If Not Higher —a Story for the High Holy Days
A marionette show at the annual meeting of the Fresh Air rags, who says bitterly:
Society at Camp Tamarack featured the famous Isaac Loeb Peretz story,
"Wood to sell—and where am I,
"If Not Higher." The production was directed by David Ben-Shalom of a poor widow, to get the money
Kibutz Givat Ilayyim in Israel, director of the Israeli Bubatron Theater. from to buy it?" "I will give you
Ben-Shalom was here for the summer's program at Camp Tamarack a six-groschen worth on credit."
and has returned to his home in Israel after directing "If Not Higher"
"And how am I ever to repay
and another marionette show, "David and Goliath."
Peretz, author of "If Not Higher," died in 1915. He was among you?" groans the poor woman.
the outstanding Yiddish writers of our time and his themes dealt with "Foolish creature!" the Rebbe up-
braids her. "See here: you are a
Hasidim and Hasidism.
"If Not Higher," which we present here in an English transla- poor sick Jewess, and I am willing
tion, is the story of a saintly Hasidic rabbi and a Mitnaged—a Litvak to trust you with the little bundle
—who saw him in action and became one of his ardent followers.
of wood; I believe that in time you
*
will repay me. And you, you have
By ISAAC LOEB PERETZ
After that the Lithuanian hears such a great mighty God, and you
And the Rebbe of Nemirov, every the beds in the house squeak—the do not trust Him! Not even to the
Friday morning early at Sliches- people jump out of them—a Jewish amount of a miserable six grosch-
time, disappeared, melted into thin word is spoken now and again— en for a little bundle of wood!"
air! He was not to be found any- water is poured on the fingers—a
"And who is to light the stove?"
where, either in the synagogue or door is opened here and there. groans the widow. "Do I look like
in the two houses-of-study, or wor- Then the people leave the house getting up to do it? and my son
shipping in some minyan, and most once more it is quit and dark, only
certainly not at home. His door a very little moonlight comes in
r
through the shutter.
He confessed afterwards, did the
Lithuanian, that when he found
himself alone with the Rebbe ter-
ror took hold of him. He grew cold
all over, and the roots of his ear-
locks pricked his temples like
needles. An excellent joke, to be
left alone with the Rebbe at
Sliches-time before dawn!
But a Lithuanian is dogged. He
quivers and quakes like a fish—
but he does not budge.
At last the Rebbe, long life to
him, rises in his turn.
First he does what beseems a
Jew. Then he goes to the ward-
robe and takes out a packet—
I which proves to be the dress of a
peasant: linen trousers, high boots,
a pelisse, a wide felt hat, and a
long and broad leather belt studded
with brass nails. The Rebbe puts
ISAAC LOEB PERETZ
them on. Out of the pockets of the
stood open, people went in and pelisse dangles the end of a thick
out as they pleased—no one ever cord, a peasant's cord. On his way
stole anything from the Rebbe- out, the Rebbe steps aside into the
but there was not a soul in the kitchen, stoops, takes a hatchet
from under a bed, puts it into his
house.
belt, and leaves the house. The
Where can the Rebbe be? Where
Lithuanian trembles but he per-
should he be, if not in heaven?
Is it likely a Rebbe should have sists.
A fearful, Solemn-Day hush
no affairs on hand with the Solemn
broods over the dark streets, brok-
Days so near?
Jews (no evil eye!) need a live- en not infrequently by a cry of
lihood, peace, health, successful supplication from some little min-
matchmakings; they wish to he , yan, or the moan of some sick
good and pious and their sins are person behind a window. The
great, and Satan with his thousand Rebbe keeps to the street side, and
eyes spies out the world from one walks, in the shadow of the houses.
end to the other and he sees, and He glides from one to the other,
accuses, and tells tales—and who the Lithuanian after him. And the
shall help if not the Rebbe? So Lithuanian hears the sound of his
own heart-beats mingle with the
thought the people.
Once, however, there came a heavy footfall of the Rebbe; but
Lithuanian—and he laughed! You he follows on. and together they
emerge from the town.
I Behind the town sands a little
wood. The Rebbe, long life to him.
enters it. He walks on thirty or
forty paces, and then he stops be-
side a small tree. And the Lith-
uanian, with amaze, sees the
Rebbe take his hatchet and strike
the tree. He sees the Rebbe strike
blow after blow, he hears the tree
crak and snap. And the little tree
falls, and the Rebbe splits it up
into logs, and the logs into splin-
ters. Then he makes a bundle,
binds it round with the cord,
throws it on his shoulder, replaces
the
hatchet in his belt, leaves the
out.
The very same evening, soon wood. and goes back into the town.
In
one of the back streets he
after prayers, the Lithuanian steals
into the Rebbe's room, lays himself stops beside a poor, tumble-down
down under the Rebbe's bed and little house, and taps at the win-
lies low. He intends to stay there dow.
"Who is there?" cries a fright-
all night to find out where the
Rebbe goes, and what he does at ened voice within. The Lithuanian
knows
it to be the voice of a Jew-
place
Sliches-time. Another in his
would have dozed and slept the ess, a sick Jewess.
"I," answers the Rebbe in the
time away. Not so a Lithuanian—
he learned a whole treatise of the peasant tongue.
"Who is I?" inquires the voice
Talmud by heart!
Day has not broken when he further. And the Rebbe answers
again
in the Little-Russian speech:
hears the call to prayer.
"Vassil."
The Rebbe has been awake some
"Which Vassil? and what do you
time. The Lithuanian has heard
him sighing and groaning for a want, Vassil?"
"I have wood to sell," says the
whole hour. Whoever has heard the
groaning of the Nemirover Rebbe sham peasant, "very cheap, for
knows what sorrow for all-Israel, next to nothing."
And without further ado he goes
what distress of mind, found voice
in every groan. The soul that heard in. The Lithuanian steals in be-
was dissolved in grief. But the hind him, and sees, in the grey
heart of a Lithuanian is of cast- light of dawn, a poor room with
iron. The Lithuanian hears and poor, broken furniture. In the bed
lies still, The Rebbe lies still, too lies a sick Jewess huddled up in
know the Lithuanian Jews—they
rather despise books of devotion,
but stuff themselves with the Tal-
mud and the codes. Well, the Lith-
uanian points out a special bit of
the Gemara—and hopes it is plain
enough: even Moses our Teacher
could not ascend into heaven, but
remained suspended thirty inches
below it—and who, I ask you, is
going to argue with a Lithuanian.
What becomes of the Rebbe?
"I don't know, and I don't care,"
says he, shrugging his shoulders,
and all the while (what it is to be
a Lithuanian!) determined to find
—the Rebbe, long life to him, upon
the bed and the Lithuanian under THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Friday, September 12, 1969-19
the bed:
•
30 Pct. Increase in Aliya
From Britain Reported
away at work!" "I will also light
the stove for you," said the Rebbe,
And the Rebbe, while he laid the
fire, repeated the first part of the
Sliches. Then, when the stove was
alight , and the wood crackled
cheerily, he repeated, more gaily,
the second part of Sliches. He re-
peated the third part when the fire
had burnt itself out, and he shut
the stove doors. . . .
The Lithuanian who saw all this
remained with the Rebbe, as one of
his followers. And later, when any-
one told how the Rebbe early every
morning at Sliches-time raised him-
self and flew up into heaven, the
Lithuanian instead of laughing,
added quietly:
"If not higher."
LONDON (JTA) — The Jewish
Agency said Monday that more
than 1,000 British citizens have
settled in Israel during the first
eight months of this year—an in-
crease of more than 30 per cent
compared to last year.
An agency spokesman told the
JTA that nearly half of this year's
immigrants from Britain were in
the 18-29 age group and that the
proportion of professionals among
them was greater than last year.
He said most were teachers and
medical personnel.
Four members of Parliament
have joined the Anglo-Israel
Friendship League in their home
district of Southgate, the British
Zionist Federation reported.
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