pEDETROTI;kNIS

PAGE FOUR

and credit to the decrees of courts of to say to lawyers that a divorce
granted under such circumstances
sister "states."
has no legal validity, and it may also
A "Get" under the circumstances
be noted that the supposed oblige.
involved is concededly ineffective to
tion of the Mosaic law requiring a
dissolve the marriage in the State of
childless widow to marry her de-
New York, and it is against the pub-
ceased's husband's brother cannot be
lic policy of that state to recognize
carried out in Ontario without a vio-
• "divorce" which permite the wife
lation of the law of the land, which,
abroad to marry again, while leaving
based also on the Mosaic law as laid
the resident husband still bound by
down in Leviticus, forbids such
the marriage ties (Wolkovinsky vs.
unions, without any exception.
Rapaport 216 Mass., 48, followed in
"Such a divorce as that above
Schley vs. Andrews 225 N. Y. 110).
A curious case of delivery of a "Get" mentioned would not only have na
legal
validity whatever, but, notwith-
in Canada was described and com-
mented upon, in 1912, in 48 Canada standing it, the wife would appear to
be still entitled to the status of wife
Law Journal 248, as fololws:
and bound by all the obligations and
"It was recently stated in a To-
entitled to all the legal rights which
ronto newspaper that a Jewish rabbi
flow from that status. . . .
had, at the mutual request of a dying
"In Canada it is well for all
Jew and his wife, granted them a di-
Rs stated, to classes to remember that the grant-
vorce, in order, so it was
ing
of divorces and the annulling o f
free the woman, who was childless,
from the alleged obligation of the Marriages is not a matter withni the
competence
of any religious organiz-
Mosaic law requiring her to marry
her husband's brother. It is needless ation."

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ell Modern
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Prompt and Dependable
SERVICE
Since 1909

The Agree-Garelik Co. 0.

4469 JOHN R. STREET
Glendale 7418-7419

Plumbing and Heating Engineers VVV

I \a
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rains were pouring down, and the
town and especially the clay hill are
confounded with the deep, thick mud!
Our Bertzi Wasserfuhrer was more
alive to the fascinations of this Par-
By ISAIAH LERNER
nosseh than any other water-carrier.
Ile was, as though in his own despite,
The first night of Passover. It is at last they went sweetly to sleep. a pious Jew and a great man of his
already about 10 o'clock. Outside it Only one fly is moving about the room: word, and he had to carry water for
is dark, wet, cold as the grave. A Rochtzi, Bertz Wasserfuhrer's wife, almost all the well-to-do householders.
of tears, large, clear tears,
fine, close, sleety rain is driving down, and rivers
with trouble and distress, flow True, that in face of all his good luc k
a light, sharp, fitful wind blows, whis- salt
i
he was one of the poorest Jews in
ties, sighs, and whines, and wanders from her eyes.
oor people's street, onl —
poor
round on every side, like a returned Although Rochtzi has not seen more Lord of the world, mas , there
y• never
and sinful soul seeking means to qual- than 30 summers, she looks like an again be such a winter as there was
ify for eternal bliss. The mud is very old woman. Once upon a time she then!
thick, and reaches nearly to the waist. was pretty, she was even known as
Not the oldest man there could re-
At one end of the town of Kamen- one of the prettiest of the Kamenivke call one like it. The snow came down
is ke, in the poor people's street, which girls, and traces of her beauty are in drifts, and never stopped. One
runs along by the bath-house, it is still to be found in her uncommonly could and might have sworn on a scroll
darkest of all, and muddiest. The large, dark eyes, and even in her lined of the law, that the great Jewish God
houses there are small, low, and over- face, although the eyes have long lost was angry with the Kamenivke Jews,
hanging, tumbled together in such a their fire, and her cheeks, their color and had commanded His angels to
way that there is no seeing where the and freshness. She is dressed in clean shovel down on Kamenivke all the
mud begins and the dwelling ends. No holiday attire, but her eyes are red snow that had lain by in all the seven
gleans of light, even in the windows. from the hot, salt tears, and her ex- heavens since the sixth day of crea-
Either the inhabitants of the street pression is darkened and sad.
tion, so that the sinful town might
are all asleep, resting their tired bones
"Such a festival, such a great, holy be a ruin and a desolation.
and aching limbs, or else they all lie testi\ al, and then when it comes
And the terrible, fiery frosts!
suffocated in the sea of mud, simply . . ." The pale lips tremble and
Frozen people were brought into the
because the mud is higher than the quiver.
town nearly every day.
windows. Whatever the reason the
0i,
Jews, how Bertzi Wasserfuhrer
How many days and nights, begin-
street is quiet as God's-acre, and the ning before Purim, has she sat with struggled, what a time he had of it!
darkness may be felt with the hands. her needle between her fingers, so that
And suddenly the snow began to
Suddenly the dead stillness of the the children should have their holiday stop falling, all at once, and then
street is broken by the heavy tread of frocks—and all depending on her things were worse than ever—there
some ponderous creature, walking and hands and head! How much thought was a sea of water, an ocean of mud.
And Passover coming on with great
plunging through the Kamenivke mud, and care and strength has she spent
and there appears the tall, broad fig- en preparing the room, their poor lit- strides ,
For three days before Passover he
ure of a man. He staggers like one tie possessions, and the food? How
tipsy or sick, but he keeps on in a many were the days, Sabbaths except- had not come home to sleep. Who
straight line, at an even pace, like eel, on which they went without a talks of eating, drinking, and sleep-
one born and bred and doomed to die spoonful of anything hot, so that they ing? He and his man toiled day and
in the familiar mud, till he drags his might be able to give a becoming re- night, like six horses, like ten oxen.
The last day before Passover was
way to a low, crouching house at the ception to that dear, great. and holy
very end of the street, almost under visitor. the Passover? Everything the worst of all. His horse suddenly
the hillside. It grows lighter — a (the Almighty forbid that she should came to the conclusion that sooner
bright flame shines through the little sin with her tongue!) of the best. than live such a life, it would die. So
window-panes. He has not reached ready and waiting, and then, after it died and vanished somewhere in
the door before it opens, and a shaky, all . . .
the depths of the Kamenivke clay.
And Bertzi the water-carrier and
tearful voice, full of melancholy, pain.
He, his sheepskin, his fur cap, and
and woe, breaks the hush a second his great boots are soaked with rain his man had to drag the cart with
the great water-barrel themselves, the
time this night:
and steeped in thick mud, and there.
"Bertzi, is it you? Are you all in this condition. lies he, Bertzi whole day till long after dark.
It is already 11, 12, half past 12
right? So late? Has there been en- Wasserfuhrer• her husband, her Pass-
other accident? And the cart and the over "king" like a great black lump, at night. and Bertzi's chest, throat,
and nostrils continue to pipe and to
horse, wu senen?"
on the nice. clean, white, draped "eat-
whistle, to sob and to sigh.
A happy ing-couch," and snores.
"All right, all right!
The room is colder and darker, the
holiday!"
The brief tale I am telling you hap- small fire in oven went out long ago.
His voice is rough, hoarse, and pened in the days before Kamenivke
Rochtzi walks and runs about the
had joined itself on. by means of the room, she weeps and wrings her
muffled.
She lets him into the passage, and long, tall• and beautiful bridge, to the hands.
great high bill that has stood facing
But now she runs up to the couch
opens the inner door.
it from everlasting, thickly wooded, by the table. and begins to rouse her
But scarcely is he conscious of the
and watered by quantities of clear, husband with screams and cries fit to
light, warmth, and cleanliness of the
crystal streams, which babble one to make one's blood run cold and the
room, when he gives a strange, wild
another day and night, and whisper hair stand up on one's head:
cry, takes one leap, like a hare. onto
with their running tongue of most im-
"No, no, you're not going to sleep
the "eating-couch" spread for him on
portant things. So long as the bridge any longer, I tell you! Bertzi, do
the red-painted, wooden sofa, and—
had net been flung from one of the you hear me? Get up, Bertzi, aren't
he lies already in deep sleep.
giant rocks to the other rock, the you a Jew?—a man?—the father of
The whole dwelling, consisting of
Kamenivke people had not been able children?—Bertzi, have you God in
one nice. large, low room, is clean,
to procure the good, wholesome water your heart? • Bertzi, have you said
tidy, and bright. The bits of furni-
of the wild hill, and had to content your prayers? My husband, what
ture and all the household essentials
themselves with the thick, impure about the Seder? I won't have it!-
are poor, but so clean and polished
water of the river Smotrich, which 1 feel very ill—I am going to faint!-
that one can mirror oneself in them,
has flowed forever round the eminence Help!—Water!"
if one cares to stoop down. The table
on which Kamenivke is built. But
"Have I forgotten somebody's wa-
is laid ready for Passover. The bot-
tles of red wine, the bottle of yellow man, and especially the Jew, gets used ter?—Whose?—Where? . . . "
to anything, and the Kamenivke peo-
But Rochtzi is no longer in need
Passover brandy, and the glass gob-
ple, who are nearly all grandfather of water; she beholds her "king" on
lets of different colors reflect the light
Abraham's grandchildren, had drunk his feet, and has revived without it.
of the thick tallow candles, and shine
Smotritch water all their lives, and With her two hands. with all the
and twinkle and sparkle. The oven ,
were conscious of no grievance.
strength she has, she holds him from
which stands in the same room, is
But the lot of the Kamenivke water- falling hack onto the couch.
nearly out, there is one sleepy little
carriers was hard and bitter. Kamen-
"Don't you see, Bertzi? The can-
bit of fire still flickering. But the
ivke stands high, almost in the air, dles are burning down, the supper is
pots, ranged round the first as though
and the river Smotritch runs deep cold and will spoil. I fancy it's al-
and
encourage
it,
ex-
to watc/fmver it
ready beginning to dawn. The chil-
hale such delicious, appetizing smells down in the valley.
In summer, when the ground is dry, dren, long life to them, went to sleep
that they would tempt even a person
who hail just eaten his fill. But no it is bearable, for then the Kamen- without any food. Come, please, begin
one makes a move towards them. All ivke water-carrier was merely bathed to prepare for the Seder, and I will
in sweat as he toiled up the hill, and
wake the two older ones."
five children lie stretched in a row
the Jewish breadwinner has been used
Bertzi stands bent double and treble.
on the red-painted, wooden bed. Even
to that for ages. But in winter, when His breathing is labored and loud, his
they have not tasted of the precious
the snow was deep and the frost tre- face is smeared with mud and swollen
dishes, of which they have thought
mendous, when the steep Skossny hill
and talked for weeks previous to the
from the cold, his heard and earlocks
with its clay soil was covered with ice are rough and bristly, his eyes sleepy
festival. They cried loud and long.
waiting for their father's return, and like a hill of glass! Or when the great and red. He looks strangely wild and

Bertzi Wasserfuhrer

CARUSO

TERRAllO & TILE CO.

Tile Floors, Wainscoting, Ceilings and Sinks.

TERRAZZO FOR ALL PURPOSES

Office, 2180 Watson Street, Melrose 5631
Residence, 2134 Scott, Melrose 5232

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The

Briggs-Kessler Co.

Incorporated 1904.

DENTAL SUPPLIES AND EQUIPMENT

FIFTH FLOOR STEVENS BLDG.
Phone Cadillac 9170.

00C

L. J. RUSSELL

PLASTERING AND LATHING
CONTRACTOR

3584 FARNSWORTH AVENUE
Melrose 0679

LET

ME

ESTIMATE ON YOUR NEXT

.101

fit I 111111 I I 1 11111 1 I I I 1 11111 1 I I 1 1111 1 I 1 111 1 I II I I 1 11 1 1 11 1 I 1 111 1 I 1 111 1 I I III I I M i t mu m II um h ip

The

Joseph E. Barrett Co.

CONVEYORS

12416 CLOVERDALE AVENUE

Phone Garfield 5702

WM. ZIMMERMAN, President.

FRED C. STANCE, Secretary and Manager.

LEO TAUBE, Vice-President.

OSCAR LAMSENS, Treasurer.

AMERICAN PRODUCTS
COMPANY

Established 1890.

1000 CARY STREET SOUTH

unkempt. Bertzi looks at Rochtzi, at
the table, he looks around the room,
and sees nothing. But now he looks
at the bed: his little children, washed.
and in their holiday dresses, are all
lying in a row across the bed, and—
he remembers everything, and under-
stands what Rochtzi is saying.
"Give me some water—I said Min-
chah and Maariv by the way, while
I was at work."
"I'm bringing it already! May God
grant you a like happiness! Good
health to you! liershele, get up, my
Kaddish, father has come home al-
ready! Shmuelkil, my little son, go
and ask father the Four Questions."
Bertzi fills a goblet with win, takes
it up in his left hand, places it in upon
his right hand, and begins:
"Savri Moronon, ve-Rabbonon, ve-
Rabbosai—with the permission of the 5
company."—His head goes round—
"Lord of the World!—I am a Jew.—
Blessed art Thou, Lord our God, King
of the universe—" It grows dark be-
fore his eyes: "The first night of
Passover—I ought to make Kiddush-
Thou who (lost create the fruit of the
vine—his feet fail him, as they had
been cut off—"and I ought to give
the Seder—This is the bread of the
poor . . . Lord of the world. you
know how it is; I can't do it!—Have
mercy!—Forgive me!"
A nasty smell of sputtered-out can-
dles fills the room. Rochtzi weeps.
Bertzi is back on the couch and snores.
Different sounds, like the voices of
winds, cattle. and wild beasts, and the
whirr of a mill, are heard in his snor-
ing. And her weeping—it seems as
if the whole room were sighing and
I.
quivering and shaking . . .
(Courtesy of Jewish Publication
Society of America.)

AUSTRIA WILL NAME
SOCIALIST AND JEW

Manufacturers of

Walter M. Rogers

REPRESENTING

Kerner Incinerator Company

Chelsia Dumb Waiter Company

Union Fiber Company

Used by the Better Architect. and Builders.

CHERRY 50.

400 PENOBSCOT BLDG.

Passover Greetings

— FROM —

East Side Bottling Work

MORRIS J. NEWMAN, HYMAN GREENBERG, Props.

RANDOLPH 3430

688 E. COLUMBIA S

HUB STEEL
SERVICE

LAWRENCE McCARTHY, Manager and Owner.

Builders and Brick Masons

Jesus.-
Consular Roprownstativos
lam Chinos from Bolls Groups.

C ream Top

(Cereal Beverage)

Full Line Of

SOFT DRINKS

VIENNA.—(J. T. A.)—The con-
sular representation in Palestine of

the Republic of Austria will be made
with a view to satisfying Zionists and
non-Zionists alike, it was learned
here.
The consul-general in Jerusalem
will be a member of the Christian
Socialist party, because the present
Christian Socialist government of
Austria wishes to respect the feeling
of the Vatican. The vice-consul in
Jerusalem, however, will be a Zionist
This is meant to signify the sym-
pathy of Auatira for the Zionist re-
construction in Palestine and to de-
velop trade relations between Aus-
tria and Palestine.

STEEL SUPPLIES

— FOR —

STORES, HOUSES, APARTMENT

Complete Stock Basement Beams.

Lintels — Majestic Chutes.

SUBMIT DAILY VICTIMS' LIST

Order a Case of Soft Drinks
for your Easter Table.
Call Cedar 4127-8119

JASSY.—(J. T. A.)—A daily bul-
letin of the Jewish victims of anti-
Semitic students and hooligans will
be composed, according to a decision
of the Jewish Students' Union in the
University of Jassy. The lists will be
submitted daily to the dean of the
university. Until now there have
been 70 victims among the Jewish

i 111.10CULS

reguumaew.

CENTRAL AVENUE AT WESTFIELD

Phones: Garfield 8717 - 2351

