The Family Moskat (92 page)
Authors: Isaac Bashevis Singer
The half-shattered church on Gzhybov Place, opposite Reb Meshulam Moskat's house, had been converted into a hospital, where nuns attended the wounded. The broad flight of steps was sprinkled with blood. There had been so many deaths in the city that the corpses could not all be removed. The bodies were carried away on boards. The Saxon Gardens were gashed by long trenches into which protruded the roots of trees. Asa Heshel and Barbara plodded on. "This is fascism," thought Barbara; "I fought it and did not know what it was. Now I see it. But what -606-am I doing here? Why am I wandering about the city? I must flee--today!"
An ugly idea occurred to her. Now that Hadassah was gone, Asa Heshel would marry her.
Asa Heshel walked with bowed head. He was prepared for the worst. Perhaps Dinah, too, was dead. He recalled the verse of the Psalmist: "For I am ready to halt, and my sorrow is continually before me." His heart was contracted as though squeezed in a fist. Fantastic! He had had a foreboding the last time that he would never see Hadassah again. She had looked at him so strangely, so timidly. If she died, she said, she wanted to be buried with her mother. It had never occurred to her that she would be buried in Kartchev.
Again there was an alarm and the roar of airplanes, and again they sought shelter, this time in a doorway. Asa Heshel leaned against the wall and closed his eyes. "Hadassah, where are you now? Do you know? Do you exist?" Was it possible that past time had no being? Was there nothing but the momentary present? If he could at least weep! But not a single tear came to his eyes. Why was he still alive? He had not realized that the death of Hadassah could so shatter him. There was a great emptiness about him; his feet seemed to be giving way; he was filled with the horror of death.
They came to Franciskaner Street. Again Barbara waited downstairs. Asa Heshel knocked at his sister's door. There was no answer. He opened it himself and went in. He saw Dinah. She ran toward him, her wig all awry, her face yellowed as by jaundice. She flung herself on him, like one distracted, half laughing, half weeping. "Is it you? Are you really here? I thought you'd been caught somewhere. God in heaven!"
They were all at home: Menassah David, Tamar, Jerachmiel, Dan.
Menassah David came in without his gaberdine, in his fringed shirt, his trousers held up by a piece of string. In one hand he held a book of Chassidic stories, in the other a cigarette butt. The bearded face, with its earlocks and its curious mixture of grossness and nobility, was alight. He made as if to run to his brother-in-law and embrace him; but he stopped short on the threshold, began to sway left and right and to make strange gestures. Tamar came in, pushing her father to one side. She seemed exhausted, as if she had not slept for many nights. She looked at her uncle, as if astonished and ashamed of the condi--
607-tion in which he found the house. The two boys came in after her. The older one had already sprouted a beard; he wore a skullcap. The younger one was dressed in a tattered gaberdine, and his head was covered with a little cap.
Dinah clapped her hands together and broke into a lament.
"Do you see our misery?" she wept. "Look at us! As if we haven't enough sorrows without this!"
"Uncle Asa Heshel!" cried Tamar, and threw her arms around him. "When did you get here? And how? I thought God knows what had happened to you. Through all this fire--"
"Quiet! Don't scream!" wailed Dinah, covering her ears. "All day long the bombs fall. They drive me out of my mind. Why do you stand at the door? Menassah David, stop dancing there. I tell you, Asa Heshel, he's taken leave of his senses."
Menassah David rubbed his huge hands and quoted with a smile: "'It is man's duty to bless God for the evil that befalls him, as well as for the good.' These are the pangs of the Messiah--the wars of Gog and Magog. . . . It is beginning, just as the Book of Daniel says. Idiots!"
"Oh, please, please, don't make so much noise," exclaimed Dinah.
"They're driving me mad. People with sense are running away, but how are we to run? I can barely walk two steps. I say, let the men leave. Tamar and I will manage somehow. What will they do to us, I ask you. What do you think, Asa Heshel? Speak up, I can't hear you, God help me. Do you know Adele is here? They sent her back."
"Adele?"
"Yes, Adele. The ship wandered about on all the seas, and in the end they sent it back. That's what's happening to us Jews--pushed here and there, and then thrown out like garbage. She comes here every day and weeps her eyes out. She wants to go away too. What is the other one doing, Asa Heshel?"
"Hadassah is dead."
"What? God help us all!"
"She was hit by a bomb."
"When? Oh God, that beautiful child! So young! So lovely!
What a terrible thing!"
"Oh, Uncle Asa Heshel--" Tamar began in a choking voice, and could not go on.
"Don't all talk and shout at once," cried Dinah. "With all -608-these dreadful
things happening, my nerves have gone to pieces. There's always a singing in my ears. Not that anybody's singing, it's only inside me, the Kol Nidre melody. Like the wicked Titus, curse his memory!
Sit down, Asa Heshel, sit down; it won't cost you any more to take a chair. What's to be done, I ask you. Where are we to run from this hell? We haven't a copper coin in the house. We might as well lie down and die. I don't care what happens to me, but what am I to do with the others, with the youngsters? Tell me, Asa Heshel."
Asa Hesbel felt in his pockets. All he had was a few coins.
Menassah David came toward him. "May this be the last of your troubles! Such times! You can't even observe the week of mourning. But the resurrection's coming soon. We'll see the lost ones again. With our own eyes. As long as I have my rabbi, I'm afraid of nothing. Hell look after everything." And Menassah David indicated his book with the cigarette butt.
" Menassah David, stop it. Everyone knows you're a fool." Dinah turned to Asa Heshel. "Those others throw bombs and he dances. And he'll keep on dancing until we're all killed, God forbid. I've got a few pounds of grits, and that's what we're eating. As soon as they're finished we might as well go bury ourselves. They came after my boys for the army, but when they took a look at them at the recruiting office they sent them back. They have no clothes for the soldiers. They say that Hitler is in Vola.
God help us all, what we Jews have come to." She sobbed.
The two boys returned to the living-room. Tamar dried her eyes and said: "Uncle Asa Heshel, won't you sit down? Would you like a glass of tea?"
"No, I must go. I'll be back soon."
"Where are you going?" Dinah demanded. "Comes for a minute and runs out! You're not sure of your life outside. At a time like this we ought to stay together."
"But I tell you I'll come back. I haven't even got a room any more.
"Stay here! If you go away, others will come and take your place.
They keep coming from the bombed-out houses. These days you can't put anyone out. What a terrible time! What shall we do?
Where shall we go? God's anger is on the world! It's a curse!"
Tamar was ashamed of her mother's weeping and lamenting.
-609-Red spots
appeared on her cheeks. Menassah David, after hesitating awhile, left the kitchen. Asa Heshel kissed Tamar and said: "I'll be back soon."
Barbara was standing in the middle of the courtyard, her eyes blazing, her face pale with anger. "I thought you weren't coming out any more."
"It's my sister."
"Listen to me, Asa Heshel. I'm not going to remain here. I'm leaving today. Tell me once for all: are you coming with me or are you staying?"
"I'm staying."
"Is that your last word?"
"Yes."
"Then it's good-by. God help you."
"Good-by, Barbara. Forgive me."
"I don't see the sense of remaining with the Nazis."
"The whole family's remaining. It's all the same to me. I want to die."
She scrutinized him with unfriendly eyes. "Maybe you're right; but I'm going to keep on fighting for a while. Where are you going now?"
"I want to see Hertz Yanovar."
"What for? Well, I'll come along. It's on my way."
Half of Shviento-Yerska Street lay in ruins. Wherever the eye turned, it encountered open roofs, shattered chimneys, tumbled walls, hanging windows and balconies. By the railing of the Krashinski Gardens Asa Heshel came upon Hertz Yanovar. He stood there white-haired, his side whiskers gray, his shirt open. He was wearing a velvet jacket and sandals. He seemed to be waiting for someone; the dark eyes were staring into space. Asa Heshel called out his name. He turned around with a bewildered look, then came running forward with outstretched arms and embraced Asa Heshel and Barbara. "'I had not thought to see thy face!'" he quoted from the Bible.
"Why are you standing here in the street? Where's Gina?"
"Gina's down with inflammation of the lungs right in the middle of this whole business. I'm waiting for the doctor. He promised to come over. He should have been here a couple of hours ago. And you--I thought you'd managed to escape somewhere."
-610-Hertz Yanovar
burst into tears. He took out a yellow handkerchief and blew his nose. He stood before them confused, ashamed. "I've got no more strength," he said apologetically. He hesitated for a moment and then said, in Polish: "The Messiah will come soon."
Asa Heshel looked at him in astonishment. "What do you mean?"
"Death is the Messiah. That's the real truth."
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