Joseph in the Land of the Mizraim by Aaron Zerah

Author:Aaron Zerah [Zerah, Aaron]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780992055363
Publisher: BookBaby
Published: 2014-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 7

CHESED/LOVING-KINDNESS

They were packing up their gear, the seven of them, and getting ready to move out. They were a strange group. In addition to Joseph, Michal and Stas, there was Marek from the Socialists, Vladek and Kostek who had no affiliation, and also a Jew, Daniel.

Marek was the one in command. When he had asked Michal to introduce Joseph the night before, Michal had answered with Joseph's true name. Joseph had been taken aback. He had been expecting Michal to say Alek instead. But he had almost instantly recovered. Joseph could be a Polish name as well.

Michal had been prepared for Joseph's possible reaction. He had put a kind hand on Joseph's shoulder and was about to whisper an explanation, when Marek intervened. "Keep your shirt on, kid," he had said. "We got all kinds here and no one cares where you come from. As long as you can fight."

Daniel had had no trouble declaring his name, presuming that everyone knew right away that he was Jewish. Joseph had already known. When they had first arrived in camp, Joseph and his two companions had gone to urinate in a small grove of trees just beyond the clearing, and Daniel had already gone there for that same purpose. Michal had been the only one to hold his penis when he pissed.

In the morning, Daniel had sought Joseph out. He had spied Joseph going off to the woods again and joined him there. "Look, Joseph," he told him, "you don't know how lucky you are. This is a good outfit. I used to be with a band of partisans, all Jews, about seventy of us, in the woods near Kotzk.

"One day, we woke up and there was shooting everywhere. It was coming from the trees. Shit, we thought, someone's spilled the beans. How else could they have found us? We were deep in the forest. We started to run, but there was nowhere to go. They picked off a bunch of us. 'Swine,' I cried out. 'Why don't you come out and show your faces? We'll show you who's really brave!'

"But they only answered with another volley of rifle shots. Eliezer, my friend, fell right in front of me. Then we realized we were wasting our bullets. We got down on the ground and looked carefully at every tree. When we saw anything, a glint of light, we aimed at it. Eventually, there was no more firing. We came out, the few of us who were left, to take whatever weapons we could off the Nazi bastards who had killed us. But they weren't Nazis," he said his voice rising slightly. "They were partisans like us, only from the Polish Home Army. You know what I mean, Joseph," he concluded. "Some of them hate us more than the Germans."

When they had gotten back to camp, Marek handed out some straw hats and old overalls to everyone. Joseph's pants were too long and came down over his shoes a little. He quickly rolled them up.

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