Mandelbrot the Magnificent: A Novella (Kindle Single) by Ziemska Liz

Author:Ziemska, Liz [Ziemska, Liz]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates
Published: 2017-11-14T05:00:00+00:00

G-d, Mathematician

BRIVE-LA-GAILLARDE, “BRIVE THE BOLD,” is a prosperous market town twenty-nine kilometers southwest of Tulle. The road to Brive being mostly downhill through numerous twists and switchbacks, I was able to make the journey in a little over an hour using Monsieur Hubert’s rusty bicycle. It had just stopped raining when I rolled into town. The streets were coated with damp pink cherry blossoms, giving them a gruesome aspect, as if the cobblestones were carpeted with flesh.

I rang the bell at an elegant villa on the avenue Turgot. A stern-faced girl opened the door and led me upstairs to the second floor, where my benefactor sat in his book-lined study. Rabbi David Feuerwerker was thirty-two years old the day I met him, but despite his beard and balding head, he looked more like a young pugilist than a man of G-d. He shook my hand and we sat down on a pair of chairs upholstered in faded green velvet. The girl served us tea in tall, gold-veined glasses. The rabbi offered me sugar, a rare luxury. I accepted one cube, though I wanted three. Already I was beholden to him.

Born in Geneva, Rabbi Feuerwerker spoke French with a Swiss accent. His ancestors had come from a small town in Transylvania. He was an expert in Aramaic, particularly its Syriac dialect, the language spoken by another famous rabbi, Jesus of Nazareth. All this I would learn later. For now I was focused on trying to figure out how to tell him that I could not accept his generosity.

“I have heard great things about your mathematical abilities,” he said.

My resistance began to melt under the warm breath of praise. “Who told you?”

“Your father.”

How? I wondered. Did they write letters to each other? But more interesting, it was the second time in two days that I discovered, with chagrin, that my father had more depth to him than I had previously realized. I had always assumed he was just a tailor and a merchant, a man lacking the sophistication to comprehend the mathematical world Uncle Szolem and I had shared.

“That’s why your parents thought it would be wise to send you to a school that could better develop your natural talents,” the rabbi continued.

“That’s not why they’re sending me,” I said, feeling my face turn red with shame. “In any case, I plan to remain in Tulle.”

“I will cover all expenses,” he countered.

“My parents are old. We are at war. This isn’t the time for selfishness,” I said, feeling very mature.

“Selfishness is not the issue here.” The rabbi’s dark eyes probed my resolve. “Neither is shame.” He poured me another glass of tea and offered more sugar. I accepted two cubes. “The only shame is in humanity’s unquenchable desire to destroy itself.”

I popped a cube into my mouth and crushed it between my teeth. The concentrated sweetness made my eyes water.

“Creation and destruction,” the rabbi said after a few moments of silence. “Are you familiar with the concept of tikkun?”

I could feel the sugar rising through the roof of my mouth, setting my thoughts a-skitter.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.