The mohel held him affectionately, looked at him kindly, and chanted aloud, “The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Abraham: Walk before me and be thou innocent.” The child looked at him and tried to hide his face in the old man’s beard, because it was warm. A hair tickled his nose and he began to sneeze. The mohel handed him over to Rachel’s father, who took him in his arms and laid him on the chair that had been prepared for Elijah the Prophet. As he laid him down he chanted in a quavering voice: “This is the chair of Elijah the Prophet, of blessed memory.”
The infant thought to himself: “Where is Father Elijah? For eight days he has not shown himself to me. Again he has flown off like a bird and is going about among the people.” He pricked up his ears and wondered whether he should be angry with Elijah for going away, or be happy that he was coming back. He wriggled in his swaddling clothes and tried to take out his hands to grasp Elijah’s girdle, so as to climb up to heaven and study the Torah. And when he remembered those days in which he was surrounded by well-being and was taught the entire Torah, a smile came to his lips. He wanted to repeat what he had learned but found he had forgotten it. He opened his mouth and started to feel with his tongue. He felt the cleft on his upper lip, where the angel had struck him on the mouth and made him forget the entire Torah. With the shock, he started to cry.
As he was weeping and lamenting over the primal months which had gone by, never to return, he remembered the oath that had been administered to him at the hour when he came out into the light of the world: that he would be righteous and not wicked, and preserve his soul in purity. Dread fell upon him. He said to himself, “I am an infant. What will become of me?” So he closed his eyes and pretended to be sleeping. It seemed to him that the day of his death had already arrived and he had nothing to fear, for he had committed no sins and his soul was still pure as on the day it had been given him from heaven. So he closed his mouth and stopped weeping, lay there quietly, and did not utter a sound.
The mohel came forward and recited, “For Thy salvation I hope, for Thy salvation I hope. Elijah, messenger of the Covenant, behold thy infant is before thee, stand by my right hand and support me.” The infant twitched his nose and began to sniff. He said, Tf Elijah’s girdle smells of light, it is a sign that my soul has returned to heaven, and if it is of leather, it is a sign that I am lying among human beings.” The mohel chanted with a trill, “I have hope for thy salvation,” and went on with the rest of the prayer. Then he bent down, picked up the child from the chair, and said to me, “Sit.” I wrapped myself in my tallit and sat down.
They came and put a little cushion on my knee and set a footstool at my feet. The mohel put the infant on my knees and put my right hand under the child’s knees, with my thumb on the infant’s legs, for so long as he has not entered the Covenant, one may fear that he might spurn the commandment.
I looked at the infant and he looked at me. Something like two sparks of blue light came from his eyes and they were covered with tears. He wrinkled his nose and puckered the skin on his forehead. At that moment the child’s face changed and there was no longer any impress of what he had been engaged in before, like a man whose body is gripped by pain. I quickly put my left hand under the infant’s backbone and raised him somewhat, so that his head should lie comfortably. The mohel adjusted my knees, interlocking them so that the child should not slip, for so long as he has not entered into the Covenant one may fear that he might slip away from the commandment. The mohel took the knife and said the blessing for circumcision. Yeruham then recited the blessing “Blessed art Thou, O Lord, who has commanded us to make him enter the Covenant of Abraham our Father.” All those present answered “Amen” and said, “Even as he has entered into the Covenant, so may he enter into the Torah, the nuptial canopy, and good deeds.”
A glass was put into the hands of Rachel’s father. He took it, screwed up his eyes, and in a tone of affection recited the blessing “Who didst sanctify the well-beloved from the womb,” and called the child after me, to show me affection in front of Yeruham. Thus I was blessed with two privileges: first, that I sat in the same chair as Elijah, and second, that the son of our Father Abraham was called by my name. Surely it would have been better to call the child after a deceased relative, for it gives satisfaction to the dead when a living person is called by his name, but half the graveyard was full of Rachel’s relatives, and they did not wish to make a choice between one and another. And the reason they did not call him after Yeruham’s father was so as not to recall his shame.
After the circumcision, the rabbi took his leave and went home, for a scholar is not obliged to take part in a circumcision meal, unless there are worthy people present, as it is said in the commentary on the tractate Passover. But we enjoyed ourselves with honey cakes, and brandy, and sweet fish cooked with honey and raisins. We ate and drank to the health of the newly circumcised infant, and to the life of his father and mother, and the life of his grandfather and grandmother, and the lives of all those present at the circumcision meal. When everyone was glad with eating and drinking, I rose to my feet and said, “It is a custom in Israel to give a gift to the circumcised infant, as the Holy One, blessed be He, gave the Land of Israel to Abraham our Father on the day he circumcised himself. Dear brethren, what gift can I give the child? If I give him a garment, or a hat, or socks, it is natural for the infant to grow from day to day; today my gifts will fit him, but tomorrow he will have no need of them. If I give him a silver watch, when he grows up he may become rich and buy a golden one, thus belittling my gift. But I hereby give him the key of our old Beit Midrash. It is said in the Gemara: ‘Synagogues and Batei Midrashot abroad are destined to be installed in the Land of Israel.’ Happy is he that has the key in his possession, so that he will be able to open them and enter in.”
After the handing over of the key, they brought a glass of wine and honored me by having me pronounce the grace. When I reached the fourth blessing, I remembered that I was returning to Jerusalem, and that it was still desolate. Then my mouth was closed and the springs of my eyes were opened. But I summoned up strength and completed the blessing like a man: “Who buildeth Jerusalem in His mercy, amen,” and all the celebrants loudly and joyfully answered, “Amen.”
Chapter seven and seventy. How I Left My Town
After pronouncing the grace I rose from the table, took my leave of the company, and went into the room where I had been staying before I went to live with Kuba. I examined my belongings, put aside those that were fit to take with me, and left the rest for the poor.
Yeruham came in, packed up my belongings and put them on his shoulder, and went off to take them to the railway station, while I went to take my leave of Rachel and her son. Then I said farewell to my host and his wife, to Dolik and Lolik and Babtchi, and also to Krolka. Since all my money had gone I had nothing left except my traveling expenses, so I consoled her with a pretty trinket, as well as some kind words, in case she had taken more trouble with me than she was paid for. Thus I took leave of my acquaintances, of our own faith or not, and asked their pardon in case I had not treated them with sufficient respect or rebuked them when they spoke disparagingly of the Land of Israel. Finally I went to take my leave of our old Beit Midrash. Since I had handed over the key to the child I did not trouble him by asking him to lend it to me, in case he might think I did not intend to give it back, and cry — especially as it is an infant’s way to take, and not to give. I stood in front of the door of the Beit Midrash and looked through the keyhole. The space of the Beit Midrash shrank within the ball of this man’s eye, and a shining, clarified light shone from it.