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a short short story—
How did they cause all the
woes and ills for which
they paid the price?
by JULIUS FISHER
Rabbi, Beaufort, S. C.
They lived in Lente, Hungary, the most
beautiful village in that vicinity — that is
what its citizens thought. But we cannot
take time just now to discuss the beauties
of the village. We must speak of the Si
mons’.
The head of the family was Jonah Simon,
known to all as Uncle Jonah. The master
of the family was his wife, Aunt Rose. She
was noted for her power of speech. At
intervals, when she was at it, there was a
thundering and lightning and torrents of
words. But Uncle Jonah was a philoso
pher. He belonged to the school of the
stoics, although he was unaware of it. I
saw him sitting in his big chair, smoking
his earthern pipe, before, during and after
such storms with the equanimity of an
ancient sage.
The Simons’ subsisted on scrap iron and
rags. They collected these discarded items
here and about the countryside and sold
Preparing for the Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services at the
shelter of HI AS in New York, where several hundred newcomers
to the U. S. will observe the High Holidays, is this group of D.P.
Youths and Rabbi Ezekiel Landau. This choir and the other sur
vivors fortunately escaped the fate of the Simons’ — but then
there was not time to punish more than six million whose blame
is so satirically shown in the accompanying story.
them in a neighboring town. Such activi
ties could be carried on only if one pos
sessed, as the Simons’ did, a carriage and
a horse.
The Simons’ held their noses high. With
the passing of the years their family pride
grew considerably. A variety of factors
contributed to that. First, the election of
Uncle Jonah to second Gabay of the Syna
gogue. On Saturdays he would stand on
the platform while the Torah was read.
The distribution of the various Synagogue
honors was, of course, the privilege of the
first Gabbay. Of so high a dignity the
Simons’ couldn’t even dream. Or, more
precisely, all they could do was to dream
about it. But even so, if one considers, it
is no trifle to stand on the platform on all
Sabbaths and Holydays.
Second source of the Simons’ pride was
Max, their son, who had risen to the posi
tion of clerk in a grocery store and had
ordered a new blue suit from Joseph H.
Klein, the best tailoring firm in the village.
On Sabbaths, while he was dressing, put
ting on the new blue suit, stepping into the
yellow half shoes, tying his yellow silken
necktie and crowning all this with his
green hat, the whole family would be
watching him and Aunt Rose’s heart would
swell with maternal pride.
These feelings were enhanced by Max’s
beautiful voice. At times he was honored
with reading the prophetic section called
Haftorah in the Synagogue. And it is re
corded in the annals of history that the
Simons’ ears had never heard so superb a
voice, that the Simon’s hearts had never
felt so high a pleasure, that the Simons’
eyes had never shone so brilliantly, as dur
ing these performances. That every mem
ber of the family was present, needn’t be
mentioned.
The Simons’, as you have noticed, were
rather clannish. The stream of parental,
filial and fraternal love has nowhere
flowed more pure and crystaline than at
the Simon homestead.
Their clannish sentiments embraced the
aforementioned cart and horse, too. They
were a soft spot with all of them, symbols
of power and standing. To describe the
carriage I have neither the strength nor
expert knowledge. But concerning the
horse, I heard that it was the oldest of all
horses in that vicinity and I noticed that
people in their talk would simply refer to
it as the Simons’ cat. But it was not advis
able to say that within the hearing of the
Simons’.
The carriage and the horse were respon
sible for the following incident.
One summer afternoon we children were
standing at a streetcorner. Lifting our eyes
we noticed the Simons’ coming — not afoot,
but by the carriage. Uncle Jonah and his
wife were sitting on a board in the front.
Behind them ten-year-old Mary, our class
mate, was standing. Mary’s pride was
boundless. The (Continued on page 34)
The Southern Israelite
(13)