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Special Report
If Not Higher
What is goodness? What kind of culture produces good people? Who knows?
(Page 2 of 2)
The Litvak noticed just before dawn the rabbi, who seems to have had little rest all night as he tossed and worried about things, getting up. He did what Jews do when they awaken, then pulled from his closet old rough clothes, the kind Russian peasants wore, with a thick belt. The Litvak was astonished but kept his nerve and stayed quiet. He was even more astonished when he saw the rabbi take an axe out of a kitchen cupboard and put it on his belt, but still he kept his excitement under control. He followed the rabbi out of the house and the two crept out of the village quietly, the rabbi careful, as the Litvak noticed, whenever he came to a corner or crossed a street.
They walked almost a mile out of the village, the Litvak keeping his distance, until they came to a clearing where there stood some tree stumps, broken branches, and to the Litvak’s ever-heightening stupefaction, the rabbi immediately set to chopping wood and did not stop until he had a large amount. He tied two hefty bundles with lengths of cord that he extracted from his rough peasant’s blouse and, balancing them on his shoulders, he headed back toward town. The Litvak followed.
Light was breaking and the Litvak heard, or imagined he heard, the rhythms of the selichot coming from the direction of the house of prayer. The rabbi went to a little house in one of the less prosperous parts of town, which made it poor indeed since prosperity was a very relative term in that town, and knocked at the door. When there was no answer knocked a little harder and a voice answered, Who is it?
The Litvak strained to hear from around the corner of the house where he was hiding. It was a feeble voice, woman’s voice.
It is I, said the rabbi. I? Who? It is I, Vassil, your friend.
Come in Vassil, you know the door is open. It always is. Who would steal from a sick old widow who has nothing? So the rabbi entered the little house. The Litvak waited a few moments and quietly followed, then hid behind a battered closet and observed the scene.
I have brought you some wood, Mrs. Rosen, to make a fire and warm up your home, said the rabbi.
That is kind of you, Vassil, but who has money to pay you?
Not to worry, it is only a few kopeks and you can pay me whenever you have them. And he began to busy himself in the preparation of a fire in the stove.
But my son is away trying to find work and I do not know when I will have even a few kopeks with which to pay you, Vassil, said the old woman, the widow Rosen.
By way of answer the rabbi lit the fire, swept up around the stove, stacked up the rest of the wood in a neat pile in a corner of the kitchen, and brought a loaf of bread out of the large pocket in his blouse and put it on the kitchen table. He filled a samovar with water and placed it on the stove, told the old woman to watch it carefully and make herself a cup of tea as soon as it whistled, and, with a kind smile, said he would be back soon but he must go now for he had other things to attend to. I always enjoy seeing you, Mrs. Rosen, he said, and may you feel better. He said, you believe in your powerful god, and you do not trust him to help you pay me back? Come now!
The Litvak became a disciple of the rabbi. Sometimes, in later years, when people asked him if it was true that the rabbi, in his younger years, had had the privilege of ascending to heaven during the penitential days, as legend claimed, the Litvak smiled. “If not higher,” he always said.
So, shona tova, happy new year, and mind you remember this story was written by I. L. Peretz a great writer, a Jewish writer, a Polish Jew! He lived in the 19th century. He tells it much better than I can with my lousy memory. My mother did, too.
About the Author
Roger Kaplan, a Washington-based writer, covers the Middle East and Africa (and tennis) for The American Spectator.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (27) | Leave a comment
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Jack in Wi| 9.17.12 @ 8:01AM
I wish you a peaceful and happy Rosh Hashannah and Yom Kipur. But please can't we leave all the BS at the Synagogue door. If most of our Jewish brothers and sisters followed the Torah admonisitions to love their neighbors as themselves and treat the strangers among them as themselves, most of your troubles would disappear. Lets pray for most of our Jewish friends, that they return to God, the Torah, and the the 10 Commandments. If they did the world, and especially the Middle East would be a far safer and better place, for all of us
Alice Moore| 9.17.12 @ 10:10AM
So Jack, it's all the fault of the Jews. I'll go one better. If all Christians, Muslims, athiests, Hindis, Jainists, and anyone I may have overlooked, treats others as they would like to be treated; the world would be a better place. Every creed, secular and divine, at least pays lip service to this . Your prejudice is showing by saying that only the Jews must do this. Or are only the practitioners of Judaism at fault?
Alan| 9.17.12 @ 11:30AM
Alice, does this answer your question?
Jack in Wi.| 9.10.11 @ 10:04AM
Whatever good individual Jews have done in the world pails in comparission to the bad of the last 200 years. Atheism, communism, Socialism, Nuclear Weapons, expansionist Zionism, and nuclear blackmail.
Yep Alice, everything today is the fault of Jews according to our expert(Jack the @ss) on what Jews are supposed to be, those damned Jews!
If these Jews according to Jack the @ss would just start being Jews the way he wants them to be maybe they can still be "useful".
TeaPartyNow| 9.17.12 @ 12:33PM
Religious intolerance in America is a common practice in the "judea-christian" right. I'n not saying Jack doesn't live without his head up his donkey, but the American right literally is the definition of religious intolerance in that it accepts no religion other than bible ones.
The freedom of religion in America is in chaotic shreds because the right is a basket case of intolerance more often than not. The right creates a psychotic reaction because of it's own damning intolerance of all religions, other than bible believers. Don't believe me? Take a look at Hannity & Beck sites & ideas. Intolerance is embedded in the right, & hate issues forth with any opinion other than jesus.
Don't like the psychopaths? Why don't you find out what true tolerance is, stop your own hate & then see how nice people like Jack can be. Until you clear the hate from your own ranks, the right has no room to talk.
Ryan| 9.17.12 @ 12:57PM
How do you define intolerance?
Ryan| 9.17.12 @ 1:02PM
Here's the rub - American Christians may, at times, rail against other religions, and even be a little too bigoted...but we're not killing anyone in the name of religion.
Occam's Tool| 9.17.12 @ 4:08PM
I lived in rural Alabama, surrounded by Conservative evangelicals, for 7 years, from 1993-2000.
I NEVER felt safer as a Jew than there.
RCV| 9.17.12 @ 12:24PM
You reach new lows each day, Jack. The overwhelming majority of Jews I've known in life DO love their neighbors as themselves and treat the strangers among us far better than most people. Your continuing efforts to disparage the Jewish community disgust me.
Alan Obama Fan Brooks | 9.17.12 @ 3:09PM
You guys think of the Mideast as a giant oil well-- you deserve the anti-Americanism.
Israel is a pawn in your oil-game.
Alan Obama Fan Brooks | 9.17.12 @ 3:14PM
And, might it be added, the majority of writers and commenters at AS hate not merely Islamists, but also Islamics, a great deal more than Jack dislikes Israel.
Jack dislikes;
you hate.
Alan| 9.17.12 @ 7:00PM
And of course you ride around on your bicycle wherever you go and refrain from using any of that oil right idiot?
Alan Obama Fan Brooks | 9.17.12 @ 11:34PM
I do, as a matter of fact.
Occam's Tool| 9.17.12 @ 4:03PM
Blow me, Jack. Your "good wishes" do not compensate for your horrific evil and love of jihadists.
Peppermint Tea | 9.17.12 @ 9:25AM
Roger, loved the story.
Jack, you are a Litvak.
C Smith | 9.17.12 @ 11:17AM
“And the L-RD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets” (Leviticus 23:23-24).
There is mystery surrounding what is commonly called Rosh Hashanah (The Feast of Trumpets). Unlike the other six Messianic feasts, it has no name in Scripture. It is simply referred to as Yom Teruah (תְּרוּעָה: Day of alarm, or shouting, or trumpet blast). It is a memorial, but what is being memorialized is uncertain. Jewish liturgy describes it as Yom HaDin (Day of Judgment). Although it is to be on the first day of Tishri, the seventh month of the Hebrew year, ascertaining the day is dependent on atmospheric conditions that sometimes obscure the delicate crescent of the new moon. It could be said: “of that day and hour knoweth no man.”
http://theisraelofgod.blogspot.....-2008.html
Who Knows?| 9.17.12 @ 11:54AM
Sin?
We are all sinners.
“Sin” comes from the Greek, “hamartia”, which means to miss the mark.
An arrow that doesn’t hit the bull’s eye, say, sins.
How do sinning humans miss the mark?
By living in separation.
There is only God, or the Absolute, than which there is no other.
God coming at you, going from you, permeating you and everything!
It’s actually quite easy to understand this. You seem, bodily, to be enveloped by a skin. And yet, you know this epidermis is constantly changing. Slough some of it, grow some more! Just so, the mind and the soul come and go.
Yes, separation is an illusion, albeit there sure seems to be no doubt most people take it seriously.
Acknowledging Only God is THE great taboo!
Mustn’t say it out loud to one who doesn’t hit the mark.
Who Knows?| 9.17.12 @ 12:03PM
In 1975, Bubba Free John gave a talk, “Sex, Laughter and God Realization”.
In sex there is bodily ecstasy.
With laughter, the mind is lost in it.
God Realization releases the ego into bliss.
A triple play.
Or, a triple bypass of separation “surgery!
TeaPartyNow| 9.17.12 @ 12:22PM
You can not deny the beautiful spirit of a Jew. Their heart is so in tune with what makes humanity walk in the path that god would like us to travel. Always selfless, & amazingly forgiving. Jewish People wrote the Old Testament for their religion of Yahweh, the first major religion to use immortality & worship a single god. Then christians stole it, & claimed it was christians. Jews never said anything, & don't say anything about the crime to this day.
Jews are very beautiful people. But perhaps they might be better off if their cheek turned were curtailed from time to time. After all, what good is benevolence, beauty, & sacred immortality, if you are not strong enough to fight off those who'd steal your religion & try to commit genocide against you from time to time? Me thinks the Jews doth not protest enough.
Ryan| 9.17.12 @ 1:01PM
"Stole?" Probably not. More like brought to light what the OT was pointing toward - a Saviour, the Messiah, come to rescue God's people - both Jew and Greek - from their sins.
From what I see of Jewish theology, it tends to overcomplicate things - particularly the Messiah. The simplest explanation fits - a Person, establishing a heavenly kingdom.
Occam's Tool| 9.17.12 @ 4:06PM
Thank you RCV, and G-d Bless ALMOST everyone on this new year. May ALMOST all of you be written in the Book of Life for the New Year.
(786,Jack,etc.---burn in hell ASAP)
RCV| 9.17.12 @ 4:35PM
L'Shana Tova, Occam!
Occam's Tool| 10.3.12 @ 7:37PM
Thank you, sir. RCV, Bless you and your family, sir. And now, on to the debates!
Occam's Tool| 9.17.12 @ 4:34PM
By the way, check out Weasel Zippers...Nigerian Muslims just crucified a CAT in protest of that movie.
Clearly, Cheesehead Jack understands nothing about what makes a decent people. Israel's enemies are monsters in human form.
RCV| 9.17.12 @ 4:38PM
Isn't that what God demands of us?
The Whabbists in Mali also destroyed the historic tombs of Islamic saints, on the heels of their rampage thru Timbuktu's historic quarter.
Islam has degenerated into a state that would have made the Andalusian Moors weep.
RCV| 9.17.12 @ 4:48PM
And while I have your attention, Occam, the three books my wife uses with her class on the Constitution are:
"We the People" by Lynne Cheney
"If You Were There When They Wrote The Constitution" by Elizabeth Levy, and
"The Constitution - Translated for Kids" by Cathy Travis
Occam's Tool| 10.3.12 @ 7:38PM
Thank you, thank you, thank YOU, RCV!
Carroll | 9.18.12 @ 4:14AM
I must have been around 1975 or so when Brock Yates writing in an article entitled "55 Be Damned" said that "at 55 MPH, driving across Texas isn't a trip, it's a career."