Newspaper Page Text
Friday, March 23, 1956
THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE
Page Fifteen
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Cordial Passover Greetings
FROM
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Special Representative
FOR
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Monuments Coping ( Grave Slabs
The Rebbe and the Rebbetsin
By LAMED SHAPIRO
(Editor's note: The following is reprinted with permission
from “A Treasury of Yiddish Stories,” edited by Irving Howe
and Rliczcr Greenberg. Published by the Viking Press in
1954, the book has been widely acclaimed as an excellent con
tribution to Jewish culture. Rabbi Philip Bernstein of Ro
chester has included the book for two successive years in a
recommended list of books of Jewish interest.)
Once upon a time there were
a rebbe and a rebbetsin.
When the rebbe studied Torah
the rebbetsin would say she
heard angels chanting, and when
the rebbetsin cooked fish for the
Sabbath the rebbe was certain
that he smelled the odors of Par
adise. Both the rebbe and the
rebbetsin were equally good, pi
ous, and wise. If there ever was
a difference between them, it
was that the rebbetsin could al
most issue rabbinical judgments,
while on the subject of cooking
fish the rebbe claimed no know
ledge.
God had closed the womb of
the rebbetsin. The rebbe would
sit in one corner, the rebbetsin In
another, and they would plead
to God in silence:
Creator of the Universe, heed
the prayer of your servant and
bless me with a son, so that I
may teach him your Torah and
good deeds . . .
Creator of the Universe, Lord
of the world, hearken to the
prayer of your servant and re
joice me with a child, so that I
may plant good ways In him and
teach him to do your will . . .
And the rebbe would sit down
by the side of the rebbetsin and
say, “When our son begins to
talk, I will myself teach him
how to read and the meaning of
the words.”
And the rebbetsin would add,
“When our Kaddish awakens 1
will say morning prayers with
him, and before he goes to sleep
evening prayers.”
And so the years flew by, and
the townspeople began to whis
per among themselves, "It a wo
man has no children after ten
years of marriage, the husband
must not live with her.”
And this was told to the rebbe,
and the rebbe answered, “I will
not send my wife away, and God
will yet give me a son.”
The townspeople grumbled and
thought of removing the rebbe,
but later they decided that if the
barrenness of his wife didn’t
trouble him, it certainly should
not trouble them — and so the
years went. The rebbe sat op
posite the rebbetsin and they
talked.
“When our child grows up, I
will teach him the Gemarah and
all the commentaries.”
“When our son will come Fri
days from the bath I will honor
him with fresh fish, and when
he returns from the synagogue
on the Sabbath I will meet him
with the sacramental wine.”
And a while later the towns
people again remembered them
and gave them advice. “Adopt
a child and bring it up, and a
hundred years from now it will
say Kaddish for you.”
The two of them shook their
heads. The rebbe answered,
‘‘How can I instruct a strange
child in Torah and good deed;
If I am not responsible for his
sins? And the rebbetsin said,
“How will I be able to love a
strange child if he has not cost
me my blood?”
And both of them added, “No,
God will bless us with our own
child!”
The townspeople grumbled,
called them stubborn/ and in
time forgot them once more.
And the two old people decid
ed: When our treasure grows up
he will issue rabbinical judg
ments and write holy books . . .
When our joy reaches eighteen,
we will lead him to the wedding
canopy . . .
One after the other, in the flow
of eternity, the years passed by.
On a morning they were found
dead. They were sitting on their
beds, facing each other, in the
same nightshirts, clasping their
hands, like children, around
their knees. Across their faces
flitted a smile. And in the air
of the old house, as though the
words still hummed:
When our son will grow up . . .
When our Kaddish will grow
older . . .
(Copyright, 1954, by the Viking
Press)
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