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He refused no one his assistance, declined no one's proffered gifts. It was finally decided to send to the bal-shem to effect Mendel's cure. But time was pressing, Mendel was growing visibly worse and Tchernigof was a long way off! Hirsch rose to go in search of a messenger. "Whom will you send?" asked his wife, accompanying him to the door.

"Reb Bensef being very much distressed by the death of Rabbi Jeiteles, went to Tchernigof to ask counsel of the bal-shem and has just returned." "Well, what did the wise man advise?" asked Jentele, burning with impatience, while her partially washed baby lay kicking in her arms. "Listen, I am coming to that," answered Itzig, with provoking slowness.

He cannot start on his return until Saturday evening, and by the time he got back Mendel would be cold in death. No; it is too far!" "Shaute!" "Do you imagine the bal-shem cannot cure at a distance as well as though he were at the patient's bedside? Lose no time. God did not deliver Mendel out of the hands of the soldiers to let him die in our house."

One of the most fantastic notions of Cabalistic teaching was that certain persons, possessing a clue to the mysterious powers of nature, were enabled to control its laws, to heal the sick, to compel even the Almighty to do their behests. Such a man, such a miracle worker, was called a bal-shem.

Is what you have just related exactly true." "To be sure it is. If you doubt it, go to the bal-shem and ask him yourself." "Do you swear by " Then checking himself, Hirsch muttered: "We will see. If the boy recovers, I will believe you."

Miriam quieted the disputants by promising to try both remedies. To her credit be it said, she applied neither, but pinned her entire faith upon the coming remedy of the bal-shem. Friday noon came but it brought no improvement. He continued delirious and his mind dwelt upon his recent trials, at one moment struggling against unseen enemies and the next calling piteously upon his brother Jacob.

The bal-shem then gave him a parchment already written, and told him to return home at once and apply the remedy before Shabbes, otherwise the spell would lose its efficacy. "Then," continued the messenger, "I said, 'Rabbi, this is Friday noon; it takes almost a day and a half to reach Kief.

When Chune Benefski's little boy was so sick that they thought he was already dead, a parchment blessed by the bal-shem brought him back to life. Is Mendel less to you than your own son would be?" "God forbid," said Hirsch; then added, reflectively: "but to-day is Thursday. It will take a day and a half to reach Tchernigof, and the messenger will arrive there just before Shabbes.

The busiest man during these troublous times was Itzig Maier, the beadle, whose acquaintance we have already made as the messenger sent by Bensef to the bal-shem at Tchernigof. The condition of Itzig and his family had not improved since we last saw him.

Hirsch, assisted by suggestions from his wife, cogitated long and earnestly. Suddenly Miriam found a solution of the difficulty. "Why not send to Rabbi Eleazer at Tchernigof?" Hirsch gazed at his wife in silent admiration. "To the bal-shem?" he asked. "Why not?