Forty days before Ezrielk descended upon this sinful world, his
life-partner was proclaimed in Heaven, and the Heavenly Council decided
that he was to transcribe the books of the Law, prayers, and Mezuzehs
for the Kabtzonivke Jews, and thereby make a living for his wife and
children. But the hard word went forth to him that he should not
disclose this secret decree to anyone, and should even forget it himself
for a goodly number of years. A glance at Ezrielk told one that he had
been well lectured with regard to some important matter, and was to tell
no tales out of school. Even Minde, the Kabtzonivke Bobbe, testified to
this:
"Never in all my life, all the time I've been bringing Jewish children
into God's world, have I known a child scream so loud at birth as
Ezrielk--a sign that he'd had it well rubbed into him!"
Either the angel who has been sent to fillip little children above the
lips when they are being born, was just then very sleepy (Ezrielk was
born late at night), or some one had put him out of temper, but one way
or another little Ezrielk, the very first minute of his Jewish
existence, caught such a blow that his top lip was all but split in two.
After this kindly welcome, when God's angel himself had thus received
Ezrielk, slaps, blows, and stripes rained down upon his head, body, and
life, all through his days, without pause or ending.
Ezrielk began to attend Cheder when he was exactly three years old. His
first teacher treated him very badly, beat him continually, and took all
the joy of his childhood from him. By the time this childhood of his had
passed, and he came to be married (he began to wear the phylacteries and
the prayer-scarf on the day of his marriage), he was a very poor
specimen, small, thin, stooping, and yellow as an egg-pudding, his
little face dark, dreary, and weazened, like a dried Lender herring. The
only large, full things about him were his earlocks, which covered his
whole face, and his two blue eyes. He had about as much strength as a
fly, he could not even break the wine-glass under the marriage canopy by
himself, and had to ask for help of Reb Yainkef Butz, the beadle of the
Old Shool.
Among the German Jews a boy like that would have been left unwed till he
was sixteen or even seventeen, but our Ezrielk was married at thirteen,
for his bride had been waiting for him seventeen years.
It was this way: Reb Seinwill Bassis, Ezrielk's father, and Reb Selig
Tachshit, his father-in-law, were Hostre Chassidim, and used to drive
every year to spend the Solemn Days at the Hostre Rebbe's. They both
(not of you be it spoken!) lost all their children in infancy, and, as
you can imagine, they pressed the Rebbe very closely on this important
point, left him no peace, till he should bestir himself on their behalf,
and exercise all his influence in the Higher Spheres. Once, on the Eve
of Yom Kippur, before daylight, after the waving of the scape-fowls,
when the Rebbe, long life to him, was in somewhat high spirits, our two
Chassidim made another set upon him, but this time they had quite a new
plan, and it simply _had_ to work out!
"Do you know what? Arrange a marriage between your children! Good luck
to you!" The whole company of Chassidim broke some plates, and actually
drew up the marriage contract. It was a little difficult to draw up the
contract, because they did not know which of our two friends would have
the boy (the Rebbe, long life to him, was silent on this head), and
which, the girl, but--a learned Jew is never at a loss, and they wrote
out the contract with conditions.
For three years running after this their wives bore them each a child,
but the children were either both boys or both girls, so that their vow
to unite the son of one to a daughter of the other born in the same year
could not be fulfilled, and the documents lay on the shelf.
True, the little couples departed for the "real world" within the first
month, but the Rebbe consoled the father by saying:
"We may be sure they were not true Jewish children, that is, not true
Jewish souls. The true Jewish soul once born into the world holds on,
until, by means of various troubles and trials, it is cleansed from
every stain. Don't worry, but wait."
The fourth year the Rebbe's words were established: Reb Selig Tachshit
had a daughter born to him, and Reb Seinwill Bassis, Ezrielk.
Channehle, Ezrielk's bride, was tall, when they married, as a young
fir-tree, beautiful as the sun, clever as the day is bright, and white
as snow, with sky-blue, star-like eyes. Her hair was the color of ripe
corn--in a word, she was fair as Abigail and our Mother Rachel in one,
winning as Queen Esther, pious as Leah, and upright as our Grandmother
Sarah.
But although the bride was beautiful, she found no fault with her
bridegroom; on the contrary, she esteemed it a great honor to have him
for a husband. All the Kabtzonivke girls envied her, and every
Kabtzonivke woman who was "expecting" desired with all her heart that
she might have such a son as Ezrielk. The reason is quite plain: First,
what true Jewish maiden looks for beauty in her bridegroom? Secondly,
our Ezrielk was as full of excellencies as a pomegranate is of seeds.
His teachers had not broken his bones for nothing. The blows had been of
great and lasting good to him. Even before his wedding, Seinwill
Bassis's Ezrielk was deeply versed in the Law, and could solve the
hardest "questions," so that you might have made a Rabbi of him. He was,
moreover, a great scribe. His "in-honor-ofs," and his "blessed bes" were
known, not only in Kabtzonivke, but all over Kamenivke, and as for his
singing--!
When Ezrielk began to sing, poor people forgot their hunger, thirst, and
need, the sick, their aches and pains, the Kabtzonivke Jews in general,
their bitter exile.