by S. Y. Agnon
Gradually the moon turned pale. It was already time for the sun to rise. In the twilight of dawn the waters of the sea grew silent and a kind of reddish veil spread over the face of the waters. The ship stood still in the midst of the sea, powerless to move, and a mood of relief passed through everyone.
Brethren, said one of our comrades, do you know what I say to you? I am like a person who is shown the king’s treasure house. The attendants go down into the cellars with him and his feet stumble, but since he knows where they are taking him and that it is to the king’s treasure house, he rejoices.
‘Who shall ascend into the mountain of the Lord,’ responded Rabbi Yosef Meir, ‘and who shall stand in His holy place?’
When the sea burst forth, said Rabbi Shmuel Yosef, the son of Rabbi Shalom Mordekhai ha-Levi, and was about to flood the ship, what was I thinking of at that time but the story of the holy Rabbi Shmelke, may his merits shield us.
Once upon a time a very harsh decree was to be imposed on the men of the Holy Congregation of Nikolsburg, but the king had not yet set his seal to it. So the holy sage journeyed to Vienna to the king. It happened to be the season when the ice was melting, and at that time the river cannot be crossed by ship. Go, said Rabbi Shmelke to his holy disciple Rabbi Moshe Leib of Sasov, and fetch me a trough. He went and fetched a trough and put it in the river. They got into the trough and stood erect. The holy rabbi chanted the Song of the Red Sea and his holy disciple responded, until they reached Vienna safely. The folk of Vienna stood staring at two Jews crossing the river in a small trough at a time when it cannot be crossed even by a ship, because chunks of ice as large as hills float about in the river, crashing together with great fury and roaring like thunder.
The king heard what had happened. He came out together with his lords and princes and saw two Jews standing upright in a trough and chanting, while huge chunks of ice as big as hills were crashing together in the river, not touching the trough, but parting and making way for it to pass safely through. No sooner did that zaddik reach the king when the king said to him, I shall certainly listen to you, holy man of God, and he annulled the decree.
Well, said Rabbi Alter the teacher, what do you think of that story?
Ahh, said Rabbi Alter the slaughterer, where shall we find such a trough today!
Feiga sighed and said, We are traveling in a big ship, not to a king of flesh and blood but to the King who is King over all kings, the Holy One, blessed be he, and we see no signs of betterment.
And Tzirel said, That is just what I was about to say: here we are on our way to the Land of Israel and not as much as the smell of a miracle.
But Milka silenced them, saying, Women, you are ungrateful, for is the Holy One, blessed be he, showing us so few signs and wonders? He put the understanding in our hearts to go to the Land of Israel, and led us peacefully and safely across the land and set us on a good way with no obstacles or mishaps, and provided us with a ship to set sail on the sea, and took a wind out of his treasury to set the ship going. Then when the sea began quaking round us, He silenced it and ordered the Prince of the Sea to control his anger, which he did, so that the water began moving gently again, and in a day’s time he will be fetching us to the Land of Israel. And you say that He is not showing us any sign of His goodness! Lord of the Universe, what ought Hananiah to have said? How that Hananiah toiled! He went on foot from town to town and from country to country, and the frontier guards took away his money and stripped him naked, and he was taken captive by robbers, and forgot when the Sabbath occurs and profaned the Holy Day, and wandered about many days, all in order to go up to the Land of Israel! And then when the time came for him to embark, the ship set off and left him behind.
Yes, said Rabbi Alter the teacher, that’s the way to talk, the way Milka talks. By your lives, while she was speaking every limb of mine could feel the miracles that have been done for us!
But once they came to talk about Hananiah, their faces twisted with grief on account of the poor fellow who had actually thrown away everything for the sake of the Land of Israel; and then when his time came to go aboard ship and proceed to the Land of Israel, the ship had gone off and left him behind, and nobody knew whether, God forbid, he was dead. Yet in spite of the grief in their hearts, their eyes shone as the eyes of good people shine when they talk about a good man.
Then Rabbi Pesach the warden said, Do you remember Hananiah’s kerchief in which he kept all his goods? When he would stand up to pray he would take out his things and tie the kerchief round his loins as a prayer girdle. On one occasion I said to him, Hananiah, here is a girdle for you so that you needn’t shift your things about, in and out and out and in; but he wouldn’t take it. And what answer do you think he gave me?
You have to treat a vessel respectfully, said he, and even if you find a better, you mustn’t put your first vessel out of use. And he gave the same answer to Milka. On the way Milka gave him a sack for his belongings, but next day she found him with his bundle tied up in his kerchief again. Didn’t I give you a sack for your belongings? said she to him.
You did, said he.
And still you go on using your kerchief, said she.
And do you think, he said, that just because a kerchief hasn’t any mouth, I have the right to treat it disrespectfully?
At that point Rabbi Alter the teacher interrupted and said, Now that the Omnipresent has made things easier and the sea has quieted down, it is proper for us to say the Morning Prayer.
But after they had prayed they could not eat anything because the sea water had spoiled their food. The Holy One, blessed be he, salted the Leviathan for the end of days when it will be eaten, and the sea has been left full of salt. But who needs food and drink when he is going to reach the Land of Israel in a day’s time? The comrades had already heard that the ship was approaching the port and promptly forgot all the toil of the journey and the difficulties of living on board ship and the storm at sea. Legs that had been heavy as stone suddenly became light, while eyes that had been sore with weeping now shone like the dawn.
They all put on their Sabbath garments and adorned themselves in honor of the Land, taking great care that none of the dust of Exile should be upon their clothing, that they might enter the Land pure.
Rabbi Moshe had a little bag suspended round his neck containing earth from the Land of Israel, to be buried with him. Now when they were expecting to enter the Land, he opened the sack and emptied the earth into the sea.
Our sages of blessed memory, remarked Rabbi Moshe, said that in days to come the Land of Israel will expand all over the world. For that reason I fling this earth from the Land of Israel into the sea, in order that an island may grow up from it whereon shall be built a great city of the Land of Israel.
Then they all began singing and uttering praise because it was their merit to be approaching the Land of Israel. And they arranged their belongings and tied them around with ropes, not to be delayed when the time came to go ashore.
But it was not yet their appointed time to stand in the Royal Palace. When the sailors climbed the masthead to see where they were, they gazed and saw the likeness of a large city; it was neither Jaffa nor Acre nor Tyre nor Sidon, nor any other of the coastal cities of the Land of Israel, but the city of Stambul! Then the hands of ‘them that handled the oar’ grew weak and they were seized with trembling. Here they had spent three weeks and more trying to reach the shores of the Land of Israel and at the end the winds had taken hold of the ship and brought it back to Stambul! The Holy One, blessed be he, had perhaps wished to test his invited guests and to see whether they were fit to serve in his legion; so he had brought a stormwind upon them and taken them back to their starting place. Those who wished to go up to the Land of Israel could remain on board, while those who wished to return to the lands of Ishmael and Edom might so return. But they all responded as one, We shall go up at once! We shall not go back!
The captain sent the sailors to fetch food from the city, since all the
food they had on board had gone bad; and the sailors took their oars and got into ramshackle boats and went to town and fetched back all the good things from the land of Ishmael. The ship spread its sails, the captain took up anchor and the Holy One, blessed be He, promptly drew out a wind from his treasury and broke its force, saying to it, Be careful not to injure my friends. And the ship started off and ran joyously ahead, as one who joins in a dance.
Lightning does not strike twice in the same place. Blessed be He who led them on the right way by sea and by land, and by sea again. The ship proceeded quietly for five days and nights and arrived safely near Jaffa. When the morning star rose on the sixth day, the last day of their journeying, Jaffa rose from the sea like the round sun floating up from the River of Fire to light up the world. That was Jaffa before them, Jaffa which is the gateway to the City of God, into which the exiles of Israel come in order to go up to Jerusalem.
The morning star rose higher and higher, the sun shone more and more brightly, and it began to be really hot on board ship. The fire from on high branched out and it became burning hot. The sailors took off most of their clothes, for they were sweating like bears. And the Jews (mark the difference!) likewise took off their upper garments, and removed the hats they wore over their skullcaps and fanned their faces with them; but they continued to simmer in their sweat and the sun, simmering the sweat again, dried their bodies to the very marrow of their bones.
While they were sitting fanning themselves, Leibush the butcher asked Rabbi Alter the slaughterer, Tell me, Rabbi Alter, what need is there for this sun?
Why, he answered, the Holy One, blessed be He, is roasting the Leviathan for the great feast of the righteous at the end of days, and that is why he has heated the sun to the boiling point.
What is happening to me? said one of the women to another. My eyes are growing dim!
Do you think, answered the other, that my eyes are made of glass? I feel as though they were being pierced with white-hot spits.
That’s not the sun in the sky, said Tzirel, but a fiery oven.
But Rabbi Moshe overheard them and said, No, your eyes are growing dim because of the radiance of the Divine Presence.
Even Feiga, who had made the journey for love of the Land of Israel, could not feel satisfied with what she saw. Where were those pleasant breezes which, people said, blew all day long among pleasant gardens and groves of myrtles and palms and citrons? And all the mountains of spices and odors like those in the Garden of Eden? Here the fires of hell were descending and burning the very marrow of their bones. Had the ship lost its way and strayed, God forbid, into a desolate wilderness of fiery serpents and scorpions, and were all manner of fresh woes about to descend upon them? The womenfolk knew that the Land of Israel is in ruins and that many troubles dog a person’s heels; but they preferred to remember what suited them and to forget what did not suit them.
Milka sat across the way, smiling.
Are you grinning at me? said Feiga to Milka.
It’s not you I am grinning at, answered Milka, but myself. In my dreams I saw a long and beautiful mantle at Lashkowitz to wrap one’s whole body in, and I wanted to buy it. And now do you know what I am thinking? If I had bought it, what could I have done with it? Why, wrap up the sun in it so that it should not catch a chill.
In my dreams, I too, answered Feiga, was sitting in a wagon and a fur coat appeared to me and I heard someone or other whisper, Just you go along to the fair at Lashkowitz, for there are all kinds of bargains waiting for you there.
And did you suppose that Satan had our good in mind? said Milka. All he wanted was to hold us up on the road.
The sun stood in the middle of the sky, heating up the ship, which became as hot as a pot resting on coals. Yet he in whose heart the love of the Land of Israel is fixed gathers strength from the sanctity of the Land, where the Higher Light still flows freely and without any hindrance, though the Land is in ruins.
Meanwhile the men of good heart withdrew their attention from the toils and troubles of their wayfaring and from all the devils who had hindered them, and their faces were aflame with the force of their perfect will. Rabbi Alter the teacher stretched out his hands and began tapping the box before him with his fingers and singing the mystical hymn beginning, ‘Sons of the Heavenly Hall, who yearn,’ and Rabbi Alter the slaughterer accompanied him with, ‘May they be with us…’
Ere the day was over, the ship reached the Jaffa shore and fired a loud cannon. Arabs came out of the town, wearing miserable clothing, short and dirty shirts reaching only to their knees and tied round with a thick rope, and the soles of their stockingless feet were covered only with slippers. They spoke noisily as though they were quarreling, and nobody could make head or tail of their language. Up they came on board, yelling at the top of their voices. They dragged the folk away like captives, and took their goods and flung them down into their ramshackle boats. They took their fee, yet even that was not enough for them, and they wanted to beat our comrades; but the Holy One, blessed be he, rescued them from the Arabs’ hands and brought them safe and sound to shore.
Chapter twelve
Holy Soil
As soon as our men of good heart reached the shore they flung themselves on the ground, kissed the earth, and burst into loud weeping, until their eyes streamed like wells. How is it possible for children who return to their father’s home and find it ruined not to weep? Yet even in their mourning they rejoiced because they had been worthy to return home. They took one another by the hand and sang, ‘I rejoiced when they said unto me, Let us go up unto the house of the Lord.’ Furthermore they sang, ‘The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.’ And the Ishmaelites stood in the distance staring.
And so they went their way singing until they were brought to a certain courtyard known as the Courtyard of the Jews. There they found chambers, one for prayer with the congregation when they were ten together, and two more known as the Holy Chambers where there were beds for the use of the sick people coming from the journey; one chamber for men and the other for women. And there was another chamber there which was the chamber of the beasts, where the beasts on which people rode up to Jerusalem were stabled.
When a caravan that has been on a journey reaches its destination, the travelers assuredly rejoice, particularly if they have been in great distress and have come forth from it; for then indeed they have good reason to rejoice. But when one of the group is missing and nobody knows whether he is alive or dead, the thought of him is bound to come up no matter how much they rejoice and to disturb their joy. So it was with our comrades. For Hananiah had gone through so much together with them and had passed through so many adventures on his own in order to go up to the Land of Israel. And then when his time had come to go up to the Land he had not done so, and they did not know whether he was alive or dead; so how could their joy be complete? They vowed to have his name commemorated in Jerusalem and to pray for him at the Holy Places.
And now it is fitting to find out what happened to him—to Hananiah, that is. When his comrades went to fetch victuals for the journey, he went along with them. But on the way he parted from them and went in a different direction, but they did not notice it. After a while he came back and did not find them. Off he went to the port. When he came there, he saw that their ship had already set sail. How the poor fellow had toiled and labored in order to go up to the Land of Israel! And now when his time had actually come, the ship had started off and left him behind, and he stood watching and could not go with it!
Now Hananiah was always quick and nimble; so what had held him up on the way? Well, while he was standing in the market, a Gentile came along.
Aren’t you the fellow, said Hananiah to him, who wished to lead me to the Land of Israel through some cave or other?
Yes, said he, I am the man.
And what are you doing here? asked Hananiah.
I don’t know any more than you, said the other. Every day when I put on th
e tefillin of our former robber chief, I hear him weeping for his wife and children, and now I am wandering through the world in search of them.
May you live a hundred years, said Hananiah to him. You are earning your share of the world-to-come. Come along with me.
They went to a certain house, and Hananiah knocked on the window. The householder opened the window and asked, What do you want?
Where is the woman, answered Hananiah, who came here from Hutin?
I do not know, said the other. She went out with her children this morning and has not come back. Perhaps she has already gone off to Hutin.
On hearing this, Hananiah sighed and said nothing.
What do you need that woman for? asked the householder.
Hananiah pointed to the Gentile and said, This fellow can bear witness as to where he last saw her husband.
It would be a good thing, said the householder, if he were able to give his evidence before a rabbi.
While Hananiah was talking to the householder, the Gentile went to one side to put on his tefillin. No sooner had he done so when the woman came along and shrieked, Oh, those are my husband’s tefillin!
If Zusha is your husband’s name, said the Gentile, then these are his tefillin; and he promptly handed them over to her and told her the whole story of Zusha. And that was what caused Hananiah to be delayed.
There are ever so many tales about salvation, each finer than the next; like the story of the man who was lost in the desert. Suddenly a huge bird appeared and lifted him on its wings and in a single hour flew with him to his house, a distance it would have taken several years to journey. But no bird came to Hananiah. An even greater wonder was the mantle of King Solomon, peace be upon him, for he would sit on it and the wind would bear it away, so that King Solomon could eat his breakfast in Damascus and his supper in Media, though the one is in the East and the other is in the West. But that mantle has vanished since the day that King Solomon, peace be upon him, passed away, and nobody knows where it is concealed. And even if Hananiah were to find it, he would not be able to do anything with it, since nobody in the world ever knew how to sit upon it except Solomon and his four princes: one the prince of humanity, and one the prince of the demons, and one the prince of the beasts, and one the prince of the birds. Likewise, even in the generation before our own miracles were performed upon the water, such as that of the holy sage Rabbi Shmelke of Nikolsburg and his holy disciple Rabbi Moshe Leib of Sasov, who crossed the river Danube in a trough in a dangerous season. But where is such a trough to be found nowadays?