Kotikokura who observed this, seemed to wait for a sign to dispose of her as he had disposed of some of my women in the Harem of a Thousand Graves.
Esther, with a woman’s intuition scented his enmity. “Isaac, Kotikokura is not one of our people. Why should he remain with us?”
“He has saved my life on several occasions when the Gentiles discovered that I was a Jew.”
“Pay him and let him go. Our people hate him. He has desecrated the synagogue by his bare head, and the Sabbath by riding on a donkey.”
“He is not a Jew. It is lawful for him.”
“Why should the daughter of Rabbi Sholom harbor one who is not a Jew, Isaac? It is for this reason, no doubt, that God refuses to give us children. We are tempting the Lord, Isaac! The women whisper that I am unfruitful… I shall soon be ashamed to face the world.”
Every day and several times a day, she found occasion to speak against Kotikokura. “Kotikokura, I have become a proverbial husband, disputing with his wife. Don Juan is avenged.”
Kotikokura grinned, tightening his fists.
“No, no, my friend. It is not necessary—not yet.”
My only friend was Joseph Ben Israel, the student I had met when I entered the Ghetto. We discussed for hours the bigotry of our people. He himself was not entirely free. Once I mentioned the beauty of images and the art of the Gentiles.
“You lived too long away from the truth,” he exclaimed, “and you have become too tolerant of blasphemy.”
I smiled sadly. “Joseph, it is too difficult for a man to cast off his environment. Having breathed the mouldy air of the Ghetto you cannot fully appreciate the deliciousness of fresh air…”
He stayed away for several days. One evening he returned. He pressed my hand to his lips. His face was drawn and white. “Forgive me, Isaac. I have contradicted my wise brother. I am a fool and an ingrate.”
I patted his hand. “Isaac bears no ill will.”
“I have repented for it. For three days I fasted.”
“That was quite unnecessary.”
“It was, on the contrary, very necessary.” He kissed my hand again.
“Joseph, have you no desire to go beyond the gate?”
“I desire to be with you always.” He covered his face and wept quietly. The shape of his head, his curls, reminded me of John, of Damis and of Walhallath, a boy whom I had known in Palmyra.
He looked up. “Isaac, you will leave, and I shall be forsaken…”
“Why do you say I will leave?”
“I know it. You are cramped here as a man in a tomb.”
“It does not matter. I shall remain. I shall try to break the walls of the tomb. Both my people and I shall breathe more freely…”
He sighed and shook his head. “Our people are obstinate, Isaac, and they mistrust you.”
“Have I not given them money? Have I not helped the widows and the orphans?”
“They do not understand why you are good to them. They do not know how you obtained the money. Some consider you a spy and others regard you as a magician. Your companion they fear. They think he is a golem—a creature you have made out of yellow clay who obeys you like a machine and who is strong enough to destroy the town… One saw him uproot a tree, another raise a donkey with one hand, a third one, hurl a rock against the ground, and the rock disappeared.”
I laughed.
“They even suspect me.”
I consoled him. “Joseph, if ever I should go beyond the gate—will you come with me?”
He did not answer for a long while.
“Can one remain a Jew there?” he asked at last.
“One must at least pretend that one is not.”
“Wherever you go, I go, Isaac.”
Within two days, four men died of violent cramps. The Ghetto forgot its quarrels and its petty intrigues, and battered the doors of the Rabbi. “The plague! The plague! Pray to God to spare us! You are a holy man—pray!”
The synagogue was crowded to the brim. Rabbi Sholom, bare-footed and covered in a shroud, called to God to spare his people. The shofar was blown seven times. The congregation beat their breasts. The women sobbed violently.
Two men fell dead on the threshold of the Holy House. The people scattered, shouting and waving their arms.
Rabbi Sholom asked a dozen men to confer with him. They shouted their opinions at the top of their voices. The fault lay in the sinfulness of the city and the lack of proper reverence for Yahweh. They suggested prayers, incantations, and sackcloth and ashes.
I entered the room. An ominous silence ensued. The men retreated and skulked. Rabbi Sholom, a little irritably asked, “What brings you here, my son?”
“Why do you ask me this, father? Is it not evident?”
“It is only for men who have spent their lives in the study of the Torah to discover why the Lord punishes us.”
“You saw that even while you prayed, two men fell dead.”
“Our sins are great!”
“The dirt and the squalor are greater.”
“It is God’s way of purifying our souls.”
“God has given us water to purify our bodies.”
“If our souls were pure, our bodies would need no purification.”
“Very true,” the Chasidim whispered to one mother. “Very true. Our souls must be pure.”
“Father, while you discuss the soul and it. purification, our people die of the plague.”
“It is God’s will.”
“Our obstinacy was our undoing, father. Even in the time of the Romans– —”
“May their memory perish!” Rabbi Sholom interrupted.
The others repeated: “May their memory perish!”
“Father, I am a Jew and have our people at heart.”
There was grumbling among the Chasidim. I stared at them. They huddled together.
“Do you doubt, father, that I am a Jew?”
“How should I doubt it since I gave you my daughter in marriage?”
“Have I not proved my love for our people? Have I not given charity? Have I not– —?”
“It is not by charity that one shows love but by leading a godly life.”
“Yes, yes,” the others remarked.
“Have I not led a godly life, father?”
“Only the Lord can read our hearts. But there have been many complaints against you, my son.”
“Complaints?”
“You are clean-shaven. Should not a Jew wear a beard? Should he rebuke God for causing hair to grow upon man’s face? You have a Gentile friend.”
“The golem! The golem!” some whispered.
“You object to your wife’s wig. Should a virtuous woman look like a wanton? It pains me, Isaac, to tell you these things in public.”
“Father, whatever the complaints against me may be, and however true, this is no time for words. Hearken to me! I have lived in many lands. I have seen many things, including plagues. Let me help my people. Let me save them from suffering and death.”
“How are you capable of doing this, when our holy men know no remedy?”
“I shall pay large sums of money to physicians to come from the other side of the gate. I shall supply the funds necessary for purifying the sources of water and other necessities of life.”
“But if our souls be impure, how can physicians purify us?”
“They know means by which the pestilence may be stopped. Later, we shall attend to our souls.”
The Chasidim shook their heads.
“You begin at the end, Isaac.”
“At least for the time being, the people should not gather in the synagogue. They infect one another.”
“What?” the Chasidim shouted.
“Isaac!” the Rabbi admonished. “Not foregather in the synagogue? Not pray to the Lord in time of sorrow?”
“You are not a Jew!” one Chasid exclaimed, rising and pointing his forefinger at me. “You are not a Jew! Your words are the Devil’s words and your advice is the advice of one who wishes to destroy our race!”