Now I know about how Dr. Salomon Merzbach looked. Simon Eichelkatz owns
an old daguerreotype of him, which he cherishes carefully and honors as
a holy relic. He showed it to me when I was there this morning. On the
shining, mirror-like surface, the features were almost obliterated; but
when I shaded it with my hand, they came out more distinctly. A fine,
noble face, a lovable expression, and endlessly good. In the eyes a
gleam as of hidden scorn, but benevolence, too, and good humor--perhaps
some sadness. He looks, not as one who scoffs at the weaknesses of his
fellow-men, but as one who pities them, sympathizes with them. The
supernal humor of the wise man plays about the strong mouth with its
somewhat sensuous lips. In studying the features, one feels the
greatness and goodness of a pure nature. A narrow line of beard frames
the face and rounds off under the strong chin, giving the countenance a
clerical expression, reminding one more of a pastor than of a rabbi.
It was as though Simon Eichelkatz had guessed the tenor of my thoughts;
for he suddenly said:
"What a fuss there was about the beard! The Orthodox raged, 'A Rav
should wear a smooth face!' 'He looks as though he were shaved!' they
screamed, although they knew perfectly well that a smooth skin can be
gotten without a knife, with _aurum_--excuse me, Herr Kreisphysikus,
aurum-stinkum is what we always called it when we were children. But
the Orthodox wouldn't let on they knew anything about--stinkum! And how
they did bother him on account of his beard and his tolerance! Right
after his first great speech--I told you of it--they got together in the
afternoon at _Sholosh Sudes_, at Reb Dovidel Kessler's, and began to
agitate against him. 'What nonsense,' they screamed, 'there is no good
and no evil! He's _meshugge!_ What sort of _Chochmes_ is that? And he
wears a new-fashioned beard, like a--priest, and a gown and a cap--and
the _Talles_ as narrow as a necktie--that wants to be a Rav.'"
That very day an opposition party was formed, which was against all the
changes and necessary reforms Dr. Merzbach introduced. They worked in
secret, like a mole underground, for no opposition dared show itself
openly, because the richer and more intelligent in the congregation
stuck to him. The young people especially were his faithful followers.
On the Saturdays when he preached, the synagogue was always filled to
overflowing. Besides, in the afternoon he got together in his house all
who wanted to be enlightened on religious and moral questions; and they
flocked to him like disciples to their master--to this man, who wanted
to throw light upon the darkness of their ideas and notions. A nickname
was soon coined for his opponents; they were called the "Saints." An
underhand, double-tongued, cringing, vile lot they were in their
libellous attacks upon Dr. Merzbach.
In telling me these things, even at this late day something like
righteous indignation came over Simon Eichelkatz, usually so tranquil
and unruffled.
"And all that the Khille owed him, too!" he exclaimed. "He improved our
speech; through the power and beauty of his sermons he awakened in us
the endeavor to cultivate a better, more refined language than the
jargon we then spoke. Even now, when we get excited over what we're
saying, it sometimes comes back to us. The younger generation had it
easy; it glided right into the newer, better times. It was harder for us
older men--we had little time for learning; but whoever wanted to
understand him, he could--he could.
"I was already a married man when he came here. I had my business, and
unfortunately I couldn't go to school any more; yet I did learn from
him--to speak, Herr Kreisphysikus, and perhaps to think--though that
came much later. Working and attending to business, you can't get to it.
But I saw and heard everything the new rabbi undertook, and I followed
it with interest, even though at that time I couldn't have a say in
congregational affairs. And do you know what he did then? He started a
school, a Jewish school, with nothing but trained teachers, the boys'
school separate from the girls'. And you learned everything there, just
as in the Christian schools. When he delivered the address at the
opening of the school, he said that we were enjoying the blessings of
the year 1848, which had brought us Jews the liberty, as citizens, to
make use of all the privileges of culture and progress. And around him
were the boys and girls dressed in their holiday clothes, and the
parents full of gratitude. But the 'Saints' turned against him in these
spiritual efforts, too, and the word 'progress' was like a red rag to a
bull with them."
Simon Eichelkatz had a specially good day to-day. He related everything
so vividly. It was as though the struggles of that time were still
stirring in him. Naturally, the young business man, already the head of
a household, placed himself entirely on the side of the liberals, who
adhered to the rabbi, while the "others" spoke of the "new-fashioned"
Rav with scorn and fanatical virulence, and made every attempt to
overturn the institutions he had introduced.
"The changes he made in the service, above all a choir led by a cantor
with musical training, also excited their anger. They came forward quite
openly and arranged their own service under the leadership of Dovidel
Kessler. But Rabbi Merzbach had consideration and pity for his enemies,
and paid no attention to the way they threw mud at him. He was nothing
less than a good, great man, and he would not let himself be hindered in
his work. And for ten years of wicked struggles and bitter ill-will, he
built his new synagogue in the hearts of his people, and at last the
ground was prepared for it. Things became better, and, besides, he gave
the people a common goal, the building of a new house of worship. Now
they had an outlet for their energy--but an outlet, too, for their
ambition and their vanity.
"That's the way it must be, Herr Kreisphysikus. The highest often comes
forth from the lowest. And finally the synagogue stood there finished.
What joy there was! And what a reward! But now I ask you, Herr Doktor,
can't life be without the riff-raff? Is dirt a constituent of
cleanliness?"
Again those remarkable observations!
"Are poisoned wells necessary, and evil-smelling fires, and foul dreams,
and maggots in the bread of life?"
Comparisons from Zarathustra are always forcing themselves into my mind.
Whence this wisdom, Simon Eichelkatz? And do you suspect there is an
answer to these questions?
"Verily, we have no abiding-places prepared for the unclean. Unto their
bodies our happiness would be an icy cave, and unto their spirits as
well. Like strong winds we would live above them, neighbors to the
eagles, neighbors to the snow, neighbors to the sun; thus do the strong
winds live."
My eye fell again on the daguerreotype--were you a strong wind, Rabbi
Dr. Merzbach? You blew away many a crumbling ruin of the past. Yet you
knew naught of the new values. You did not know that you must call to
your enemies, to them that spit at you: "Take heed that ye spit not in
the face of the wind." You lived in the times of the daguerreotype.
I asked Simon Eichelkatz for permission to make a number of copies of
the picture with my excellent photographic apparatus which I use for the
Roentgen rays.