Two Scholars Who Were in our Town and other Novellas Read online

  7.

  I have no idea where that saying comes from, but in our town it was commonly used to dismissively tease young unmarried men who tried to insinuate themselves into the company of their married elders, as equals. Moshe Pinchas, who had already attained a third of a man’s normal lifespan but remained a bachelor only because he hadn’t yet found a suitable match, recoiled and returned to his place where he sat tugging at the clumps of his beard in distress. From that point on he did not speak to Reb Shlomo, and if Reb Shlomo asked how he was, he would respond reluctantly. At first, no one noticed anything. And when they did begin to notice, they were incredulous. Why would Reb Shlomo, who showed respect even to the lowliest ones, humiliate one of the most erudite scholars? And they were even more critical of Moshe Pinchas for being so vengeful and bearing a grudge. Reb Shlomo went to Moshe Pinchas and said, “I beg you, forgive me for the words that unintentionally escaped from my mouth.” But Moshe Pinchas just glared at him and did not respond.

  That very day a bookseller brought the book Ketzot HaHoshen to the Kloyz. The conversation got around to the book’s author, the Ba’al HaKetzot, who had labored in matters of Torah while living in deprivation and poverty. A plank over a barrel served as his table, and in winter he had no wood to light his stove and was forced to stay in bed and write his book there. And sometimes the ink would even freeze from the extreme cold and he would put it under his pillow to thaw out. When he had finished the first part of his book, he went to see the master sage, our Rabbi Meshulam Igra. And when the Ba’al HaKetzot began to present a Talmudic disputation to him, Reb Meshulam interjected, “Sir, you must be intending to say it this way.” And the other responded, “No, not really.” Reb Meshulam looked at him briefly and said, “Then undoubtedly the gentleman must be intending to say it this way or that way,” and this went on until the author had completely run out of innovative ideas, for Reb Meshulam had a knack of understanding each and every sage’s way of analyzing things and had honed in on the Ba’al HaKetzot’s precise thinking on every innovation the latter could present on any given issue. The Ba’al HaKetzot then said to Reb Meshulam, “Look, as we speak I’m already busy composing the second volume, and I am wondering if there is any point in my continuing to toil on it? Tell me, Sir, what could I possibly add now by way of commentary to the Shulhan Arukh’s finance code from chapter 200 on?” At that point Reb Meshulam realized that he had disheartened a very gifted man and was filled with remorse. It is said that when this story was relayed, Reb Shlomo added that from this point on Reb Meshulam had fasted every Monday and Thursday for the rest of his life because of having aggrieved that sage. And people say that when this story was told, Reb Shlomo groaned and said, “I don’t come close to Reb Meshulam’s level of righteousness.” Those around him had a sense of where things were going and said to him, “And Moshe Pinchas doesn’t come close to Ba’al HaKetzot’s level of Torah scholarship!” Reb Shlomo replied, “Reb Moshe Pinchas is a great scholar and learns Torah for its own sake.” When this was relayed to Moshe Pinchas, he just shrugged and said, “Leave me be. I don’t even want to hear that man’s name.” A short while later, Moshe Pinchas arose from his studies, collected his Gemara and left. When a day or two had passed and he still hadn’t come back, people assumed that he’d gone to his mother’s in the village, even though it wasn’t his custom to go there on weekdays. A few days later, a voice was heard emanating from the Tailors’ Synagogue and they recognized it as belonging to Moshe Pinchas.

  The Tailors’ Synagogue was located above our old study house, opposite the bathhouse, and it was somewhat similar to the Great Synagogue, resplendent with paintings of the Chariot and of the musical instruments of the Temple and also with depictions of the animals and birds in the teaching of Yehudah ben Teimah in tractate Avot, with the words of the Mishnah underneath each of the illustrations. Under the leopard it said, “Be bold as a leopard,” under the eagle, “Light as an eagle,” under the deer, “swift as a deer” and under the lion, “strong as a lion.” And under all of them it was written, “To do the will of our Father in heaven.” And why do I mention all of this? To demonstrate to you that a wise man learns from everything around him and, by gazing at the drawings he devotes his heart to the Torah. They say that when the women used to go to the mikveh and would hear Reb Moshe Pinchas’s voice, they would bless themselves and say, “May we be worthy to have sons like him.”

  8.

  Here it should be told that at that time his mother’s income from leasing the mill had run out. And with the end of the mother’s income came the end of the son’s sustenance. However, relief and deliverance came from another place. Residents of the town began bringing him their sons and paying him tutoring fees. It’s been said that Reb Shlomo had dropped a hint that people ought to seek wisdom from such a scholar. Reb Moshe Pinchas selected three or four talented pupils and taught them Talmud and its commentaries, earning enough for his own needs and even enough to give to his mother. From this time on he no longer had to go to the village and didn’t have to waste time on traveling back and forth. And where did his mother hear Kiddush and Havdalah? Thank God, even in villages there are Jews, and a Jew’s door is always open to all who want to hear hallowed words.

  Moshe Pinchas found lodging in a certain tailor’s house, and the tailor even made him a new suit, not of fine silk like that of Reb Shlomo, but nonetheless sufficiently respectable. The other artisans saw this and were envious of the tailor. The milliner went and made him a new hat and the cobbler made him shoes. One Sabbath eve, when Moshe Pinchas went to the bathhouse, they took his hat and shoes and replaced them with the new ones they’d made. Moshe Pinchas was dressed in new clothes, new shoes and a new hat so that his entire appearance was transformed. His pupils, who recognized his erudition in Torah, began to referring to him as Rabbi Moshe Pinchas, and it goes without saying that the tailors and the rest of the artisans were very proud of this great scholar who had ensconced himself in their house of prayer. And every artisan who had a daughter used to gaze upon him and say “May it be God’s will that he become my son-in-law.” Mercifully, one affluent man beat them to it. Reb Meirtche, the son of Shaindele the Righteous. Reb Meirtche had a fabric store and an only daughter. He lavished upon his daughter a dowry of one hundred and fifty coins of pure silver, thereby landing Moshe Pinchas. And from this we can learn that all the idle talk of the gossip mongers was unfounded, because when the time comes for a man to marry. his match will surely be found.

  Once Reb Moshe Pinchas was married he was able to stand with the great ones and discourse with the Torah elders like all the other tallit wearers. And yet he didn’t leave his place or alter his customary behavior. Since his father-in-law took care of his every need, he dismissed his pupils and returned to solitary study, and didn’t budge from his studies except on Sabbath eve. And even on the eve of the Sabbath he didn’t stay home all night. Even before the sun rose, he would return to his place of study. In summertime he would study in the Tailors’ Synagogue and in the winter, when there was no lit stove there, he would move himself over to the old study house. The simple folk and even some of the students began to refer to him as Rabbi Moshe Pinchas even when not addressing him. Reb Moshe Pinchas didn’t pay attention to this honorific. His entire sense of worth derived from sating himself on Talmud and rabbinical Codes.

  9.

  About Reb Moshe Pinchas there isn’t much to tell for the moment. He was invested heart and soul in the Talmud, its commentators, and the commentaries on the commentators. He would complete one Tractate and immediately embark upon another.

  But about Reb Shlomo there is what to tell. The Emperor’s troops arrived in the town’s environs for training exercises, with the Archduke in command. It occurred to the community elders that should the Archduke come to town he would surely visit the Great Synagogue to bestow honor on the Jews. And here there was no one who knew how to give a proper sermon, particularly not in the vernacular. For in those days our town langu
ished without a rabbi, with an aged instructor serving in place of a rabbi. Moreover, that instructor was not accustomed to delivering sermons, even on Shabbat Shuva or Shabbat HaGadol, and it goes without saying not in the vernacular. They considered bringing in a preacher from Ternopil, from among the students of Yossel ben Todrus, known as Joseph Perl. Reb Shlomo offered, “I will deliver the sermon and I am confident that the merit of my sacred ancestors, whose righteousness endures, will sustain me.” All were delighted that there would be no need to engage a preacher devoid of Torah and mitzvot and they were astonished that Reb Shlomo was willing to undertake to sermonize in a language to which he was not accustomed, because if he erred or stumbled it could only be for the worse, not for the better. The entire town prayed that he wouldn’t trip over his own tongue, and that his words would be pleasing to the Archduke. The prayers did their share and Reb Shlomo’s talent took care of the rest, so that when Reb Shlomo stood by the Holy Ark and greeted the Archduke it was a truly holy moment, and everyone saw and recognized that if a man makes the Torah his lifeblood, all other forms of wisdom will come to him on their own. And yet it wasn’t a miracle at all, inasmuch as Reb Shlomo knew the entire Book of Psalms as translated by Reb Moshe by heart and also most of the hymns that Reb Wolf had translated, and some things he had after all learned from his wife who was fluent in German. This sermon brought him fame throughout the land. Reb Shlomo, however, tried to downplay it, so that it shouldn’t be said he gained acclaim by means of the German language and so as not to create an opening for the “new enlightened ones” to try and curry favor with him.

  10.

  At around that same time a certain town was bereft of its rabbi. The town sent for Reb Shlomo. They found him suitable and he accepted the rabbinical post. After taking his leave from all the elders of his town and his wife’s family, he visited the grave of his ancestor the sage Reb Pinchas and after leaving his ancestor he went to Reb Moshe Pinchas and said to him, “Now that I’m going to another town, I appeal to you that we make peace.” Reb Moshe Pinchas responded, “There will never be peace between us. Not in this world and not in the world to come.” Reb Shlomo heaved a heavy sigh and departed.

  It is a widely accepted custom that when a new rabbi is hired by a congregation, all the townsfolk gather in the Great Synagogue to hear his sermon. And if the rabbi is among the famous ones, they even come from other towns. The topic of the sermon is announced a few days in advance, in order to give the scholars time to hone their studies in the event that they want to engage in back-and-forth with him. Originally, anyone wanting to debate would just interject himself into the sermon and start arguing. When everyone realized this led to confusion, it was resolved that all questions must be held until the conclusion of the sermon.

  Now that the breadth of knowledge has waned, and sermonizers know nothing more than what they have specifically prepared, it has become customary instead to ask questions of the rabbi at his house. If he has an answer, he gives it. And if not, he becomes evasive and feigns fatigue. But, at that time, they were still allowing questions immediately after the sermon in front of the entire public. And so the date was set and the topic of Reb Shlomo’s sermon was promulgated, and the announcement was copied and distributed among several towns. This very announcement reached our town as well.

  11.

  One day Reb Moshe Pinchas said to his wife, “I’m leaving for a few days.” His wife, who was in the habit of accepting his pronouncements without complaint or argument, asked neither where he was going nor why. She gave him provisions for the road and said, “Go in peace.” He gathered his tallit and tefillin and set off for Reb Shlomo’s town.

  The entire town was filled with guests. Those who had come for the sake of Reb Shlomo and those who had come to see who else had come. There were those who were eager to see the new rabbi and others eager simply to report what they had seen. The erudite Torah scholars walked around hunched over and debating with themselves. One would say to himself, “If Reb Shlomo says this, I will ask that and if he responds this way, I will inquire that way.” And the way one man strategized, so precisely did his colleague, and so the next and the next. Among those that came you would have also found Reb Moshe Pinchas, who was sitting in the study house, busily ruminating on the precise Talmudic discussion that Reb Shlomo had announced as the topic of his sermon.

  The whole town assembled itself into the Great Synagogue, which was already packed with those who had remained after the morning prayers. And when Reb Shlomo entered with his father the sage to his right and his uncle the other great sage to his left, the eyes of most of the assembly welled with tears of joy at having been granted the privilege of beholding two such venerable sages who embodied Torah in human form. And so Reb Shlomo entered, and with him his father and his uncle, and with them several other rabbis and Torah learners, even the least of whom in our generation would have been considered a sage among sages. The entire congregation raised a mighty cheer in their honor and roared, “Welcome! May your arrival be blessed!” until the brass candelabras swayed from the clamor.

  12.

  Reb Shlomo ascended to the Holy Ark. He wrapped himself in a new prayer shawl and recited the Sheheheyanu blessing. He kissed the ark curtain and whispered several verses which are particularly suited for suppressing pride, and began to sermonize incisively and eruditely, argument and counter argument. Reb Shlomo was possessed of a gift of silver tongued eloquence, and even knew how to sermonize in the lingua franca and all the more so in the holy tongue which he had worked with his entire life. And once he had begun to speak all were filled with joy and they said, “What great fortune has been bestowed upon us to have this rabbi in our midst.” And even the simple folk recognized that great words were being uttered by him. Reb Shlomo endeared himself to them deeply. It’s been told that one butcher cried out in great wonder, “I am ready and willing to proffer my own neck for the slaughter on behalf of our new rabbi.” All the self-proclaimed debaters who had come intending to debate with the rabbi, set aside their arguments and stood trembling and quaking in trepidation lest they miss even one word of his oratory.

  Reb Shlomo stood there wrapped in his new prayer shawl crowned with silver ornamentation, his face full of humility, his voice going from the Babylonian Talmud to the Jerusalem Talmud, from the Jerusalem Talmud to the commentary of Rav Alfasi, from Rav Alfasi to Maimonides, and from Maimonides to the Rosh, from the early scholars to the later ones and back again. Torah elders are in the habit of telling that they had heard from several old rabbis that those rabbis had frequently struggled to reconcile the very same Talmudic query posed by Reb Shlomo, and when they heard Reb Shlomo’s solution they realized that their thoughts compared to his were like vinegar compared to wine. They also tell that at the time of Reb Shlomo’s sermon, tears were seen in the eyes of that venerable sage Reb Shlomo’s father and they saw that at times Reb Shlomo would nod his head to his father and his father would then point towards the Holy Ark. The pundits commented that the son was nodding towards his father as if to say, “Father, all of this comes from you,” and the father, in turn, was pointing to the ark as if to say, “Your learning, my son, derives from there.”

  13.

  Reb Shlomo was standing and sermonizing and his voice was like that of the humble nightingale on a summer night. Suddenly a gruff voice was heard and a man was seen pushing and squeezing his way, squeezing and pushing until he arrived at the Holy Ark. And when he got to the ark, to the place where Reb Shlomo was standing, his voice began to grate and drone. Reb Shlomo stopped his sermon and cocked his head to listen. As the congregation noticed Reb Shlomo straining to listen, they all cocked their own heads and heard that this man was negating Reb Shlomo’s entire sermon by way of an explicit Talmudic statement. Their faces fell and they were embarrassed that they themselves hadn’t picked up on the discrepancy, and a few of them imagined that they had in fact discerned it but that Reb Shlomo’s sweet voice had mesmerized them. Only the simple fol
k remained as devoted to their rabbi as at the start, and when they saw that a man had the audacity to contradict him they were ready to rip him to shreds. But he took notice neither of them nor of their wrath; he saw but one thing: that he had been given an opening to totally destroy all of the theories of that incisive and erudite one, and to demonstrate that there was neither insight nor erudition here, but rather his analysis was utter folly. And the simple folk were already reaching towards the insolent one to cast him out.

  14.

  Reb Shlomo rapped on the podium and said, “Calm down and let me hear what Rabbi Moshe Pinchas has to say.” And he immediately gazed upon him with great affection and added, “Rabbi Moshe Pinchas, please repeat what you said and I shall listen; perhaps I didn’t hear you well.” Reb Moshe Pinchas recounted what he had said, throwing in some words of derision. And still, Reb Shlomo was gazing upon him warmly and it appeared that he was reveling in his own distress. After Reb Moshe Pinchas had finished, Reb Shlomo said, “Rabbi Moshe Pinchas, do you have anything else to add?” Reb Moshe Pinchas was filled with wrath and shouted at the top of his lungs, “Is it not enough for you that I’ve demonstrated that you built mounds upon mounds of nonsensical arguments in contravention of an explicit Gemara? I already have shaken out the sand particles with which you attempted to blind the people’s eyes.”