Only Yesterday (24 page)
Isaac didn’t return to Menahem because he went to the Laborers’ House to hear the lecture of Falk Shpaltleder on Peretz’s stories. And by the time the lecture was over and the discussion ended, it was mid-night. A barrelmaker gave Isaac his place on a pile of barley in the cellar of a farmer in Petach Tikva, and he himself went somewhere else, for the place was too small for the two of them to sleep.
And before the barrelmaker took him to his room, they went to the laborers’ hostel to drink a cup of tea. A few of our comrades sat and ate and drank and argued about Shpaltleder’s lecture and about Peretz himself. From here, they came to the issue of languages in the Land. But some of our comrades didn’t take part in that de-bate, for they had already made a rule that in the Land of Israel, a person must speak Hebrew, and they were strict about their language, not to utter one word that wasn’t Hebrew. Most especially Herzl Spivak, that is Naftali Zamir, who later drowned in the Lake of Kinneret when he saw an Arab drowning and jumped in to save him. Naftali Zamir was adept in the treasures of the Hebrew language and made light songs from them and composed tunes for them. And when he was in jolly spirits, he would speak in rhymes. He didn’t attend Shpaltleder’s lecture, for he hated him with utter hatred, because he sees our devotion to the Land as something
whose time has passed. Why? Because in most enlightened countries, most of the peasant sons leave their soil and go to the city. Neither did he like our devotion to Hebrew. Shpaltleder said, At a time when great newspapers are coming out in Yiddish, and great literature is created in that tongue, and writers and journalists live on it , you want to exchange it for a dead language. But we honored Shpaltleder, for we are generous and more generous to our opponents than we are to those who love us.
Shpaltleder entered with a loud noise, tossed his hat on the table, rumpled his flourishing pompadour, and said, Fellows, I’m as hungry as a dog. Is there something to eat here? He saw that everyone was debating and no one hurried to bring him something to eat. He said to them, Why such words, such vain patois? Said Naftali, Bring him meat to eat, tender or raw. Said Shpaltleder, And will you bring me with it something other? Said Naftali, A kid cooked in the milk of its mother. Said Shpaltleder, But such abomination the Torah forbade. Said Naftali, A man of your stature should be afraid? Said Shpaltleder, Your rhymes drop down like cattle dung. Said Naftali, Open your mouth and I’ll fill up your tongue. Said one of the group, Who knows a word without a rhyme? Said Naftali, He who doesn’t will have a hard time. Said someone else, I know a word. Said Naftali, I hope it’s one we’ve not yet heard. Said the man, Like Falk Shpaltleder. Said Naftali, He has plunged down and touched the nadir. He responded, Your rhyme doesn’t rhyme, Naftali, you fail. Said Naftali, If you speak truth, all my toil’s to no avail. He said to him, Because “leder” is spelled with “e,” and “nadir” with “i.” Said Naftali, If I spell it with an “i,” has it gone awry? He said to him, But the rhyme doesn’t follow the rules of the game. Said Naftali, Well, nadir and Shpaltleder now sound the same. Said Shpaltleder, You couldn’t find a nicer rhyme for my name? Said Naftali, Any rhyme I’d find would fill me with shame. Said Shpaltleder, And you, what’s your name, Mr. So-and-so? Said Naftali, Oh, dear, I forgot it, how I don’t know. Said another, And if the Angel of Death asks you the same. Said Naftali, I’ll answer the dead don’t know their own name. Said Shpaltleder, Give me something and I’ll eat. Said Naftali, Something not a kosher treat. Said Shpaltleder, Shut your
mouth, young man, don’t say another word. Said Naftali, Not for me, but for you no praise has been heard. Said Shpaltfeder, You saw that he has no merits. Said Naftali, I’m treating you just as you treated Peretz.
Between this and that, they brought Shpaltleder some meat and wine to try, he devoured everything in the wink of an eye, and ordered them to bring him more because he was hungrier than be-fore, for ever since he had entered the ring, he hadn’t bothered to eat a thing, had just sweated like a bear that is dumb, and his guts were rumbling like a drum.
He tapped the bowl with his fork to hasten the waitress and said, Because the Jews got used to waiting for the coming of the Messiah, they got used to waiting for every single thing. But I want to see my food immediately. As his comrades were enjoying his wisdom, he saw Naftali. He said to him, Now I’m ready to have fun with your rhymes. Naftali restrained his anger and began rhyming against Shpaltleder.
Renew my joy, Oh Lord of hosts, And fill my throat with tender roasts. Give me food for my salvation,
Send reward for all my merits, And overlook my peculation, And what I said of Y. L. Peretz. And if you find my words are foul
And in your eyes they are a crime, Recall my hungry guts do growl, And call for sustenance all the time. If you won’t hear the words I scream, I’ll talk of Mendele Mokher Sfarim,
Like moths I’ll hurl my words to crash
On Sholem Aleichem and Scholem Asch.
Menahem waited for his guest. The samovar stood and hummed and he stood and studied until daybreak. And at daybreak, he didn’t lie down to sleep, for never in his life had he put his head on a pillow during the day. And since he didn’t have any work outside, he studied all day and completed his tractate of Talmud. And since he didn’t have any other tractate, he went back to the beginning, saying, Their words are intended for a person’s every season and every moment, and sometimes you catch on the hundred and first time what you didn’t grasp the hundredth time. And he pitied the folk in the fields who don’t know how good is the Talmud for those who study it.
Back in Jaffa
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The next morning, Isaac got up early and returned to Jaffa. It turned out that Pnina sat in the same carriage as he. Their eyes met and she didn’t seem to look favorably on him. In truth, Pnina felt nothing in her heart against him or against anybody else in the world, but the grief peeping out of her eyes made them hard. For she went to Eyn Ganim because she wanted to tear herself away from the noise of Jaffa and smell the smell of earth and see her good girlfriend. She tore herself away from Jaffa and smelled the smell of the earth and saw her friend, and finally she is returning to Jaffa and her friend is about to go back Outside the Land. What did her friend tell her? Every person is commanded to come to the Land of Israel, but even God didn’t order them to waste all their years here. Pnina thought to herself, Now that my friend is about to go back Outside the Land, I should multiply my strength, but what am I and what is my strength, even if I multiply it a hundredfold. Just because I picked geraniums or oranges, am I entitled to see myself as if I had done something? And once again, her grief flickered in her dark handsome eyes, as a daughter of Israel who wants to do only good, but isn’t offered an op-portunity. Isaac felt her eyes turning favorable and started talking with her. He talked about this, that, and the other. About Eyn Ganim and its inhabitants, about Petach Tikva and the laborers’ house there, and about some of our comrades who are avoiding it, forbidden to enjoy any benefit from it, because it was built with the money of the Zionist Agency, and they see every institution of laborers that the laborers don’t build by themselves as if it has a grain of charity on it, and a genuine laborer has to stay away from it. And after Isaac told
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Pnina everything he had seen and heard from the time he left Jaffa, he wanted to tell her some of Menahem’s words. But as soon as he started talking, his tongue grew mute and he fell silent. And when he fell silent, he started looking at things until he reached Jaffa.
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Isaac returned to his regular deeds, or we had better tell the truth, it wasn’t to deeds that he returned, but to a life of idleness. But before he went to Petach Tikva, Sonya was the cause of that idleness, and after he came back from Petach Tikva, other causes came. Or we bet-ter tell the truth, he himself was the cause. No matter what it was, Isaac recognized that it wasn’t good for him here and he should go somewhere else.
In those days, Isaac heard about a shoemaker in Jaffa who left his trade and his wife and his little children and ascended to Jerusalem and settled in the prayer house of the Braslav Hasids. A simple shoemaker sewing shoes did something because his soul longed to repair himself. Isaac wouldn’t do that, but he did know that a change of place would change his luck for the better. There are people who, wherever they are, live their lives as they want to. Isaac wasn’t one of them. Isaac didn’t have a weak temperament. For you see, when others satisfied their Zionism by saying words or collect-ing Shekels, you find him ascending to the Land of Israel. And that is not an easy matter. And if he had found work in the field or the vineyard, he would have settled on the soil, and we would sing “The Song of the Earth.” But in spite of himself and not for his own good, Isaac became what he became, that is, seeking work with his brush and his bucket, and we tag along behind him. For the time being, Isaac dwells in Jaffa and every day he expects some change. Either for good or for better, we won’t abandon him in the middle of the road.
Here we have to tell a few things about Sonya. Sonya spends her days in the kindergarten and her nights in the drama society. And just as she succeeds in one place, so she succeeds in the other. And there are already a few lovers of the Hebrew theater who prophesy that Sonya will be a great actress. A great actress she didn’t become.
At any rate, Gorishkin wrote in his notebook what they said about her. Gorishkin doesn’t omit a thing from his notebook. For the time being, those things have no importance, but someday his words will be seen as the cornerstone of the history of the Land of Israel. And since Sonya is busy she doesn’t pay any heed to Isaac. And since she doesn’t pay any heed to Isaac, Isaac doesn’t know what to do and what not to do.
Isaac Parts from Sonya and Ascends to Jerusalem
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Many times, Isaac wanted to ascend to Jerusalem, but didn’t. All the while he was idle, he didn’t have money for the trip. When he began working and earning, he was afraid to leave his work lest it be given to others. Meanwhile, he met Sonya. When he met Sonya, he forbade himself to leave her and go to another place. When she began to stay away from him, he once again considered ascending to Jerusalem.
Once he found Sonya and accompanied her home. On the way, the conversation turned to Jerusalem. Said Isaac, I haven’t been there yet. Said Sonya, Anyone who has a drop of blood in him and not colored water goes and sees. And said Sonya, There isn’t a place in Jerusalem that I didn’t visit. All the things I saw! The art school Bezalel and Professor Schatz, Ben-Yehuda’s study and the desk where he wrote his great dictionary when he was in prison. And said Sonya, All the days I spent in Jerusalem, I never once tasted sleep. By day I went to see the antiquities and at night I strolled on the Old City walls with the Bezalel students and we danced in the light of the moon.
A pale flush suddenly covered her face, as on that night when Isaac first kissed her. Isaac saw it, and his heart trembled in him like the gold down that trembled on her lip. He stretched out his hand and stroked her head. She bowed her head and said, Let’s go. When they came to her house, she held out her hand and told him goodbye. Before he could tell her goodbye, she disappeared.
In those days, his heart was divided. He wanted to ascend to Jerusalem and he wanted to stay in Jaffa. Meanwhile, he neglected
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his work and strolled around a lot. Once Sonya found him in the street and was amazed that he was idle. He told her, I am ascending to Jerusalem and I have neglected my work. Sonya nodded at him and said, At last, as a person loathes his friend who pestered him too much and tells him, At last you recognized that you should leave, and she didn’t ask when he’d come back, but she did ask when he’d go. Said Isaac, I am going to Jerusalem to look for work. Said Sonya, You will surely come to say goodbye to me. And she held her hand out to him and left.
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Isaac sent his belongings to the railroad station and went to Sonya’s to bid her farewell. You’re going? said Sonya. I’m going, said Isaac. Well then, said Sonya, I won’t keep you. She sensed that her words weren’t fitting, changed her tone, and said, When does the train leave? Isaac whispered, In an hour. Sonya said, I’ll put on another dress and accompany you to the railroad station. She put on her best clothes and went with him.
On the way, she repeated her question, When does your train leave for Jerusalem? Isaac stammered, In an hour it leaves from here. Well then, said Sonya, why are we hurrying? Let’s go into the café and say goodbye over some ice cream. You agree? He nodded. Sonya pretended she didn’t see and said, Why are you silent, say yes. Fine, said Isaac, let’s go into the café.
They went into the café and ordered ice cream. By the time they tasted it, it had melted. When Sonya pushed her bowl away, she looked at Isaac and passed all her acquaintances before her mind’s eye. Sometimes they were this way and sometimes they were that way, and Isaac always levelled with her and never sinned against her. She took his hand and asked his forgiveness. She considered and said, After this melted ice cream, we should drink coffee, strong and bitter coffee. You want to? Isaac replied, Yes, I do. Said Sonya, Your voice is weak, as if you lost your strength of will. I wonder if you have even a hint of will. In all your life, Isaac, you never asked me for anything. Isaac woke up and said, In all my life I never asked you for anything because it seemed to me that I don’t lack anything with you.
Sonya raised her eyes and gazed at him, and he looked at her too. From the day he had met her, she hadn’t been as beautiful as she was at that moment. He took her hand and asked her, Sonya, will you write to me? Said Sonya, I’ll write to you, I’ll write to you. Isaac closed his eyes. Sonya gazed at him and asked him, Why did you close your eyes, Isaac? He whispered, I am reading your letters. Said Sonya, With your eyes closed you read. He opened his eyes and said, In all my life I’ve never seen a letter from a girl. Said Sonya, In all your life you’ve never seen a letter from a girl? He closed his eyes again. Said Sonya, Letters that weren’t written you read. Isaac shook his head and a halo beamed over his closed eyes.
The café owner brought two cups of coffee. Sonya laughed and said, I wanted to drink a strong and sharp beverage with you, and he brought us coffee with milk. If you want to taste real coffee, go to the Arabs, as Rabinovitch and I used to do. You’re sad again? You want to leave me a slice of sadness before your trip. When does your train leave? Said Isaac, It’s already time to get up. Well, said Sonya, get up and let’s go, but with head held high and body erect. Yes, yes, said Isaac, with head held high and body erect. Said Sonya, You’re repeating my words. Yes, yes, said Isaac. Sonya laughed and said, Stop your yesyessing and give me your hand. She took his hand and lifted him out of his chair. She quickly paid their check. She took a chocolate bar and went into the German bakeshop, took some baked goods and gave them to Isaac for the road. She linked her arm in his and went with him. He shortened his steps to lengthen the way. But the way was short. In only a little while, they came to the railroad station.
The train was delayed. Everyone who came and was afraid he was too late started grumbling about the Turks who don’t know their schedules, they write on the board that at such and such hours the train arrives in Jaffa, and in the end it doesn’t arrive. Isaac didn’t complain or grumble. On the contrary, it’s nice that the train is late, may it not come at all. He started imagining that he returned with Sonya to the city and rented himself a room in the German colony like Rabinovitch’s room, and there. . . Isaac hadn’t finished all his thoughts when the rumble of the train was heard rattling in. Isaac
boarded the train and pushed into a car as Sonya waved her handkerchief at him and called out goodbye goodbye goodbye.
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