The Clever Rabbi
:
ISAAC DOB BERKOWITZ
A FOLK TALE
The power of man's imagination, said my Grandmother, is very great.
Hereby hangs a tale, which, to our sorrow, is a true one, and as clear
as daylight.
Listen attentively, my dear child, it will interest you very much.
Not far from this town of ours lived an old Count, who believed that
Jews require blood at Passover, Christian blood, too, for their Passover
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cakes.
The Count, in his brandy distillery, had a Jewish overseer, a very
honest, respectable fellow.
The Count loved him for his honesty, and was very kind to him, and the
Jew, although he was a simple man and no scholar, was well-disposed, and
served the Count with heart and soul. He would have gone through fire
and water at the Count's bidding, for it is in the nature of a Jew to be
faithful and to love good men.
The Count often discussed business matters with him, and took pleasure
in hearing about the customs and observances of the Jews.
One day the Count said to him, "Tell me the truth, do you love me with
your whole heart?"
"Yes," replied the Jew, "I love you as myself."
"Not true!" said the Count. "I shall prove to you that you hate me even
unto death."
"Hold!" cried the Jew. "Why does my lord say such terrible things?"
The Count smiled and answered: "Let me tell you! I know quite well that
Jews must have Christian blood for their Passover feast. Now, what
would you do if I were the only Christian you could find? You would have
to kill me, because the Rabbis have said so. Indeed, I can scarcely hold
you to blame, since, according to your false notions, the Divine command
is precious, even when it tells us to commit murder. I should be no more
to you than was Isaac to Abraham, when, at God's command, Abraham was
about to slay his only son. Know, however, that the God of Abraham is a
God of mercy and lovingkindness, while the God the Rabbis have created
is full of hatred towards Christians. How, then, can you say that you
love me?"
The Jew clapped his hands to his head, he tore his hair in his distress
and felt no pain, and with a broken heart he answered the Count, and
said: "How long will you Christians suffer this stain on your pure
hearts? How long will you disgrace yourselves? Does not my lord know
that this is a great lie? I, as a believing Jew, and many besides me, as
believing Jews--we ourselves, I say, with our own hands, grind the corn,
we keep the flour from getting damp or wet with anything, for if only a
little dew drop onto it, it is prohibited for us as though it had yeast.
"Till the day on which the cakes are baked, we keep the flour as the
apple of our eye. And when the flour is baked, and we are eating the
cakes, even then we are not sure of swallowing it, because if our gums
should begin to bleed, we have to spit the piece out. And in face of all
these stringent regulations against eating the blood of even beasts and
birds, some people say that Jews require human blood for their Passover
cakes, and swear to it as a fact! What does my lord suppose we are
likely to think of such people? We know that they swear falsely--and a
false oath is of all things the worst."
The Count was touched to the heart by these words, and these two men,
being both upright and without guile, believed one the other.
The Count believed the Jew, that is, he believed that the Jew did not
know the truth of the matter, because he was poor and untaught, while
the Rabbis all the time most certainly used blood at Passover, only they
kept it a secret from the people. And he said as much to the Jew, who,
in his turn, believed the Count, because he knew him to be an honorable
man. And so it was that he began to have his doubts, and when the Count,
on different occasions, repeated the same words, the Jew said to
himself, that perhaps after all it was partly true, that there must be
something in it--the Count would never tell him a lie!
And he carried the thought about with him for some time.
The Jew found increasing favor in his master's eyes. The Count lent him
money to trade with, and God prospered the Jew in everything he
undertook. Thanks to the Count, he grew rich.
The Jew had a kind heart, and was much given to good works, as is the
way with Jews.
He was very charitable, and succored all the poor in the neighboring
town. And he assisted the Rabbis and the pious in all the places round
about, and earned for himself a great and beautiful name, for he was
known to all as "the benefactor."
The Rabbis gave him the honor due to a pious and influential Jew, who is
a wealthy man and charitable into the bargain.
But the Jew was thinking:
"Now the Rabbis will let me into the secret which is theirs, and which
they share with those only who are at once pious and rich, that great
and pious Jews must have blood for Passover."
For a long time he lived in hope, but the Rabbis told him nothing, the
subject was not once mentioned. But the Jew felt sure that the Count
would never have lied to him, and he gave more liberally than before,
thinking, "Perhaps after all it was too little."
He assisted the Rabbi of the nearest town for a whole year, so that the
Rabbi opened his eyes in astonishment. He gave him more than half of
what is sufficient for a livelihood.
When it was near Passover, the Jew drove into the little town to visit
the Rabbi, who received him with open arms, and gave him honor as unto
the most powerful and wealthy benefactor. And all the representative men
of the community paid him their respects.
Thought the Jew, "Now they will tell me of the commandment which it is
not given to every Jew to observe."
As the Rabbi, however, told him nothing, the Jew remained, to remind the
Rabbi, as it were, of his duty.
"Rabbi," said the Jew, "I have something very particular to say to you!
Let us go into a room where we two shall be alone."
So the Rabbi went with him into an empty room, shut the door, and said:
"Dear friend, what is your wish? Do not be abashed, but speak freely,
and tell me what I can do for you."
"Dear Rabbi, I am, you must know, already acquainted with the fact that
Jews require blood at Passover. I know also that it is a secret
belonging only to the Rabbis, to very pious Jews, and to the wealthy who
give much alms. And I, who am, as you know, a very charitable and good
Jew, wish also to comply, if only once in my life, with this great
observance.
"You need not be alarmed, dear Rabbi! I will never betray the secret,
but will make you happy forever, if you will enable me to fulfil so
great a command.
"If, however, you deny its existence, and declare that Jews do not
require blood, from that moment I become your bitter enemy.
"And why should I be treated worse than any other pious Jew? I, too,
want to try to perform the great commandment which God gave in secret. I
am not learned in the Law, but a great and wealthy Jew, and one given to
good works, that am I in very truth!"
You can fancy--said my Grandmother--the Rabbi's horror on hearing such
words from a Jew, a simple countryman. They pierced him to the quick,
like sharp arrows.
He saw that the Jew believed in all sincerity that his coreligionists
used blood at Passover.
How was he to uproot out of such a simple heart the weeds sown there by
evil men?
The Rabbi saw that words would just then be useless.
A beautiful thought came to him, and he said: "So be it, dear friend!
Come into the synagogue to-morrow at this time, and I will grant your
request. But till then you must fast, and you must not sleep all night,
but watch in prayer, for this is a very grave and dreadful thing."
The Jew went away full of gladness, and did as the Rabbi had told him.
Next day, at the appointed time, he came again, wan with hunger and lack
of sleep.
The Rabbi took the key of the synagogue, and they went in there
together. In the synagogue all was quiet.
The Rabbi put on a prayer-scarf and a robe, lighted some black candles,
threw off his shoes, took the Jew by the hand, and led him up to the
ark.
The Rabbi opened the ark, took out a scroll of the Law, and said:
"You know that for us Jews the scroll of the Law is the most sacred of
all things, and that the list of denunciations occurs in it twice.
"I swear to you by the scroll of the Law: If any Jew, whosoever he be,
requires blood at Passover, may all the curses contained in the two
lists of denunciations be on my head, and on the head of my whole
family!"
The Jew was greatly startled.
He knew that the Rabbi had never before sworn an oath, and now, for his
sake, he had sworn an oath so dreadful!
The Jew wept much, and said:
"Dear Rabbi, I have sinned before God and before you. I pray you, pardon
me and give me a hard penance, as hard as you please. I will perform it
willingly, and may God forgive me likewise!"
The Rabbi comforted him, and told no one what had happened, he only told
a few very near relations, just to show them how people can be talked
into believing the greatest foolishness and the most wicked lies.
May God--said my Grandmother--open the eyes of all who accuse us
falsely, that they may see how useless it is to trump up against us
things that never were seen or heard.
Jews will be Jews while the world lasts, and they will become, through
suffering, better Jews with more Jewish hearts.