United States or Sweden ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
"You had better go to Reb Shemuel, the maiden's father, and let him arrange the Gett beyond reach of cavil." "But Reb Shemuel is away," said Mrs. Jacobs. "And I must go away, too, by the first train to-morrow," said Sam. "However, there's no hurry. I'll arrange to run up to town again in a fortnight or so, and then Reb Shemuel shall see that we are properly untied.
The sight was familiar yet it always struck the simple old Reb anew, with a sense of special blessing. "Good Shabbos, Simcha," said Reb Shemuel. "Good Shabbos, Shemuel." said Simcha. The light of love was in her eyes, and in her hair her newest comb.
"Here, you fool, you've been and done a fine thing this time! All your silver was in the coat you've given away!" "Was it?" said Reb Shemuel, startled. Then the tranquil look returned to his brown eyes. "No, I took it all out before I gave away the coat." "God be thanked!" said Simcha fervently in Yiddish. "Where is it? I want a few shillings for grocery." "I gave it away before, I tell you!"
Oh, thank God! thank God!" There was a moment of tense silence. Then the old man's voice rose slowly and painfully. "Thank God!" he repeated. "Do you dare mention the Name even when you propose to profane it? Do you ask me, your father, Reb Shemuel, to consent to such a profanation of the Name?" "And why not?" said David angrily.
She had an instant conviction that it was all over with poor Levi. "My poor lamb!" cried the Rebbitzin, the coffee-cup dropping from her nerveless hand. "Simcha," said Reb Shemuel sternly, "calm thyself; we have no son to lose. The Holy One blessed be He! hath taken him from us. The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh. Blessed be the name of the Lord." Hannah rose. Her face was white and resolute.
It is true that not one of them understands Hebrew, not even the Chief Rabbi, to whom courtesy made me send a copy. Perhaps he will be able to read my poems with a dictionary; he certainly can't write Hebrew without two grammatical blunders to every word. No, no, don't defend him, Reb Shemuel, because you're under him.
At their heels trudged Levi and on the other side of Reb Shemuel walked Eliphaz Chowchoski, a miserable-looking Pole whom Reb Shemuel was taking home to supper. In those days Reb Shemuel was not alone in taking to his hearth "the Sabbath guest" some forlorn starveling or other to sit at the table in like honor with the master.
Again the terrible silence. "Ah well," David resumed, his bitterness welling forth in irony. "And so the first sacrifice the priest is called upon to make is that of your daughter. But I won't, Reb Shemuel, mark my words; I won't, not till she offers her own throat to the knife. If she and I are parted, on you and you alone the guilt must rest. You will have to perform the sacrifice."
Reb Shemuel distributed the pieces of Afikuman with a happy sigh, and, lolling on his pillows and almost forgetting his family troubles in the sense of Israel's blessedness, began to chant the Grace like the saints in the Psalm who sing aloud on their couches. The little Dutch clock on the mantelpiece began to strike. Hannah did not move. Pale and trembling she sat riveted to her chair.
"Yes, Hannah's father, Reb Shemuel is just the man," cried Milly Phillips. "I told you my husband was gone to Manchester for a day or two," Mrs. Jacobs reminded her. "There's the Maggid of the Sons of the Covenant," said one of the company. "I'll go and fetch him." The stooping, black-bearded Maggid was brought.
Word Of The Day