('Die Klatsche,' Odessa, 1889, pp. 17-20)
Auf dem Feld, seh' ich, füttern sich panske Zapes, Ēslen, ganze
Tabunes Ferd, wās hāben a Jiches-brief,
gloomy generations surfeited with sorrows, filled with misfortunes! Were
I to begin to tell all the persecutions, we should not have the
Rejoicing of the Law to-day; but I need not do that, it is too well
written in each man's marrow, in his blood. We have suffered all, given
away all, our money, our honor, our health, our lives, as Hannah once
her seven children,--for the holy Law written upon parchment.
6
And now? Is it better? Do they leave us in peace? Have they come to
recognize that we Jews are also men like all others? Shall we no longer
wander about in the world? Will they no longer complain of us? That I do
not know, that I cannot tell you. Thus much I know, there still lives
the old God above, the old Law below, and the old faith; therefore do
not worry, and hope in the kind Lord and in the holy Law written upon
parchment!
7
Your health, brethren, your health! To-day we finish the Law, to-day we
begin to read it anew; hence, may you prosper in peace, dear brethren!
Do not worry, and hope in the kind Lord and in the Law written upon
parchment!