The Journey of Adam Kadmon by Leslie Stein

Author:Leslie Stein [Stein, Leslie]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: 9781628723380
Publisher: Arcade
Published: 2011-02-26T16:00:00+00:00

Students spoke to Moses enthusiastically and freely, yet if he raised even a hint of his predicament they slowly stepped away, excusing themselves politely. That they spoke to him at all gave some hope that someone eventually would come to his aid.

He saw two older students on a bench in the shade and approached them smiling. One of them moved to make room for Moses and patted the bench for him to sit down.

“A lovely campus,” said Moses, “very interesting.”

“You know, the border of Kasi is only a hundred feet away. If you’re going to die,” said one man laughing, “you better hurry back across the border. That way, at least, you will be liberated. The way you look, you shouldn’t be sitting here.”

Both men laughed louder, rose from the bench, and walked away, their laughter echoing among the buildings.

As Moses stepped away, he noticed two guards with spindly legs popping out of their militaristic short pants moving in his direction. Each wore a green peaked cap and a belt across his chest, much like a Polish policeman. He saw that they were looking at him suspiciously, so he picked up some scattered pages from the ground, putting them under his arm as if he were a student or scholar. He knew that his stay on the campus was over. His hair was long, his beard dirty, and his clothes were stained and ripped, while the students and professors were clean and well fed. He probably had published more than most who now walked past him, but as he wandered toward the exit he pondered the fate that had reduced him to this, the lowest state of his life.

He saw a professor strolling across the campus and ran in his direction. The man saw Moses coming and walked faster. When Moses increased his speed, the man reached into his pocket, dropping a rupee note and a half-eaten chapati. Moses formed words but stopped instead for the money and food. He went to the cool of the Siva Temple and ate the chapati, which still had the taste of dhal on the edges.

Perhaps it was eating another’s food droppings, or, more particularly, the humiliation of being a beggar among scholars that made Moses realize that he had to leave. He had to discover a base to reestablish himself and to assess options. He glanced around the temple, thinking of how decades of scholarship had brought him to this position. He addressed the Siva idol at the end of the temple. “Yes, I know. Faust was right,” he said, quoting, “Base fool with all this sweated learning /1 stand no wiser than I was before.”

Moses left the temple, following the semicircular road to the exit. He departed the campus and again entered the sacred rim of the city of Kasi.

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