THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS `Grandpa Isidore' By AMOS OZ Special to The Jewish News At a quarter past nine on a rainy morning Grandpa Isidore opened his eyes. He had been awakened by the sound of brass guns being drawn by horses on squeak- ing wooden gun-carriages. General Shevchenko's troops had returned to the town at last, and were now engaged in crushing the power of the hooligans and driving the armed rabble out into the forests, the muddy villages, the swamps. The church bells had also been rehung, and were ring- ing out again. He must get up. He must get up, get washed, dab on some scent, put on a dark suit as befitted a notary public and a silk tie in honor of the impending meeting, pick up his stick, put on a hat, arm himself with some useful docu- ments, and take the precau-. tion of secreting a neatly wrapped bottle of vodka in his overcoat pocket. On the way to the town hall he must collect the par- nas and the gabbai from their homes and then ap- pear with the utmost po- liteness before the general at the head of this humble but experienced deputation representing the whole Jewish community: it was time to resume the old understanding. Time to renew the community's con- tacts with the legal gov- ernment on a basis of calcu- lation and reciprocal polite- ness. Time was pressing. He must be up and doing. Meanwhile the strong horses harnessed to the brass guns had passed and gone. Now they would be down by the water, firing across the river, perhaps they had already set fire to the great forest opposite. Must get up. The furrowed hand clasped the stainless steel handle which his grandchildren had taken the trouble to fix to the wall beside his bed. After a struggle involving every bone in his body he stood up, with one foot still bare, and began to wrestle with the buttons of the brightly pat- terned pajamas which his great-niece had brought him back as a present from London. All night long the radio which he had forgotten to switch off had spoken and sung and twittered and screeched. Now a loose woman was trying to per- suade him in a seductive whisper only to use the Most Caressing Soap. A furious tug on the flex, the plug was pulled out, and the trollop was forced to shut up. As he feels for the switch of the electric fire his lips will mutter: S'is gurnisht. Sha. Shtil. Ge'endikt. (Quiet. It's nothing. It's over.) The thunderstorm Short Story by Amos Oz to be quiet and which of the three of us was deemed worthy to see Jerusalem and only this endless rain. Translated from the Hebrew by Nicholas DeLange. Ge'endikt. (It's over.) Only because he has be- come hard of hearing he will not hear Mathilda Azikri come in in her blue apron to put the breakfast tray down on his bedside table and to say good morning. He will not touch his breakfast this morning in any case. The brass guns on the river- bank are fireing mercilessly AMOS OZ outside has abated. He shuffles over to the window, pulls open the cur- tains with feeble rage and looks out at the street in the rain. February in Jerusalem. The rain is heavy and steady. An occa- sional burst of low thunder comes back like a beaten warrior. Along the pave- ment a procession of drenched dustbins; one of them has been upset by the wind and has spilt a mass of rain soaked newspapers which cling to the railings. Bare trees dripping. A grey half-light and tatters of mist caught on the tiled roofs and low stone walls. Over the road a derelict plot full of thistles, clut- tered with rusting scrap iron, lashed by the rain. In front of it is a huge sign in three languages: On this site will be erected the Center for the Promo- tion of Brotherhood sponsored by the Jewish Community of Montreal and the Eisenstadt fam- ily. Eisenstadt, Grandpa Isi- dore grumbles with disgust and loathing, but these too pass and are gone. A woman in a raincoat trips lightly across the street and disappears. A dark motor makes its way towards Talpiyot or Rachel's Tomb. The strong horses and the gun- carriages have receded far into the distance while in Jerusalem the heavy, steady rain keeps falling. Now Grandpa Isidore is shivering in the overheated room. Gone are the calcula- tions and the reciprocal po- liteness. He is alone as usual. A furious, infuriat- ing man was Shneur Zal- man Rubashov, alias President Shazar, and he too has passed away. There is nothing left. The old understanding will never be resumed. He was an anti-Semite, a bloodthirsty pogrom- maker, a fool and a con- firmed drunkard — Gen- eral Shevchenko, of ac- cursed memory. His bones have long since rotten under the snow. And the bones of the worthy Halberstamm and Zondel the gabbai, may God avenge their martyred blood and have mercy on their pure souls. Halberstamm was no saint and Zondel talked too much and never knew when • _ Friday, kw 2, 1911 9 DRIVE A CAR or SEND YOUR CAR TO ANY STATE at the great forest across the water and the horses are rearing on their hind legs at the smell of fire and smoke. He will leave the win- dow, draw the curtains to shut out the beating rain, and turn on the radio again to hear why the na- tions rage; and if he realizes that the sign is still delayed he will climb furiously back into bed and wrap him- self up in the heavy blan- ket again because his I.C.C. License MC125965 kefees hurt and the light in the world, in his eyes or in the room is so very fee- ble. S'is Gurnisht. 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