PERSPECTIVES
Pise T/re
ROR haKHE
... Richard Kraus
"Except a corn of wheat falls" to the
ground and die, it abideth alone; but if
it die it bringeth for much fruit." (John;
12.24)
SO I'LL go to the funeral Ma, I'll go
to the funeral, Pa. . . . Sure I'll
go.. .. I know she was a relative I gotta
go so I'm going so I'm here....
Grossman and Farb's immaculate fu-
neral parlor rose gracefully out of a row
of smaller dirtier two-story buildings,
clean, new, modern, against a back-
ground of nondescript stores that stood
like a ragged line of tired soldiers under
the gray, wet, falling snow along the
carline.
So I'll go to the funeral but I'd rather
not, I'd rather be anywhere but here one
place away from home where I'm re-
minded that I'm a Jew. . . . But am I?
Except for the food I eat and the peo-
ple that are my parents and my rela-
tives and friends ... Alright Mom, Pa,
I'm going to the funeral but I've been
here before. I know what I'll see and
like before I'll go away saying I'm not a
Jew not a Jew not a Jew.. .
He stood on the stop'in front of the
entrance in the shelter of the doorway
brushing the snow out of his dark hair
with a black leather gloved hand. The
anteroom, large and dimly lit, was emp-
ty as he went inside. The service had
already begun and the muffled voice
of the speaker drifted through the closed
door. He started across the room to
the chapel and the sound of the voice,
but he didn't have a hat. He looked
around the room and saw a pile of
"yamalkes" in the corners.
He picked up one of the small black
paper prayer caps and went into the
chapel.
PAPER, LIKE THE SURPRISE HATS
AT KIDS BIRTHDAY PARTIES . . .
MY LITTLE PAPER PRAYER . . .
NOT THE SMOOTH SOFT SILK LIKE
THE ONES AT SCHOOL . . . OH IT'S
ONLY A PAPER YAMALKE.. . PAPER
YAMALKES TO CUT DOWN EXPEN-
DITURES IN THE BURYING IN-
DUSTRY . . .
He opened it and put it on the back
of his head.
The Rabbi was speaking as he entered.
He took a seat in one of the rows near
the back of the chapel. He sat down,
then noticed the man next to him.
"Hello, Rosen," he whispered.
"Hi Sam, howayeh," the man said
running his words together in a way
that was unmistakeably Yiddish. He
whispered to the woman beside him;
"Sam Fine, he'san ainokle."
Fine's eyes strayed around the chapel,
resting finally on the speaker's plat-
form and the Rabbi. The room was
still and quiet but for the sound of the
Rabbi's voice which was a part of the
silence. Someone breathed loudly, a
few, muffled sobs, someone else sighed
and coughed, but the Rabbi's voice and
the silence of which it was a part, re-
mained inviolate and the little grief
sounds seemed to follow the tempo of
the voice. The Rabbi gestured fluently,
his hands coming together in front of
his chest, his voice rising and falling,
the words unimportant - the tone -
a chant of sadness - conveying all
that was necessary, that Jews were con-
gregated - doing the thing they did
best - grieving.
A woman cried softly, moaning in a
rising-falling cadence, then another and
another and another took it up and the
single crying voice became a chorus.
JEWS MOURNING . . . MOURN
TOGETHER AND THEY'RE JEWS,
LAUGH TOGETHER AND THEY'RE
JUST PEOPLE LAUGHING . . . IS
GRIEF A NATIONAL CHARACTER-
ISTIC? ... IS THIS RIGHT OR IS
IT ALL AN ACT, THIS MOURNING,
OR AM I FALLING FOR THE OLD
PROPAGANDA ABOUT JEWS AND
GRIEF .. . I DON'T KNOW, I DON'T
KNOW, I DON'T KNOW_.,.. THERE'S
SOMETHING HERE, WHY? . . . A
SICK OLD WOMAN .. WHY DONT
I FEEL IT? ...
Fine looked aroun the chapel. Across
the aisle a woman sobbed loudly, her
head nodding mournfully, the long curv-
ing feather in her hat moving restlessly.
Two rows ahead, a nark haired young
man with a paper yamalke, sat quietly
like a boy in school, absent mindedly
fingering his cheek.
On the speaker's platform, the long
grey-white coffin partially hid behind
the Rabbi.
SHE'S IN THERE, IN THAT LONG
COFFIN, TWICE AS LONG AS SHE
NEEDED . . SHE'S IN THERE LOOK-
ING LIKE SHE DID YESTERDAY, OLD
FACE YOUNG AGAIN UNDER THE
WHITE SHAWL AGAINST THE
WHITE LINEN FOLDS . . . NOTHING
IN THE WORLD TO RIDICULE YOUR
YIDDISHNESS NOW OLD WOMAN
. .. NO STREET CARS AND AUTO-
MOBILES AND FUR COATS TO MAKE
YOU LOOK LOST AND OUT OF PLACE
... FOUR DAYS AGO THEY DIDN'T
HAVE TIME FOR AN OLD LADY IN
A BLACK BABUSHKA AND A LONG
BLACK DRESS, NO PATIENCE WITH
AN OLD LADY WHO WAS STILL
EUROPE AND FARMS AND HORSE
CARTS AFE FORTY YEARS IN
THIS COUNTRY . . .
Fine looked around the chapel again,
his eyes resting on the pale green wall.
He looked around the long rectangular
room; a simple room, beautifully simple,
unadorned but for the eight lights,
mounted on silver half pillars that fitted
into the wall and branched out halfway
to the ceiling into semi-circular lampse
that cast round pools of light on the pale
green surface and reflected back over
the chapel. covering it with dim, candle-
like illumination. There was nothing in
the room without a use and its simplic-
ity imparted dinity to the burial serv-
ice
MODERN CHAPEL.. . . CLEANLY
DESIGNED . . . IMPERSONAL AS
TOMORROW... . CHAPEL OF TO-
DAY, HOME OF TOMORROW, TO-
MORROW, TMORROW ... , BUCK
ROGERS LN
CENTURY . . .
TWENTY-FIBT
JEWS LIKE T
FINE, LIKE A;
FROM THE O
THE LOOK OF
STL . . .. 01
CIENT ITUAl
FUTURISTIC S
THE OLDEST
THE NEWEST
MOST PASSIO
IN THE COLD
IT'S NOT RIG
CARE SA FI
AN DIES YOU
TO THE FUNET-
ER SAYS GO T
SHE'S A REA
HERE SAM ,V
DON'T -AVE
THAT LED T
WHY SHOULD
CHAPEL ISN'T
YOU CARE WH
WHY SHOULD
The Rabbi's
voice took or
T TWENTY-FIFTH it was quiet for a few , crn, and th"
- SARAH FINE IN THE Rabbi's voice came uo tiusgh the ci-
- CENTURY . ... OLD lence, eloquent, chating a phase from
E RABBI LIKE SARAH the Torah, then exp zl LOg it in YiP-.
SY LITTLE OLD LADY dish.
LD COUNTRY WITH MUSICAL HEBRE PI'I HI-
THE OLD COUNTRY REW, NOT LIKE YIDD i .... WHAT'
D IAYERS AND AN- IS ITS BEAUTY? UTE I'UTY C'1
L ON DISPLAY IN A LYRIC NONSENSE t AYBI. .. YU
HOW WINDOW . .. . DON'T UNDERSTAND IT O ITSol
PRAYERS, HERE, IN JUST SOUND INTI"EAD OF MEAN.-
CHAPEL . . . . THE INGS TO DISAGREE W1' s. .,...JUST
NATE PRAYERS HERE SOUND, SO YOU IaTIT ' AD FID
EST ROOM . . .. SO MUSIC WITHOUT LO0 i tITOR IT.
HT SO WHAT DO YOU The Rabbi's voice went on, speaking
NE SO AN OLD WOM- the kind of words Ro'bli's h'e be:n
R MOTHER SAYS GO speaking for centuries. Eipraised Sar-
-AL SAM YOUR PATH- ah Fine because she had ben kinal and
O THE FUNERAL SAM charitable. He thank r toe ummbers so
TIVE SAM SO YOU'RE the Schuul for thEir copration. tc,
'EN IT'S OVER YOU thanked the officers of the 'chiul n
TO MAKE EXCUSES the superintendent.
O FAMILYFIGHTS SO For another few ouSthe Rabti
YOU CARE IF THE continued, then he imtloduc (lathe wom-
RIGHT, WHY SHOULD an with the long feater in her fur hat.
Y SHOULD YOU CARE "Schwester Minnie Coben, reident f
YOU CARE . . . . de ladis Auxilery.",
chant was ended. His She moved into thbc 1bbishplaceob -
a conversational tone. hind the high speak e°;platfcom which
was almost, but not ute, an altar.
"Rabbi, friends and sters of the ladi' r
auxilery" she said- '- ro I'h, "I wins
to say a few words fr c-ne of our moc'.
loyal, unselfish sitS -, sit. iFine'
Then as if she coldn i o s~c' herst If
adequately in Engh t , 'ited ino
Yiddish. She spoke o ' -.rch i pra:--
ing, both hands on arek's tabc:,
head bobbing up ai' dow swith hs
words. The red tin;'er in her ha
seemed to be prayyrr =
DO A STRIP, LADD (U A BUBETI
DANCE OR A SO 7" EOL .. , . JUST
AS MUCH BUS1EfS HIRIS AB THA7
FEATHER ... .I. S T__A IREPARID
SPEECH? DO YOU i TE YI SAtiN
ONEFOR ALL 'I'TII sRTED S,-
TERS. JUST CHAN F S' NAM
AND USE IT OVEN ' IsM/ER AND
OVER AGAIN? lAF TIE THI
VAVE . . . WHAT'IT T 'lsTNERLi
NEEDED A LITTLE TUCO OF L11%
PEP IT UP OLD FET_1.1 ,' iAE AND
DANCE ... . THATS3CiET Ma. -
NIE DAB YOUR. E'C= C 64, 'CRY A
LITTLE ,GOOD I- .ICELLE.'
.... NOW GO BAC TID 1T'DOW/f
WAIT FOR THE 33 I'TO TIJ,
YOU HOW FINE ,";V WI.. .
HOW MUCH THEY CR D IlDt) IIOUt Ii
YOUR SPEECH . . . htDW MUCI
THEY LIKED YOUR ISO I :EiT . ,.
"Yisgadal vyiska'"'P -sshh reto
The Rabb" voice began IcV
then rose up over the n st of the peco
rising as they reccgT7e t lthe opening
words of the 'M i ne -add'sb,"
When the prayer wa' fcihld the pco-
ple said "Omaine
A small dark ma s the font xow
- walked into the as is ian .,ik 0loity.
-As d Abranso " 'All those wishing c stvie tIthe body,
on" e said, still in Yid- please form a line.'ht I eral pi-
tc," twhundred dollars cession will procee ' t, the cemetery.
voce was grateful There are cars for eoerycn oo'shing to
s1 heiadalready spent attend the burial."
te :: nul and on the People stood up. one and R o
rhe, en's Hebrew school. moved out into the s I id paraded
3:ler Herewschol.slowly up to the biEr. tear the casct
St as he would say "Two- slowly up to the ao
s ~t~stengthen Judaism, Fine saw a man be sotn's 'ligtly. YOt
os to keep our people shook hands with "9 :toa'-d said hello
Oro" ke u solemnly as he noi cedthe man's tie,
G TWO-H RED a vivid green silk , wt ro black aces
TE TWS -HDGIVE IT painted on a backgrc , d of white crcL,
AUSE YOU WANT TO His cousin, Sophei, sto d in front of
SEA BUT YOU DON'T the coffin, crying. begging forgivenes
JE OBY THE MONEY through her sobs. "1Vo .nun, Momm ,
%7E, GIEIT TO THEM I'm sorry, what h'v I Ine?" Fi:t
WOULD HATE WANT- Yiddish, then Eng's, hn Yiddish
AYEOOMETHINGT- again, gray hair creepsog cit of her h-
HAiVE TO EDO IT HERE bushka, her voice cr,'e- out, aoentuat-
HABRYTo DFEE H , ing. then blotting out hi vci, makir
G COPPERS TO THE it first ,a chant then dirge.
0WO SHOWS THEM As Fine passed hr, he- tpped, ps
ER OF PEOPLE THAT his hand on her shodrslor and patt'A
I HIMPWORK.... her softly.
Sthrough the room like- SAYCSOMETHINueGC . - IT'WIP U'
a field of tail grass, then continuedotye.1t
"Sarah -ne s s
dish, has do-a
to the c:.uu.
an d bespoke a
the money o.
'Chadar. he c
The Rabbi said
hundred dollar
two-hundred d
from becoming
GIVE THEI SI
DOLLAPS UNC
TO THE SEI
BE A GOOD
HAVE TRE TT
BECAUSE SHE
ED THM TO
. BUT YOUI
I . IEA
LlIKE TOSSIN
G. AYE DIGGI
OFF TO A CR(
LIKE TO Wa
A buzz went
wind through a