabbath. Rabbi Alter the slaughterer slew a fowl in honor of the Sabbath and burnt a garment and covered the blood with its ashes. Feiga kindled the fire and boiled the bird, while the other women engaged in cooking for the Sabbath. The captain passed them and looked at them with friendly eyes. Seeing this, the sailors brought them fish they had caught in the sea, and taught them to bake bread after the fashion of the Holy Land, where coals are spread out on the ground and the dough is poured onto them. And so the women were able to fulfill the commandment of setting aside part of the Sabbath loaf, and they made loaves for the feast of the Sabbath night and the feast of Sabbath morning and the third feast of Sabbath afternoon; and ere noon everything was prepared for the Sabbath day.