THE rabbi's study was a bare enough apartment, furnished with a faded
carpet, three or four chairs, and a writing table. The walls and ceiling
were kalsomined in slate color, the former being lined half-way up with
book shelves. A student's lamp, with a green shade, burned on the table.
The oil in it must have been pretty low, for it shed but a dim light,
and gave off a strong, offensive odor. The rabbi sat with his back to
the door, bending over what looked like a manuscript sermon. The top of
the rabbi's head was perfectly bald, and it reflected the lamplight like
a surface of polished ivory. His little remaining hair and his beard
were bluish black. His eyes, behind thick spectacles, were black,
too--small, deep-set, bright, restless black beads. But his skin was
intensely white, as white almost as the clerical collar that encircled
his throat, and it looked as though it would feel chilly to the touch,
like marble. The rabbi was a very little man, short of stature, spare
of habit, with a frame and with features as slender and as delicate as
a maiden's. Yet he had not at all the appearance of a weakling. You
felt at once the presence of a strong will and of an active, if not
enlightened or profound, intelligence. You felt the presence of a person
who could, if he chose, be sufficiently good-natured, but who possessed
also the capacity of becoming as hard and as cold as ice.
At his nephew's entrance the rabbi glanced over his shoulder.
“Ah, Elias,” he asked, in a tone which, though amiable, denoted very
little interest, “where do you come from?”
“The Academy of Design. I've been at the exhibition.”
“So? Have you any pictures there?”
“Only one. 'The Song of Deborah.'”
“Ah! Is it well hung?”
“Oh, yes--on the line.”
“That's good. Some day I must drop in and see it.”
On both sides the dialogue had been perfunctory. Now there befell a
silence. The rabbi returned to his reading. Elias sank upon a chair,
thrust his hands deep into his trowsers pockets, and fixed his eyes upon
the carpet. For a while the ticking of the clock on the mantelpiece was
the only sound.
All at once Elias said: “Oh, yes--I forgot--I've been at Delmonico's,
too.”
“Ah,” rejoined the rabbi, “eating _trepha_ food.”
“I ate neither pork nor shellfish,” Elias submitted. “I ate a bit of
sweet-bread. Of course it hadn't been killed _kosher_. But is that such
a great sin? Some of our most pious Jews go to Delmonico's. To-night,
indeed, I saw Judge Nathan there, with his wife and daughters; and he's
president of his congregation.”
“Small sins beget larger ones. It's better not to commit even
peccadillos,” said the rabbi. “And eating _trepha_ food isn't merely a
peccadillo. However, you're of full age. It's not my place to call you
to account.”
“Speaking of sins, Uncle Felix,” Elias presently went on, “tell me, what
is the worst sin that a Jew could commit?”
The rabbi's eyes had strayed back to his manuscript. Lifting them,
“How?” he queried.
Elias repeated his question.
“Why,” said the rabbi, “there are the ten commandments, which you know
as well as I do. They're of equal force. Theft, adultery, murder--one is
as bad as another.”
“That isn't exactly what I meant. I meant the worst sin which a Jew, as
a Jew, could commit--the worst infraction of the Thorah as it applies
peculiarly to Israel. The ten commandments embody the common law of
morality, which is as binding upon Christians as it is upon Jews.”
“Oh,” said the rabbi, “that's another question.”
“Would it be, for example, the desecration of Yom Kippur?”
“The desecration of Yom Kippur would be a deadly sin; so would the
desecration of the Sabbath; so would disobedience to parental authority.
But the most deadly of all, in my opinion, would be a forbidden
marriage.”
“That is, marriage with a Christian?”
“Yes--with a Gentile, a Goy--with any one not of our own race.”
“That, you think, is the one sin which would be most unpardonable in the
sight of the Lord? For which He would inflict the severest punishment?”
“Yes, I think so. And it's rather odd that we should speak of this just
now, for at the moment when you came in I was reading a sermon on
the very subject--a sermon written by your own greatgrandfather, the
Reverend Abraham Bacharach, of New Orleans, the first of your family
who came to America. I was reading a sermon that he preached at the
excommunication of a young man of his congregation, who had married a
Frenchwoman, a Catholic. Here it is.”
The rabbi pointed to the manuscript that lay upon his table.
“Indeed?” questioned Elias. “What does he say?”
“Oh, he agrees with me, that it is absolutely the most deadly of sins.
He denounces it with a good deal of energy. There's one paragraph here
somewhere that struck me as especially fine. Would you like to hear it?”
“Yes, I shouldn't mind,” Elias assented.
The rabbi picked up the manuscript and began to run over the pages,
searching for the place.
“Ah, I've got it,” he said at last. “It comes just after a statement of
the circumstances, as a sort of summing up. It's in German. Shall I read
the original or translate?”
“Translate, if you will.”
The rabbi cleared his throat, brought the manuscript close to his eyes,
knitted his brows and proceeded thus:
“Well, it runs this way: 'He has defied the law of the Lord our God.
Let him tremble and be afraid. He has dishonored the memory of his
ancestors; he has besmirched the name of his family; he has broken the
tie that bound him to his kinsfolk; he has sent the father that begot
him, and the mother that bore and suckled him, weeping on the way to
their graves. Oh, let him cast down his face and be ashamed. To his
brothers and sisters, to those who were his friends and loved him,
to the rabbi, the chazzan, the parnass, and the people of this
congregation, and to all faithful Jews from one end of the earth to the
other, he is as one who has died a disgraceful death. The anger of the
Most High shall single him out. His cup shall be filled to the brim with
gall and wormwood. The light of the sun shall be extinguished for him. A
curse shall rest upon him and upon all that concerns him. His wife shall
become as a sore in his flesh. With a scolding tongue she shall be-shrew
him. As a wanton, she shall shame him.
“His worldly affairs shall not prosper. Misfortune and calamity shall
follow wherever he goes. Whatsoever he puts his hand to, that shall
fail. An old man, homeless and friendless, he shall beg his bread from
door to door. His intelligence shall decay. He shall be pointed out and
jeered at, as a fool that drivels and chatters. His health shall break.
His bones shall rot in his body. His eyes shall become running ulcers in
their sockets. His blood shall dry up, a fiery poison in his veins.
And his seed also shall be afflicted. From generation to generation, a
blight shall pursue those that bear his name. For the blood of Israel
mixed with the blood of a strange people, is like a sweet wine mixed
with aloes. His sons shall be weak of mind and body. His daughters shall
be ugly to look upon. To him and to his the Lord our God will show no
mercy, even unto the brink of the grave. They shall be as if touched
with the leprosy, shunned and despised of all men. To the Goy they will
continue to be Jews; but to the Jew they will have become Goym. The Lord
our God is a jealous God. His love knoweth no bounds. His wrath is like
a great fire that can not be put out. He showereth favors abundantly
upon them that love Him and keep His commandments. The iniquity of the
fathers He visits upon the children and the children's children, even
unto the third and fourth generations. Blessed be the name of the Lord!”
The rabbi had begun this reading in low and matter-of-fact accents; but
as he proceeded, his voice had increased in volume and emphasis, and
the last words rang forth, loud and resonant, as though they had been
addressed to a multitude in the synagogue. The veins in his forehead
stood out blue and swollen against the white skin, and behind the thick
lenses of his spectacles you could see that his black eyes were flashing
fire. He paused for a little, breathing deeply. By degrees the veins
in his forehead grew small and smaller, becoming pale, flat lines, like
veins in marble. Presently, laying aside the manuscript, “There, Elias,”
he added, quietly, “that is what your great-grandfather thought about
intermarriage, and I guess there has never been a Bacharach to think
differently. I hope there never may be one, I'm sure. Why--why, what
makes you so pale?”
“Am I pale? I didn't know it. The denunciation is bitter--terrible. It
gave me cold shivers.”
“Yes, terrible, so it is. But not exaggerated. It sounds pretty strong,
but it couldn't be called exaggerated. For really it's only a simple
statement of the truth, the facts. I'm going to quote it in my own
discourse next Sabbath. It's just like every thing else. Break a law,
whether it be a law of nature, a law of the land, or the law of God, and
you must expect to suffer the consequences, to be punished.”
“Yes, of course. And yet, somehow, it seems as though the punishment
ought to be in proportion to the offense. Do you seriously, literally,
believe that the Lord would punish such a sin with such frightful,
far-reaching penalties?”
“With worse, even. No mere human mind can conceive, much less describe,
the fearful forms the Divine vengeance would take. All we can do is to
picture to ourselves the worst, and then say: It will be as bad as that,
or worse. That's what your grandfather has tried to do here. The Lord
has expressed in perfectly plain language His desire that the integrity
of Israel should be preserved. That was the purpose for which this
world was created and mankind called into existence. Now, to enter into
matrimony with a Gentile is such a flagrant setting at naught of
the Lord's will--why, common-sense is enough to show the inevitable
consequences.”
“But suppose a Jew should _love_ a woman of another race--a Christian,
for example; what would you have him do? Leave her? Never see her again?
Give her up? If he loved her, no pain that the Lord could inflict would
be worse than the pain of that.”
“Hold your tongue, Elias!” the rabbi cried sharply. “What you say is
blasphemous, is a denial of the Lord's omnipotence. May the Lord forgive
you. No, no. His power to inflict pain, as well as to confer blessings,
is measureless. What would I have the Jew do? Why, of course, I would
have him give her up, no matter how much the sacrifice might cost him.
But the case you put is not likely to arise. Love for a Christian
woman never could enter a Jewish heart. Such a sentiment as a Jew might
perhaps feel for her would be an unholy passion. She might fascinate his
senses, but of true love, she could inspire none at all.”
“And yet, suppose, for the sake of argument, suppose that she
could--that she had--that the Jew really did love her with true love,
what then?”
“Why, then, as I say, I would have him renounce her, and abstain
afterward from any sort of communication with her. I would have him
pray, also, that his heart might be cleansed and restored to health; for
such love would be a spiritual disease.”
Elias made no answer. The rabbi turned his attention to his lamp, the
flame of which was spluttering and palpitating, preparatory to going
out.
“Pshaw,” he said, extinguishing it, “I must have forgotten to fill it.”
Then he struck a match, and lighted the gas.
“You have made me hungry and thirsty with so much talking,” he
continued. “Now I'm going down stairs to forage for something to eat.
Will you come along?”
“No, I guess I'll go to bed,” said Elias. “Good-night.”
But he did not go to bed, nor even to his bed-room.
He went to his studio, and sat down in the dark at the window.
It was a wondrous night--the sky cloudless, the air as clear as crystal.
The moon, waning, was up, but out of sight in the south, hidden by the
housetops. Its frosty light bathed the prospect, like an ethereal form
of dew, as far as eye could see. The branches of the trees were silvered
by it. Their shadows were sharply etched upon the turf beneath. The
yellow flames of the street lamps flared faint and sickly. The few
human beings who now and then passed on the sidewalk opposite, had the
appearance of mere black spots in motion. Only the largest of the stars
dared to show themselves, and they trembled, and were pale, as if cowed
by their luminous rival. In the north-west, the spires of St. George's
Church stood in massive profile against the deep, shimmering vault of
sky. An impressive outlook, cold, serene, passionless; of a sort to
remind one of the magnitude and the inexorableness of the material
universe, and of the infinitesimal smallness and insignificance of one's
self, and to fill one's mind with solemn doubts and questions. But it
had no such effect upon Elias Bacharach. Never had his own self
loomed larger in his eyes, never had it more exclusively absorbed his
faculties, than at this moment, in the face of this moonlit view.
Elias had been bred in the straitest sect of his religion; a rare thing
in this country in these days of radicalism and unbelief. From his
earliest boyhood down, his training, his associations, his family life,
nearly every influence that had borne upon him, had been of a nature to
make him intensely, if not zealously or aggressively, a Jew--to imbue
his mind thoroughly with the Jewish faith, and to color his character to
its innermost fibers with strong Jewish feelings. Besides, the blood
of generations of devout Jews coursed in his veins; it was tinctured
through and through with Jewish prejudice and superstition. He had never
been sent to school, lest in some wise his Judaism might be weakened by
contact with the Christians. His uncle, the rabbi, had taken sole
charge of his education. Pride of race had been an integral part of
the curriculum. “Never forget that you are a Jew, and remember that the
world has no honor to bestow upon you equal to the honor that attaches
to your birth. To be born in Israel is more illustrious than to be born
a prince; the blood of Israel outranks the blood royal; for the Lord
our God created the heavens and the earth, the birds and the beasts, the
flowers, the trees, the air, the sunlight, for the especial enjoyment of
His chosen and much-beloved people. But remember, too, that if the Lord
has vouchsafed to you this great and peculiar privilege, so He will
exact from you great and peculiar devotion. Though a Gentile--because
the Lord pays no heed to him--may commit certain sinful acts with
impunity, for you--upon whom the eye of the Lord rests perpetually--for
you to commit them, would entail immediate and awful punishment. Though
a Christian, for example--because he is of infinite smallness in the
sight of the Lord--may transact business on the Sabbath, if you--a
Jew--were to do so, the Lord would surely visit you with some frightful
calamity. You might be struck by lightning; you might be afflicted
with an incurable disease.” This was the sort of doctrine that had been
dinned into Elias Bacharach's ears from the time when he had first
begun the studies preparatory to becoming Bar-Mitzvah, and to assuming,
as the saying is, the Yoke of the Thorah. Heredity predisposed him to
accept it. The occasion had never arisen for him to doubt it, or even
to consider it in the light of his own intelligence. He had taken it
for granted, just as he had taken his geography and history for granted,
just as many wiser people than he, the world over, take their theology
for granted every day.
To a Jew such as this, nothing can be more intrinsically repugnant than
the idea of marriage with a Christian--or, more accurately, with a Goy,
which term is applied equally to all human beings who are not of Jewish
faith and lineage. The average Caucasian would pretty certainly hesitate
at the idea of marriage with a Mongolian. How much more positive would
his hesitation be, if race antipathy were, as it is in the case of the
Jews, reenforced by the terrors of a supernatural religion. It is no
figure of speech, but a literal statement of the fact, to say that an
orthodox Jewish father would rather have his son die than marry outside
of Israel. He would prefer a funeral to such a wedding. Indeed, such a
wedding would be regarded as equivalent to a funeral. The name of the
bridegroom would be published among the names of the dead in the
Jewish newspapers. His parents, his brothers and sisters, his nearest
relatives, would put on mourning for him; and henceforward, if they
should pass him in the street, they would refuse to recognize him. In
the synagogue he would be excommunicated and cursed. All pious Jews
would be enjoined from holding any intercourse whatever with him; from
speaking with him; from buying of him, or selling to him; from giving
him food, drink, clothing or shelter; from succoring him in danger or
in sickness; even from pronouncing his name. “Be he accursed, and be
his name forever accursed among men.” Furthermore, all pious Jews would
cherish the conviction that sooner or later the vengeance of the
Lord would overtake and overwhelm him. They would predict the direst
calamities, the most fearful retribution. Superstition never pays
attention to statistics, and is never shaken by them. No conceivable
misfortune that can fasten upon a human being in this world, but they
would promise it to him. Poverty, disease, disgrace; an adulterous
wife; deformed children, unsound of mind and evil of heart; whatever the
imagination can depict of horrible and disastrous would inevitably fall
to his lot.
In this faith, among these traditions, Elias Bacharach had grown up.
For hundreds, for thousands, of years, his ancestors on every side had
nourished these superstitions. *
* It would seem hardly necessary, yet it is no more than
fair to say that among the better-educated and more
intelligent Jews in America, orthodoxy of this stripe is not
common. Even among them, notwithstanding, it prevails to a
sufficient extent; and among the ignorant classes it is the
rule. It is a curious circumstance, however, that, in the
majority of cases, those very Jews who have cast quite loose
from their Judaism, and proclaim themselves “free-thinkers,”
“agnostics,” or what not, retain their prejudice against
intermarriage, and even their superstitions anent its
consequences.
And yet, an hour ago, when Elias had taken leave of Christine Redwood,
his heart was palpitating with a myriad new and sweet emotions,
for which, suddenly, at last, he realized that the right name
was love--realized it, as has been said, with surprise and with
consternation, for he had been unaccountably blind to his own condition
until to-night. And during his walk home he had pictured to himself the
exceeding joy that would be his if she should ever come to love him in
return. And even now, the light of her eyes still shone in his memory,
the scent of her garments still clung in his nostrils, the sound of her
voice still vibrated in his ears, the touch of her hand was still warm
upon his arm. Even now, as he looked out into the vast moonlit sky, and
spoke her name softly to himself, a thrill swept electrically through
his body. He loved her, he told himself; and if he could not win her
love, if he could not have her for his wife, the world would become a
desert to him, his life would be wasted, he would rather die, here, now,
at once. Perhaps Christine, too, was at this hour looking out of her
window. Perhaps her eyes, as well as his, were filling themselves with
the glory of the night. In this fancy, highly improbable as it was, he
found much comfort. It was good to think that he and she were enjoying
something in common. The moonlight was like a palpable link connecting
them, like a gossamer cord stretching between them and binding them
together. Would that it might bear a message from him to her, and let
her know of the love that was yearning in his bosom. Again he spoke
aloud her name, caressing it as it passed his lips. And again his heart
thrilled, intoxicated with love and hope.
But all at once his superstition sprang upon him. All at once, like a
flash of lightning in the darkness, the fear of the Divine wrath lit up
his imagination. Every drop of blood in his body came to a standstill
and grew cold. He could feel his flesh creep, his hair rise on end. For
a third time he pronounced her name; but this time it escaped like a
gasp of pain from between clenched teeth. Why had he ever seen her? Why
had he not understood the peril that he was running, and avoided it?
Henceforth, at any rate, he would never see her again. He would do as
his uncle had said, give her up, tear her from his heart. No matter
how hard it might be, he would do it, and so save her and himself from
perdition. But the resolution had not taken shape in his mind before
Christine's face, pale and pleading, with pathetic, passionate eyes,
came up visibly before him; and then he was conscious of nothing but
of a great tenderness for her, an infinite need of her, a sharp pang
of remorse that he should have been disloyal to her for an instant,
a strong throbbing in his temples, a wondrous tremor through all his
senses. Yet, even while this vision was still haunting his sight, the
voice of the rabbi began to ring hideously in his ears, repeating the
anathema that his own ancestor had written; and all the Jew in him
shuddered at the sound.
He covered his head and prayed.
He remained in prayer until the dawn had begun to whiten the walls of
his room.
Then he sat down at his window, and watched the red and gold burn in the
eastern sky, and wondered at the strange calm that had come to him.
His prayer had been answered, he believed. He had prayed that his heart
might be purged of the unholy love that had stolen into it. Now he could
think of Christine with complete indifference. Not a trace was left of
the agitation which that thought had aroused in him a little while ago.
“The Lord has heard my prayer. I am not in love with her any more,” he
said.
He went through the rest of that week in the same indifferent
condition--ate, drank, slept, painted, chatted with his uncle, kept the
Sabbath, precisely as though Christine Redwood had never crossed the
horizon of his world.
“I am not in love with her,” he assured himself. “She is a pretty and
pleasant girl; but I am not in love with her, and never shall be.”
The Jew had got the better of the man.