Two Scholars Who Were in Our Town and Other Novellas (6 page)

After he ate, he returned to his town and to his studies. From this time forward, he did not budge from the study house and they would bring him his meals there. And if it was not for the beadle, who would remind him that it was time to say Kiddush and eat the festive meal, he would not have returned home even on Sabbath eves, so engrossed was he in his studies. The elders of the study house would say, “If you have not yet seen a man prepared to kill himself for his studies, just take a look at Rabbi Moshe Pinchas.”

17.

One day Reb Moshe Pinchas vanished from the town. People assumed he had gone to his mother, but finally it was discovered that he he had gone to see his first teacher, our renowned scholar Rabbi Gabriel Reinush, the author of
Horeh Gaver
, a commentary on Yoreh De’ah. For what reason did he go to his teacher? Let us listen and find out: he came to his teacher and found him lying on his bed reading a book. He said to him, “Is my teacher ill?” He responded, “Why?” And he said, “Because I see him laid out on his bed.” He responded, “I am an old man and it no longer pays for me to get new clothes made, so I lie in my bed in order not to wear out my clothes from sitting. Turn away and I’ll get dressed.” The old man donned his clothing and stood up straight. Before long he had begun to hold forth to his pupil awesome and wondrous new insights, from the mere tip of which the rabbis of today’s generation would compile voluminous books. Finally, he began to direct the conversation to the name of the town where he had attempted to obtain a rabbinical post and had raised, in his astute expertise, some doubts about whether it was
permissible to arrange divorces there. In the midst of speaking, the teacher looked at his pupil and noticed that he was not happy, but how could that be when “
God’s precepts are straight and good, making our hearts rejoice.” The teacher said to him, “You’re sitting there as if you’re listening to something insignificant. You know, Moshe Pinchas, we may need to send you back to primary school.” Reb Moshe Pinchas lowered his head and said, “It is for that reason that I came.” The teacher was moved by compassion for his pupil and said to him, “My son, what has brought you here?” Reb Moshe Pinchas whispered and said, “Woe is me, my teacher, for I have strayed from the path of righteousness.” The old one responded, “The
Torah protects and the Torah rescues.” Reb Moshe Pinchas said, “This refers to someone who learns Torah for the sake of Torah.” The old one said, “God Forbid that a man who learned Torah from me did not learn Torah for its own sake.”

Reb Moshe Pinchas heaved a sigh. “What can I possibly say?” he said. “There are things I know to be true and yet I twist them around so as to remove them from their truth.” His teacher said to him, “You have to set your heart straight by delving into ethical literature, such as
Kav HaYashar
and
Shevet Musar
. Reb Moshe Pinchas said, “The Holy One blessed be He does not bother with the minor books.” The old one smiled and said, “In that case, we shall turn to the major books.” And he immediately began discoursing on the various halakhic midrashim, and
Tosefta and the entire Talmud until the house expanded like the foyer of a grand hall and yet there remained not one item that Reb Moshe Pinchas could not complete from memory, nor one legal ruling from which Reb Moshe Pinchas had not drawn a genuinely true outcome. At the end of three days when Moshe Pinchas was about to take leave of his teacher, the latter said
, “
Here I am a man of seventy three years, and I have never before had the privilege of spending three days as joyful as these. Come sit down and I shall sign your rabbinic ordination, authorizing you to issue halakhic decisions. Though I am a small town rabbi, I am widely known and it is also known that my ordination is reliable since I was ordained by the Rav of Buczacz, the renowned sage Rabbi Hershele
Kra, about whom our Rabbi Meshulam Igra said, “He is an ironclad rabbi!” The old man took a sheet of paper and wrote: “He shall teach! He may judge!” – the ancient formula for rabbinical ordination. He placed the paper in his pupil’s hand and said to him, “Here you have a talisman against melancholy.” The old one gazed upon Reb Moshe Pinchas and said to his household, “This pupil will not shame me when I appear before the authority of the heavenly court.” Reb Moshe Pinchas returned to his town and to his studies.

18.

What more can we tell that we have not already told? Reb Moshe Pinchas returned to his town and to his studies and tried diligently to put these matters out of his mind. And once again he was studying the way he had been taught. The renowned sage, author of
Horeh Gaver
, who was fond of his pupil and was proud of him, used to tell anyone and everyone that he had ordained Reb Moshe Pinchas as an authorized rabbi. And in that generation, the rabbis would not grant ordination to anyone other than an accomplished scholar. Word had reached Reb Moshe Pinchas’s father-in-law. His father-in-law said to him: “For the time being, you sit at my table and you share my food, but what will you do after my days on this earth are over? Perhaps it would be worthwhile to consider a rabbinic profession.” Reb Moshe Pinchas shrugged his shoulders by way of refusal. When his father-in-law tried to bring up the subject again, Reb Moshe Pinchas said, “If my father-in-law keeps me from my studies with idle conversation, I will end up being a complete ignoramus.” Reb Meirtche walked away from him, sighing and dejected.

19.

The Lord giveth and he taketh away, dethrones kings and installs others in their place. At that time, Reb Shlomo’s father departed to his final resting place. After they had returned the expired sage to the earth and eulogized him, the entire holy congregation stood and anointed Reb Shlomo in place of his father. After the seven days of mourning, Reb Shlomo went to his town to collect his wife and children. The town leaders asked him, “Rabbi, whom should we appoint to your chair?” He said to them, “Remember the day that I delivered my first sermon and that young scholar tried to trip me up with the law? I tell you that there is no one more worthy of being a rabbi than he.” The town leaders heard this and were astounded; here was a man who had publicly embarrassed him and had attempted to dishonor him and yet here he was advocating on his behalf. Reb Shlomo clutched his beard and said, “Know this, gentlemen, this Rabbi Moshe Pinchas is as great in Torah knowledge as the ancient sages, and even in a subject in which he attempted to trip me up his greatness was evident; I was saved only by the merit of my ancestors in that Moshe Pinchas was forced to study from a defective book and thus came to err, and when a man falls into error that error leads him to further error. And certainly by now he has recognized his mistakes. Go to his town and accept him as your Rabbi. And you, my beloved brethren, are bound to be happy with him, because the rabbinate suits him and he is suited to the rabbinate. And even the holy Torah is destined to be happy that one of her worthy sons is sitting at her throne.”

20.

Not too many days had passed before two men arrived at our town and in their hands the rabbinical appointment for “Our teacher, the erudite and astute rabbi, great scholar excelling in the entirety of Torah, etc., etc., and so on and so forth, may his name be of blessed glory, the sage, Rabbi Moshe Pinchas, a just and upright man of Israel.” They parked their carriage at the inn and entered, washed their hands, changed their clothes and went to see Reb Moshe Pinchas. At that same time, his wife Shaindel was sitting in the nursing chair, suckling her small son. Next to her stood her mother Elka, looking at the baby who was small for his years and yet melancholy for his age. Shaindel herself was also melancholy both on her own account and on account of her children, since as soon as one arose from his sick bed his brother was already laid up sick. And because she was immersed in gloom she flung it in the face of the entire world that it had been created only to oppress her in suffering. By her feet lay the cat, grooming itself. Elka observed this and remarked, “Your cat is washing itself.” Shaindel grumbled and said, “What have you come to tell me?” Said Elka, “If the cat is licking its fur, it’s a sign that guests are getting ready to arrive.” Shaindel said, “A house in which the head of the household is not found, is not likely to have guests found in it. God forbid that I should say anything against Moshe Pinchas, who doesn’t move from the study house. And where else would he sit? In this garbage heap? But this much I’ll tell you, Mother, my strength has ebbed and I don’t know why the Angel of Death tarries and doesn’t just come and take me from this world. It would better for him to kill me a thousand times a day. Why is it that all day long my eyelashes twitch and don’t stop twitching?” Elka asked, “Is it the right or the left eyelid?” Shaindel said. “You are a strange woman, Mother, what’s the difference whether it’s the right one or the left one?” Said Elka, “There is a big difference in it. If it’s the left, it’s a sign the guests are coming.” Shaindel said, “You see, Mother, it just so happens that it’s the lashes of the right one that are twitching. That being the case, there are no guests or anything else, only drivel. Now I’m going to fix the lunch meal. The fire is burning and the pot is boiling and I am sitting here babbling as if it’s Shabbat afternoon after the noodle pudding.”

21.

Meanwhile, the two dignitaries entered the town. They came across a little girl and asked her, “Whereabouts here is the house of Rabbi Moshe Pinchas?” The little one ran to her mother and in a loud excited voice exclaimed, “Two Jews are asking after Father. Mother, had you seen their garments, you would have thought they were going to a wedding!” Shaindel scolded her daughter and said, “Why are you hollering? What, am I deaf? If they’re asking, let them ask.” The little one said, “Mother, Mother, on my life, on my life, I’m not lying! Two important Jews dressed like fathers-of-the-bride came and asked me, Whereabouts here is Rabbi Moshe Pinchas’s house?” Shaindel said to her mother, “Go outside and see what this child is jabbering about, screaming non-stop like a crow.” Tears flowed from the child’s eyes and she said while crying, “I’m not screaming! I’m not screaming! I’m telling the truth! I’m telling the truth!” Said Shaindel, “Either you stop or get away from here. I will not tolerate yelling and crying. Oy, if only I had a place to escape to from here. How can one live in a house with incessant crying?”

Elka stepped outside and saw two important personages elegantly dressed. Guests like these, dressed in this manner, are not normally found in our town. She said to them, “Come in, honored guests, come in. This is the home of Rabbi Moshe Pinchas. Rabbi Moshe Pinchas is not at home right now. If you would be so kind as to wait a moment, I shall send the little one to bring him.” The dignitaries came inside and sat down. Said Shaindel to her mother, “Mother, watch the baby and I’ll go and get him, for if the little one goes to call him he will not heed her.” She wrapped herself and went to his study house. She was gone for as long as she was gone and returned with her husband. Reb Moshe Pinchas greeted the guests and sat down. He took the salt box that was on the table and fidgeted with it, while wondering why these people had come and what they wanted of him. One of them stood up from his chair and said, “Rabbi, we have come for the purpose of…” He did not finish his sentence before taking out the rabbinical appointment, handing it to Reb Moshe Pinchas. Reb Moshe Pinchas read it and accepted their proposal. His mother-in-law heard and sent for her husband. He heard and came over. They fetched fresh water from the spring and brought rose petal preserves so that the guests could refresh themselves.

The emissaries sat with their rabbi until the time for the afternoon prayers had arrived. In the meantime, a few of the town dignitaries gathered and came to greet the visitors and congratulate Reb Moshe Pinchas on having been elevated to the standing of rabbi. Elka prepared a meal for the guests, as well as for the next day’s luncheon and evening meal. And at every meal new faces came to pay homage to the Torah, and at every meal Reb Moshe Pinchas shared wondrous new insights, something he had not been in the habit of doing up to this point, as he was not one to converse with just anyone and if he did converse he did so only in truncated conversations. And when the dignitaries had left for the inn, his father-in-law Reb Meirtche summoned the tailor and the shoemaker to make clothing and shoes for Reb Moshe Pinchas, since the clothing and shoes that had been made for his wedding were worn out. The tailor labored at his craft as did the shoemaker, for they knew that so long as their work was not complete Reb Moshe Pinchas would be detained from leaving and an entire congregation would be left in limbo, like an abandoned wife without a divorce forever chained to her husband. And as such, they hastened to finish and did justice to their craft. And when Reb Moshe Pinchas donned his new clothes, his appearance truly was transformed into that of a rabbi. While all this was going on, his mother-in-law prepared everything that was needed for the journey. And when all was ready, Reb Moshe Pinchas boarded the coach and half the town came to escort him, all being jubilant that this talented scholar who had toiled in Torah was so esteemed by the Torah itself that people had come from another town to secure him for a great honor. And even his mother came to part from her only son, leaning on her cane, and in her hands a really large loaf like the ones she used to give him in the early days. She gazed upon her son and said, “My son, you look a rabbi. If only your father had been fortunate enough to see you this way, he would still be alive. The miller mills all his days, mills and mills endlessly, and in the end he mills his own bones until he dies. And I too shall die, and I don’t know where I will be taken. Remember, my son, and don’t forget that I carried you and gave birth to you and nursed you, and I implore you now to admonish the evil angels lest they vilify me.”

And thus Reb Moshe Pinchas boarded the coach, dressed in his new finery that had that very day left the hands of the tailor, with the two dignitaries, emissaries of their town, sitting one to his right and the other to his left. After he had completed the traveler’s prayer he lit upon two peculiar questions that all the rabbis had wrestled with: why does Maimonides never mention the traveler’s prayer and why would the
Maharam of Rothenburg recite the prayer in his house upon departing on a journey? In the heat of the events which transpired later on his observations on that issue were forgotten, and it is a shame that such a fine pearl of wisdom was lost to us.