The wagoner went to the market and hired out one wagon to the merchants of Leshkovitz, where the fair was still going on, since it sometimes lasted for four weeks and sometimes longer. The other wagon he loaded with sheepskins to take with him to Buczacz, trusting to the Lord that he would do good business with them.
But on the way he began to think, and his thoughts were disturbing. He thought to himself, What kind of fool am I to be going back to Buczacz, when those folk are going up to the Land of Israel? Here I have to water my horses and feed them hay, and do today what I did yesterday, and so every other day, until my time comes, and they lay me away in the ground with my teeth up, and the worms eat me. But why should I slip into thoughts of this kind? Has mine been a case of being able to go up to the Land and not wanting to? Rabbi Abraham the circumciser was certainly worthy of going up, but if the Name, be blessed, did not want him to go up, he did not.
The sun was about to set and its rays gradually faded. The hills were covered over, and the moon came up and lit the way. Everything was silent. All that could be heard was the sound of the wells of the murderers; for it is a custom of the people of those parts when they kill somebody to dig a well to atone for their sin, and put a creaky pump on top.
The horses twitched their tails and their hoofs began slipping. The wagoner looked around him and saw that they had left the right path. He tugged at the reins and cracked his whip, shouting, Where are you dragging me to, you beasts? I’ll show you the way to behave.
The horses lowered their heads and went the way they were required to go. And the wagoner wound the reins around his wrist and went back to thinking, now of himself, and now of Hananiah. This Hananiah fellow bundles his tallit and tefillin in his kerchief, and winds rags around his legs, and goes off to the Land of Israel, while all I do is go back to Buczacz. And why do I go back to Buczacz instead of going up to the Land of Israel? Because I am not prepared for the way. And when the Angel of Death comes, is he going to ask me whether I am ready?
While the wagoner was speaking to himself, his head sank on his chest. The horses turned their heads and saw that he was asleep. So they went ahead on their own accord, till suddenly they stopped. Whereupon the wagoner started up and took his whip and beat them until their flanks began to steam with sweat. And he yelled, Oh, you beasts, you always have to be sent off in a different direction from the way you want to go. By your lives, I shall thrash you until you forget that you are horses.
Chapter seven. Many Waters
When the company arrived at Galatz they paid the tax required by the king of Ishmael, the Sultan of Turkey, and entered the town. There they found a market place full of food and drink, with all manner of delicacies and fruits whose names will not be found even in the chapter on blessings to be said over fruit in the Shulhan Arukh code of law. They bought provisions for the way, bread and wine and fruits and other things which sustain the heart. As for the people of Galatz, they showed their affection by giving them all kinds of preserves, to restore them while on the sea. Then the comrades shaved their heads and went to the bathhouse. The warm water drew the weariness out of their bodies, so that they really felt like new beings. After coming out, they hired themselves a ship and set sail on the river Danube until they reached a certain spot called Wilkup, where the river falls into the Black Sea and whence the ships go off to Constantinople. There they waited several days for the rage of the sea to die down, so that they might embark on a big ship.
When they arrived at Wilkup, it was already twilight. They set up a camp, said the Afternoon and Evening Prayers, and then repeated Psalm Sixty-nine which begins, ‘Save me, O God, for the waters are come in even unto the soul,’ and which finishes joyfully, ‘For God will save Zion… and they that love His name shall dwell therein.’
The sea was silent and the waters were still. The men took out the cushions and pillows and the pots and pans, while the women gathered wood, kindled a fire, and cooked the supper. Every day during their stay at that place Hananiah used to go out with the women and gather branches which dripped resin. These give off a fine smell when they burn and add a spice to the meal.
They sat on their boxes and ate their meal in the moonlight. The trees and plants smelled sweetly and the night too gave off many goodly odors; the water moved to and fro in the sea, the stars and planets gave light on high, and the earth whispered to itself below, restoring their souls. The good folk got up, spread out a place to sleep on the ground, and prepared to sleep, reciting the ‘Hear O Israel’ and praying for protection against demons, and evil and harmful spirits, and evil sins, and evil dreams, reminding God that they were dust and ashes and worms and corruption, and beseeching Him to forgive all their transgressions, as it is written, ‘for with thee there is forgiveness.’
Suddenly they were pounced upon by every kind of mosquitoe, big as frogs, which bit them so that their faces swelled up. Never had they spent nights as bad as these. They could not sit, they could not lie, and they could not read any books. They could not sit up because of the mosquitoes, they could not lie down because of their sores, and they could not read any books because the mosquitoes covered the light.
This is the proper place to mention Rabbi Shmuel Yosef, the son of Rabbi Shalom Mordekhai ha-Levi, who sweetened their sufferings with tales of the Land of the Sons of Moses and the Four Tribes who dwell beyond the river Sambation in large houses made of precious stones and pearls, and who need no lamps or candles at night, since the stones of their houses shine sevenfold brighter than any candle; furthermore, they live for a hundred and twenty years, and no son dies during the lifetime of his father, nor daughter during the lifetime of her mother. They are forty times as many as the numbers of those who left Egypt and possess all the good things of the world as a reward for their study of His blessed Torah and observance of His Commandments. There is nothing impure in all their borders, neither an impure domestic beast nor an impure beast of prey, nor impure birds, nor vermin, nor reptiles, nor flies, nor mosquitoes. And every day they hear a Divine Voice proclaim, ‘Woe is me for I have destroyed my house, and burnt my mansion, and sent my children into exile.’ And they wait for the Omnipresent to return them to the Land of Israel.
Great are the works of his Name, be blessed. Happy the man who devotes his heart to them and knows how to explain them to others. Happy is Rabbi Shmuel Yosef, who at all times can relate the good deeds which the Holy One, blessed be he, does for Israel. Every night that they were upon the sea Rabbi Shmuel Yosef cheered them with his words and told them tales of salvation and comfort; such as the tale of Rabbi Gad of Jerusalem, and the tale of Malkiel the Hero, and the tale of the letters which the Sons of Moses sent to the men of Jerusalem.
When day broke and the sea could be seen, the women began crying, Oh, we are afraid to set out on the sea, we are afraid to sail by ship; when a man dies on board ship they don’t bury him but they tie him to a plank of wood and let him down into the sea! And then all kinds of big fish come, and some of them eat the soles of his feet while some eat his nose and lips. Last of all a big fish comes and swallows the corpse together with the plank which he is tied to, or else the sea spews him out on the sand, and all kinds of unclean birds come and peck out his eyes and pull the flesh off his bones. Whatever happens, the poor fellow never gets to a Jewish grave!