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

Three weeks passed peacefully. The ship’s crew subdued the waters, the ship moved gently and our men of good heart sat studying Scripture and Talmud or else relating the praises of the Land of Israel. Rabbi Shmuel Yosef, the son of Rabbi Shalom Mordekhai ha-Levi, made the time pass sweetly with those praiseworthy legends wherein the Land of Israel is praised. As a king who spreads a curtain over the entrance to his palace for whoever is wise to roll back and enter, so did Rabbi Shmuel Yosef roll back the gates of Jerusalem before them and enter with them to discover all that lay innermost.

Facing them sat our Sephardic brethren, who are not versed in the Yiddish tongue of the men of Poland; but they saw the joy of their brethren and asked, Why are you so happy? and were answered in the Holy Tongue: Thus and thus did Rabbi Shmuel Yosef relate to us.

Then they also wanted to listen, and Rabbi Shmuel Yosef immediately opened his mouth and began to speak in the Holy Tongue like unto the ministering angels, relating the praises of Jerusalem and the joy with which the Divine Presence would rejoice in them. For ever since the day when the Temple was destroyed, there is no day without its vexation, the Holy One, blessed be He, having long sworn that He would not enter the Jerusalem on high until such time as Israel would enter the Jerusalem below. And our Sephardic brethren, listening, could have kissed him on the mouth for those words.

Three weeks passed peacefully. The ship sailed along quietly. The sun gave light by day and the moon by night. The sky was full of stars and the sea behaved after its fashion, while the waves went along as one who goes to a festivity. But on the bed of the sea the waters began grumbling, and the wind began slapping at the masts of the ship. At last a great storm arose and the ship rocked this way and that, sometimes to the right and sometimes to the left, sometimes sinking and sometimes rising and rearing up, the waves wrestling angrily with the ship, ready to swallow the ship and all who dwelt therein. The whole sea was covered with foam as though the Great Sea had been transformed into a Sea of Foam.

Happy is he who rests on such a night in the shadow of his own house, and the four walls of his house surround him and his roof protects him from the rain so that he can lie on his bed and cover himself with a warm blanket and listen to the sound of the footsteps of the night watchman passing in front of his house. Then in the morning he can put on his prayer shawl, and crown himself with tefillin, and say his prayers in the House of Prayer, and calmly eat his meal, and go out to the market place, and engage in business honestly, spending his days and his years honorably and passing away with a good name, worthy of burial with his fathers.

But on that night the eyes of the comrades were deprived of sleep and their body of rest. All their bedding was soaked with salt water. There were sixty myriads of waves spitting in their faces and roaring. Where was the river Strypa where they used to dip themselves on Sabbath eve on sunny days, and where they would cast away their sins on the New Year’s Day? Why, the river Strypa was hundreds of leagues away. Now they were in the midst of the sea, and waves as huge as mountains were rising to the sky, and the ship was being slung about like a stone from a sling. And the sailors were growing too weak to steer the rudder much longer and subdue the waters.

All those on board were thrown against the sides of the ship, and screamed and wept and wailed. A chill salt sweat appeared on their faces, drops of salt dripped from their hair and rolled down into their mouths. Some of the comrades brought up their mother’s milk, while others felt their bellies near bursting. I do not wish you such a passage, all ye seafarers!

At midnight the storm grew worse, and breached the walls of the ship. The ropes began to part and the noise grew ever greater. No one could be heard above the sound of the waters. There arose a great tumult among the people on board the ship. One man raised his hands and cried for aid, while another tore his hair. There was no one to subdue the waters and no one to aid a comrade in the hour of his distress. Yet mention must be made of the captain, who remained at his post and encouraged the sailors not to despair of mercy and not to slacken their labor.

In a little while the ship started and shook more than ever, as though it had struck a reef and were about to break. All the gear was tossed high into the air, and falling struck the people down. When our men of good heart saw that they were indeed in danger, they said: When our holy rabbis of blessed memory went to the Land of Israel, namely, Rabbi Nahman of Horodanki and Rabbi Mendele of Primishlan and all the other pious men like them, they were in such distress as this on the sea. Then Rabbi Nahman took the Torah Scroll on his arm and said, Even if, God forbid, the Court on High has decreed that we must pass from this world, nevertheless, we, a court on earth, together with the Holy One, blessed be he, and his Divine Presence, do not concur in that decree. And all those present responded, Amen.

At that moment a sailor mounted to the masthead and said, Looking through my glass I espy the cities of the Land of Israel.

Those, said our men of good heart to themselves, were indeed great pious men, mighty heroes. May it be His will that we may be delivered from this distress, on account of their merits and the merits of the Land of Israel.

Their prayers achieved one half and the ship’s men achieved the other half, and the Holy One, blessed be he, in his blessed mercy achieved the whole. Within a few moments the fury of the Prince of the Sea died down, and the face of the waters changed for the better. That day passed without mishap, nor did any evil befall them at night. The moon came out and gave light, and the ship proceeded peacefully. The sick gradually regained their health.

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.