Two Scholars Who Were in our Town and other Novellas

by S. Y. Agnon

  Thus they sat and drank of all the wines and many times blessed the One who is good and who does good, and they studied the passage dealing with the ten sanctities whereby the Land of Israel is sanctified more than all other lands. A vegetable was brought to our comrades which tasted like fowl fried in goose fat. How remarkable is the Land of Israel! Here is a vegetable which you can buy in the market two for a penny. Take and fry it in sesame oil, and it tastes like fowl fried in goose fat. Then they said the grace for wine and food, and washed their hands for the feast.

  Chapter fourteen

  In the Presence of the Divine Presence

  After the Sabbath our comrades hired themselves a dwelling near the Western Wall, the windows of which directly faced the site of the Temple; and so they found themselves in the presence of the Divine Presence. The women purchased themselves garments of white wool and the choicest food and drink of the Land, and of its fruits. They cooked and baked and conducted their households with wisdom. They lacked for nothing, even having goat’s milk for the Shavuot holiday.

  Our comrades resided before the Lord in the Land of Life, in Jerusalem, devoting themselves to Torah and prayer and good deeds and the practice of charity, and to love and to fear and to humility. And on the eve of the New Moon and the other days on which the Prayers of Supplication are said, they would go out to the Holy Places and pray for themselves and their brethren in exile.

  All hours are not the same. It is widely known that every righteous man who comes up from outside the Land to the Land of Israel must begin by falling from his original level. For the air of the Land of Israel is holy and retreat needs precede and advance. But God came to their aid and gave them the strength to accept submissively all that befell them, until they were worthy to receive a fresh mindset, namely the intelligence of the Land of Israel. Day after day they were tried and tested, by insults and by curses, by loss of money and injury to their persons. For Jerusalem is not as the places that are outside the Land, since never has a man gone to sleep in Jerusalem bearing unrequited sins. For day after day the Holy One, blessed be He, settles that day’s accounts, in order that the spiritual debts of Jerusalem might not increase and multiply. Like a judge of flesh and blood, who considers and reconsiders the cases of those brought before him that they might be found innocent; so the Holy One, blessed be He, turns, as one might say, His eyes on Jerusalem and chastises its inhabitants that they might be cleansed of every iniquity.

  Pessel, the daughter of Rabbi Shelomo, perished from the kick of a mule, and Feiga perished from the blows of Ishmael. For once a water carrier brought water to Feiga on a day when it was raining heavily and all the cisterns and wells were full, so that she did not need his water. Thereupon he emptied his water-skins over her, and she caught a chill and died.

  But our men of good heart lovingly accepted everything that befell them, not rebelling at their sufferings or making claims against God. Instead they bore all their losses and comforted themselves, saying that on the morrow the Holy One, blessed be He, would redeem them and then all their troubles and distress would be over. And when the common people used to ask why the Holy One, blessed be He, did not exact vengeance upon the wicked nations who treated his children like captives, they would reply, Our answer is in the words of your question: Once there was a king whose son was attacked by enemies. Thereupon the king said, Why should I go to the trouble of sending soldiers to avenge myself on them? I shall immediately go forth myself with all my army to expel and sentence them for making my son suffer; and I shall bring my son back home with much joy and honor.

  All trouble is hard to bear, but hardest of all is the trouble of making a living. When a man becomes poor, hunger irks him every day. There seemed to be a hole in our comrades’ pockets and their money ran out. Before the end of the year they felt the hardships of making a living, since the Land of Israel has been purged of all vanities and there is no source of money save the money that a man brings with him from abroad. And so at length they were compelled to obtain their sustenance from the Exile.

  When that time came, Leibush the butcher separated from the group and made up his mind to return to Buczacz. For Leibush said, Have you ever seen a country where nothing is to be had but mutton? From the very beginning he had not been pleased with Jerusalem. What he sought he did not find, while with what he did find his body was not satisfied. On the other hand, Rabbi Yosef Meir also had to prepare to leave. He wished to dwell in the Land of Israel but was not permitted to, on account of an ancient ordinance that no man may dwell in Jerusalem without a wife for more than a single year.

  But the Holy One, blessed be he, will use one and the same means for chastising the unrighteous and for doing good to the righteous. The ship on which Leibush returned to the Exile had brought with it the divorced wife of Rabbi Yosef Meir. On her arrival he sent her greetings and afterwards brought her under the bridal canopy, and Rabbi Yosef Meir lived to see a generation of upright, God-fearing and God-loving descendants. Rabbi Pesach and Tzirel were likewise found worthy in the course of their residence in the Holy City, and their house was built by sons and by daughters who in due course of time were enlisted in the legions of the Lord of the Universe.

  And so our redeemed brethren dwelled together within the Holy Congregation of the Holy City, joyously fulfilling the commandment to dwell in the Land of Israel; until their end came and they passed away, returning their souls unto Him to whom all souls belong, and leaving their bodies to the bosom of their mother; for they were found worthy to be buried in the soil of the Holy Land on the Mount of Olives at Jerusalem, facing the Temple of the Lord, at the feet of the Holy One, blessed be he; until the time comes for them to awaken to everlasting life, on the day of which it is written: ‘And His feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives.’

  But Hananiah lived many long years, strength and energy accruing to him year by year. When he was a hundred years old, he was like a lad of twenty in his fulfillment of the commandments and performance of good deeds; and neither weakness nor weariness could be recognized in him. Many fanciful tales are told about that same Hananiah, such as the tale that when our men of good heart arrived on shore at Jaffa, they found Hananiah drying his kerchief in the sun. But this is not the truth, as Hananiah was already in Jerusalem ere his comrades had arrived in the Land. All kinds of fanciful tales are likewise told about his kerchief; for instance, that the Emperor Napoleon saw it and made a flag out of it and was victorious in his wars. But that is not the truth either, since, when Hananiah had passed away, they covered his eyes with his kerchief.

  The day on which Hananiah died was the first day of the month of Nisan. He had tied his kerchief round his loins and was about to proceed to the synagogue. Suddenly he felt his legs failing. This fellow’s legs, said he, are entreating him not to bother them; so I shall pray at home.

  And when he came to the words, ‘The heavens are the heavens of the Lord; but the earth hath He given to the sons of man,’ his soul departed from him in purity. They came and closed his eyes and covered them with his kerchief. Then with much difficulty they took his prayer book out of his hands, purified his body, and brought him to his eternal home.

  Many accompanied him to the cemetery, and many spoke his praises. One praised him for his simplicity, another for his whole-heartedness, a third for his nim-bleness in fulfilling commandments, a fourth for his love of the Land of Israel, a fifth for his faith, and a sixth for all of these qualities together. For all the good and upright qualities which were given to Israel to glorify God’s blessed world were to be found together in Hananiah, peace be upon him.

  The sages and rabbis of Jerusalem have long desired that all that befell Hananiah should be put on record in a book. But by reason of harshness of servitude and the urgency of livelihood, as well as because of strife and contention, the matter was deferred from day to day and from year to year; until I came and wrote all the adventures of Hananiah in a book which I have called ‘In the Heart of the Se
as.’ This name I have given this book in memory of Hananiah, peace be upon him, who went down into the heart of the sea and came forth peacefully. I have not left out anything I have heard and I have added nothing more than my soul advised.

  Some will read my book as a man reads legends, while others will read it and derive benefit for themselves. With regard to the former I quote the words of the Book of Proverbs: ‘But a good word maketh the heart glad’; a good word maketh the soul to rejoice and delivereth from care. But of the latter I say in the words of the Psalmist: ‘But those who wait for the Lord, they shall inherit the land.’

  Translated by I.M. Lask

  Revised and Annotated by Jeffrey Saks

  Annotations to “In the Heart of the Seas”

  Title / Cf. Jonah 2:4.

  Register / To join the group who will be travelling to the Land of Israel.

  Quorum / Minyan; group of 10 men for communal prayer service.

  Kerchief / The kerchief – a central symbol throughout this tale – is revisited by Agnon most famously in his story, “The Kerchief”, in A Book That Was Lost.

  Lulav and citron / The palm-branch and citron (etrog) used as part of the Sukkot celebration (cf. Lev. 23:40).

  Robber chief / This element is taken from the legends of the Ba’al Shem Tov.

  A certain cave / Cf. Agnon’s “Fable of the Goat”, in A Book That Was Lost.

  Two thousand ells / The Sabbath boundary outside of which one is forbidden to travel.

  Shaddai / Playing off the homonym: Shaddai (Hebrew for “The Almighty”) being one of God’s Holy names and the Polish siadaj, meaning: Sit!

  Took off my shoes / One is forbidden to wear leather shoes on Yom Kippur.

  Buczacz / Agnon’s hometown in Eastern Galicia, today Western Ukraine, and the setting for this story’s opening.

  Rabbi Akiva / cf. Pesachim 112a.

  Him who hath light in Zion / Isaiah 31:9.

  Adar / Hebrew month corresponding to February-March.

  Kohen / Descendent of the priestly caste.

  Slaughterer-and-inspector / Responsible for the production of kosher meat.

  Ketuvot / Talmudic tractate dealing with laws of marriage contracts.

  Alfasi / R. Isaac Alfasi of Fes, known as Rif (1013-1103), medieval Talmudic commentator.

  The King hath brought… / Song of Songs 1:4. Rabbi Gershon is the central character of Agnon’s earlier story HaNidach (“The Banished”), which is set around 1815. Based on this fact we can speculate that “In the Heart of the Seas” is set around 20-30 years later.

  Rabbi Shmuel Yosef / Agnon’s own name; the author has retrojected himself as a character into his own story.

  Stryi / A town about 135 km. west of Buczacz.

  Esther / Agnon’s own wife, Esther née Marx (1889-1973), similarly retrojected into the story.

  Rabbi Avigdor / One of the protagonists of the earlier mentioned story HaNidach.

  Oh that the salvation… / Ps. 53:7.

  Draw me… / Song of Songs 1:4.

  Strypa / A left tributary of the Dniester River, runs through Buczacz.

  Rabbi Meir the Miracle Worker / A charity fund to support residents of the Holy land, named for the 2nd century C.E. rabbi of the Mishnah.

  All the rivers… / Ecclesiastes 1:7.

  Rabbi in Yaslovitz / Da’at Kedoshim – Based on actual case of R. Avraham David Wahrman (1770-1840), who left the Yaslovitz rabbinate to take up a position in Bucazacz in 1813. The tale is related in Agnon’s story “Da’at Kedoshim” in his volume Ir uMelo’ah.

  Sambation / According to ancient Jewish legend the Sambation River marked the place beyond which the Ten Lost Tribes were exiled.

  Baal Shem Tov / R. Yisral ben Eliezer (d. 1760), called the “Master of the Good Name”, mystic and founder of Hassidut.

  Buried in earth outside the Land / cf. Shabbat 153a.

  Zaddik / Lit. “righteous one”, title used to designate a Hassidic Rabbi.

  Heman and Asaph and Jeduthun / I Chron 25:1; Bava Batra 14b names them as among the authors of Psalms.

  Head of Esau / Esua was the brother of the biblical Jacob. According to legend (Targum Yonatan to Gen. 50:13) his decapitated head was buried in the Cave of Machpelah, i.e., the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron.

  Iyar / Hebrew month corresponding to April-May.

  Chained / An agunah is a woman unable to obtain a halakhic divorce, in this case as her husband has gone missing with no evidence of his death or whereabouts, leaving her “chained” to him and unable to remarry.

  Rabbi Meir of Primishlan / Hassidic rabbi (1783-1850).

  What is thy name? / Gen. 32:28.

  But once the wine went in / Sanhedrin 38a.

  Stambul / i.e., Istanbul.

  Mămăligă / A porridge made out of yellow maize flour, traditional in Romania and Moldova. It is similar to the Italian polenta.

  Shulhan Arukh / 16th century Code of Jewish law by R. Yosef Karo.

  Hear O Israel / Shema Yisrael (Deut. 6:4), central declaration of faith and a twice-daily Jewish prayer.

  For with thee… / Psalm 130:4.

  Hakham / Sage; title amongst Sephardic Jews for a scholar or rabbi.

  Eight verses / Jonah 2:3-10.

  The Land must be exceedingly good / Numbers 14:7-8.

  I have forsaken my house / Jeremiah 12:7.

  Afterwards the Children of Israel / Hosea 3:5.

  Oh that the salvation / Psalm 53.

  Evil husks / Kabbalistic idea of the kellipot (shells or husks) represent evil and impure forces within our non-redeemed world.

  Minyan / Prayer quorum of 10. Careful readers will note that even without Hananiah they were ten men, a mystery planted by Agnon into the story.

  Boys and girls who flung themselves into the sea / Gittin 57b.

  Jonathan ben Uziel / Mishnaic rabbi and author of translation of the Prophets into Aramaic.

  This is the people… / Isaiah 43:21.

  I will bring them back… / Psalms 38:23.

  The counsel of the Lord… / Psalms 25:14.

  Sennacherib and Nebuchadnezzar and the wicked Titus / Non-Jewish rulers responsible for the destructions of the First and Second temple in Jerusalem, and exiles of the Jewish people.

  Section of Song / Perek Shira is a poem-like collection of Biblical and Talmudic verses of praise to God placed in the figurative mouths of the heavenly bodies, the elements of the natural world, the various members of the vegetable, animal, bird, marine and insect kingdoms. The text appears in authoritative editions of the prayerbook, but is not part of the liturgy. Author and date are unknown but the work may go back to Talmudic times.

  The voice of the Lord… / Psalms 29:3.

  My help cometh… / Psalms 212:2.

  For a small moment… / Isaiah 54:7.

  And the ransomed… / Isaiah 35:10.

  Burnt a garment and covered the blood / The blood of a slaughtered animal or fowl must be covered over with earth or ash, cf. Lev 17:13.

  Setting aside part of the Sabbath loaf / Numbers 15:20.

  Come Ye Forth and See / Tze’nah u-Re’nah, late 16th century Yiddish anthology of Jewish writings organized around the weekly Torah portion. Written for women, the work was immensely popular and widely distributed.

  Song for the Sabbath Day / Psalm 92; central passage in the prayers for welcoming the Sabbath.

  And his Land doth make… / Deut. 33:42.

  Go to the ant… / Prov. 6:6.

  Hosannah willows / Willow branches used as part of the rituals of the concluding day of the Sukkot festival; the meaning here is – in the Land of Israel they, too, have actual this-worldly food to eat.

  Students’ riot / Schiller gileif, anti-Semitic riot led by Jesuit seminary students.

  Godfather / Sandek; the one who holds the baby on his lap during the circumcision.

  Who has hallowed… / Blessing recited at circumcision.

  Rolled the light away… / From the evening prayer.

 
; Stambul / Istanbul, then the capital of the the Ottoman Empire.

  Desire of the Days / Hemdat Yamim, kabbalistic work detailing various customs and laws of the holidays.

  Holy Tongue / Hebrew.

  Rabbi Joseph Karo / Renowned halakhist and mystic (1488-1575), author of the Shulhan Arukh.

  Rabbi Simeon bar Yohai / 1st century mishnaic rabbi and mystic, purported author of the Zohar. The 33rd day of the Omer (Lag BaOmer), the anniversary of his death, is marked by pilgrimages to his grave in the Galilee region of northern Israel.

  Karaites / Sectarian movement which broke from Rabbinic Judaism, rejecting the Oral interpretation of the Torah.

  Moses ben Maimon / Maimonides (1135-1205), gretaets medieval rabbinic figure, author of the encyclopedic Mishenh Torah, also known as the Yad HaHazakah (‘The Mighty Hand’).

  Rabbi Hayyim ben Attar / Talmudist, kabbalist and author of the popular Torah commentary Or HaHayyim (‘Light of Life’) (1696, Morocco – 1742, Jerusalem).

  Grave of Job / The Eyüp Sultan Mosque in Istanbul, holds the tomb of Abu Ayyub al-Ansari, not the Biblical Job, a 7th century figure whose tomb was mistakenly conflated with that of the Biblical Job.

  Ordination of the Sages / R Naftali ben Yitzhak HaKohen Katz of Ostrowo, Ukraine (1660-1719), rabbi and kabbalist, died in Istanbul en route to the Land of Israel.