Then we both fell silent. For my part, despite the jolting of the
vehicle, the lift was grateful to my spent limbs, and the blue sky and
the rustling leaves and the near prospect of at last seeing the Baal
Shem contributed to lull me into a pleasant languor. But my torpor was
not so deep as that into which my new friend appeared to fall, for
though as we approached a village another vehicle dashed towards us,
my shouts and the other driver's cries only roused him in time to
escape losing a wheel.
"You must have been thinking of a knotty point of Torah (Holy Law),"
said I.
"Knotty point," said he, shuddering; "it is Satan who ties those
knots."
"Oho," said I, "though a _Shochet_, you do not seem fond of rabbinical
learning."
"Where there is much study," he replied tersely, "there is little
piety."
At this moment, appositely enough, we passed by the village
Beth-Hamidrash, whence loud sounds of "pilpulistic" (wire-drawn)
argument issued. The driver clapped his palms over his ears.
"It is such disputants," he cried with a grimace, "who delay the
redemption of Israel from exile."
"How so?" said I.
"Satan induces these Rabbis," said he, "to study only those portions
of our holy literature on which they can whet their ingenuity. But
from all writings which would promote piety and fear of God he keeps
them away."
I was delighted and astonished to hear the _Shochet_ thus deliver
himself, but before I could express my acquiescence, his attention was
diverted by a pretty maiden who came along driving a cow.
"What a glorious creature!" said he, while his eyes shone.
"Which?" said I laughingly. "The cow?"
"Both," he retorted, looking back lingeringly.
"I understand now what you mean by pious literature," I said
mischievously: "the Song of Solomon."
He turned on me with strange earnestness, as if not perceiving my
irony. "Ay, indeed," he cried; "but when the Rabbis do read it, they
turn it into a bloodless allegory, Jewish demons as they are! What is
the beauty of yonder maiden but an emanation from the divine? The more
beautiful the body, the more shiningly it leads us to the thought of
God."
I was much impressed with this odd fellow, whom I perceived to be an
original.
"But that's very dangerous doctrine," said I; "by parity of reasoning
you would make the lust of the flesh divine."
"Everything is divine," said he.
"Then feasting would be as good for the soul as fasting."
"Better," said the driver curtly.
I was disconcerted to find such Epicurean doctrines in a district
where, but for my experience of Baer, I should have expected to see
the ascetic influence of the Baal Shem predominant. "Then you're not a
follower of the Baal Shem?" said I tentatively.
"No, indeed," said he, laughing.
He had got me into such sympathy with him--for there was a curious
attraction about the man--that I felt somehow that, even if the Baal
Shem _were_ an ascetic, I should still gain nothing from him, and that
my long journey would have been made in vain, the green pastures and
the living waters being still as far off as ever from my droughty
soul.
We had now passed out of the village and into a thick pine-wood with
a path scarcely broad enough for the cart. Of a sudden the silence
into which we again fell was broken by piercing screams for "Help"
coming from a copse on the right. Instantly the driver checked the
horse, jumped to the ground, and drew a long knife from his girdle.
"'Tis useful to be a _Shochet_." he said grimly, as he darted among
the bushes.
I followed in his footsteps and a strange sight burst upon us. A
beautiful woman was struggling with two saturnine-visaged men dressed
as Rabbis in silken hose and mantles. One held her arms pinned to her
sides, while the other was about to plunge a dagger into her heart.
"Hold!" cried the _Shochet_.
The would-be assassin fell back, a startled look on his narrow
fanatical face.
"Let the woman go!" said the driver sternly.
In evident consternation the other obeyed. The woman fell forward,
half-fainting, and the driver caught her.
"Be not afraid," he said. "And you, murderers, down at my feet and
thank me that I have saved you your portion in the World-To-Come."
"Nay, you have lost it to us," said the one with the dagger. "For it
was the vengeance of Heaven we were about to execute. Know that this
is our sister, whom we have discovered to be a wanton creature, that
must bring shame upon our learned house and into our God-fearing town.
Whereupon we and her husband held a secret Beth-Din, and resolved,
according to the spirit of our ancient Law, that this plague-spot must
be cleansed out from Israel for the glory of the Name."
"The glory of the Name!" repeated the driver, and his eyes flamed.
"What know you of the glory of the Name?"
Both brothers winced before the passion of his words. They looked at
each other strangely and uneasily, but answered nothing.
"How dare you call any Jewess a plague-spot?" went on the driver. "Is
any sin great enough to separate us irredeemably from God, who is in
all things? Pray for your sister if you will, but do not dare to sit
in judgment upon a fellow-creature!"
The woman burst into loud sobs and fell at his feet.
"They are right! they are right!" she cried. "I am a wicked creature.
It were better to let me perish."
The driver raised her tenderly. "Nay, in that instant you repented,"
he said, "and one instant's repentance wins back God. Henceforward you
shall live without sin."
"What! you would restore her to Brody?" cried the elder brother--"to
bring the wrath of Heaven upon so godly a town. Be you who you may,
saint or devil, that is beyond your power. Her husband assuredly will
not take her back. With her family she cannot live."
"Then she shall live with mine," said the _Shochet_. "My daughter
dwells in Brody. I will take her to her. Go your ways."
They stood disconcerted. Presently the younger said: "How know we
are not leaving her to greater shame?"
The old man's face grew terrible.
"Go your ways," he repeated.
They slunk off, and I watched them get into a two-horsed carriage,
which I now perceived on the other side of the copse. I ran forward to
give an arm to the woman, who was again half-fainting.
"Said I not," said the old man musingly, "that even the worst sinners
are better than these Rabbis? So blind are they in the arrogance of
their self-conceit, so darkened by their pride, that their very
devotion to the Law becomes a vehicle for their sin."
We helped the woman gently into the cart. I climbed in, but the old
man began to walk with the horse, holding its bridle, and reversing
its direction.
"Aren't you jumping up?" I asked.
"We are going up now, instead of down," he said, smiling. "Brody sits
high, in the seat of the scornful."
A pang of shame traversed my breast. What! I was riding and this fine
old fellow was walking! But ere I could offer to get down, a new
thought increased my confusion. I, who was bent on finding the Baal
Shem, was now off on a side-adventure to Brody. And yet I was loath to
part so soon with my new friend. And besides, I told myself, Brody was
well worth a visit. The reputation of its Talmudical schools was
spread over the kingdom, and although I shared the old man's
repugnance to them my curiosity was alert. And even on the Baal Shem's
account I ought to go there. For I remembered now that his early life
had had many associations with the town, and that it was his wife's
birthplace. So I said, "How far is Brody?"
"Ten miles," he said.
"Ten miles!" I repeated in horror.
"Ten miles," he said musingly, "and ten years since I set foot in
Brody."