S. Agnon - Two Scholars Who Were in our Town and other Novellas

When they arrived at Wilkup, it was already twilight. They set up a camp, said the Afternoon and Evening Prayers, and then repeated Psalm Sixty-nine which begins, ‘Save me, O God, for the waters are come in even unto the soul,’ and which finishes joyfully, ‘For God will save Zion… and they that love His name shall dwell therein.’

The sea was silent and the waters were still. The men took out the cushions and pillows and the pots and pans, while the women gathered wood, kindled a fire, and cooked the supper. Every day during their stay at that place Hananiah used to go out with the women and gather branches which dripped resin. These give off a fine smell when they burn and add a spice to the meal.

They sat on their boxes and ate their meal in the moonlight. The trees and plants smelled sweetly and the night too gave off many goodly odors; the water moved to and fro in the sea, the stars and planets gave light on high, and the earth whispered to itself below, restoring their souls. The good folk got up, spread out a place to sleep on the ground, and prepared to sleep, reciting the ‘Hear O Israel’ and praying for protection against demons, and evil and harmful spirits, and evil sins, and evil dreams, reminding God that they were dust and ashes and worms and corruption, and beseeching Him to forgive all their transgressions, as it is written, ‘for with thee there is forgiveness.’

Suddenly they were pounced upon by every kind of mosquitoe, big as frogs, which bit them so that their faces swelled up. Never had they spent nights as bad as these. They could not sit, they could not lie, and they could not read any books. They could not sit up because of the mosquitoes, they could not lie down because of their sores, and they could not read any books because the mosquitoes covered the light.

This is the proper place to mention Rabbi Shmuel Yosef, the son of Rabbi Shalom Mordekhai ha-Levi, who sweetened their sufferings with tales of the Land of the Sons of Moses and the Four Tribes who dwell beyond the river Sambation in large houses made of precious stones and pearls, and who need no lamps or candles at night, since the stones of their houses shine sevenfold brighter than any candle; furthermore, they live for a hundred and twenty years, and no son dies during the lifetime of his father, nor daughter during the lifetime of her mother. They are forty times as many as the numbers of those who left Egypt and possess all the good things of the world as a reward for their study of His blessed Torah and observance of His Commandments. There is nothing impure in all their borders, neither an impure domestic beast nor an impure beast of prey, nor impure birds, nor vermin, nor reptiles, nor flies, nor mosquitoes. And every day they hear a Divine Voice proclaim, ‘Woe is me for I have destroyed my house, and burnt my mansion, and sent my children into exile.’ And they wait for the Omnipresent to return them to the Land of Israel.

Great are the works of his Name, be blessed. Happy the man who devotes his heart to them and knows how to explain them to others. Happy is Rabbi Shmuel Yosef, who at all times can relate the good deeds which the Holy One, blessed be he, does for Israel. Every night that they were upon the sea Rabbi Shmuel Yosef cheered them with his words and told them tales of salvation and comfort; such as the tale of Rabbi Gad of Jerusalem, and the tale of Malkiel the Hero, and the tale of the letters which the Sons of Moses sent to the men of Jerusalem.

When day broke and the sea could be seen, the women began crying, Oh, we are afraid to set out on the sea, we are afraid to sail by ship; when a man dies on board ship they don’t bury him but they tie him to a plank of wood and let him down into the sea! And then all kinds of big fish come, and some of them eat the soles of his feet while some eat his nose and lips. Last of all a big fish comes and swallows the corpse together with the plank which he is tied to, or else the sea spews him out on the sand, and all kinds of unclean birds come and peck out his eyes and pull the flesh off his bones. Whatever happens, the poor fellow never gets to a Jewish grave!

It was at that time that the women all made up their minds to go back to Buczacz, and screamed and cried for divorces. So they went off to the town and asked where a rabbi was to be found. But the folk of the town could not make out what they were talking about, for in those parts they do not have a rabbi, but a hakham who spends his time in the Yeshivah teaching the congregation Torah and right conduct. So the women asked, Then where is the judge?

We don’t go in much for quarreling, said the people of the town, and so we do not need anyone to judge us.

But at last they found an ordained rabbi from the lands of His Imperial Majesty, the Emperor of Austria, who happened to live in that town; and he arranged the divorces for the womenfolk. Then of course, after they had been divorced, the women remembered how folk buried outside the Holy Land must suffer by having to roll their corpses through caves and tunnels underground to reach the Holy Land. And they began wailing aloud at the top of their voices. Each and every one of them flung herself at the feet of the man who had been her husband and wept before him and entreated him, until the husbands arranged to take them under the bridal canopy and marry them all over again.

Then Rabbi Moshe said to Rabbi Yosef Meir, What a happy fellow you are, Rabbi Yosef Meir, to have given your wife her divorce before you started out, so that you no longer have to worry about divorces and marriages. Now here you have a Jew who wishes to prepare himself on the way in order to enter the Land of Israel with a clear mind. Suddenly his wife turns on him in a fury, wanting a divorce or demanding a bridal canopy. It is not good for a man to be alone; and when his wife is with him it is no good either. God forbid that I should complain about my virtuous paragon; but if you wish to study or if you wish to think some pure thoughts, up she comes with her talk and you have to devote your heart to what is a waste of time.

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.

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.