Only Yesterday by S. Y. Agnon

Author:S. Y. Agnon [Agnon, S. Y.]
Language: por
Format: epub, pdf
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

C H A P T E R E I G H T E E N

Encounter on the Road

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Balak sat wherever it was he sat and laughed at the woes of the children of Israel. Meanwhile, the day began to grow dark. He recalled where he wanted to go and recalled all those calamities that came upon him from there. He thrust his feet into the ground and folded himself and lay back down and shrank up, and it looked as if he wouldn’t budge from here. Suddenly, his ears pricked up and he started sniffing and spinning his tail like half of a wagon wheel and he stood up and went away. And where did he go? To a place we doubted he’d go. And since he knew that the place was a place of danger, why did he go there, for it is forbidden to get yourself into mortal danger, but just then, he saw Reb Grunam May-SalvationArise, and Reb Grunam’s cloak was dragging below his feet. He stuck to him and hid in the hem of the cloak and went in with him, and folks didn’t notice that a dog was walking with Reb Grunam.

And when Meah Shearim saw Reb Grunam, they began running toward him, for everyone is eager for words of ethics and they love chastisement. They showed him love and affection and asked him to preach. Reb Grunam shrugged, one eye turned down to hint to the Holy One how meek was that man, and one eye turned to see how many are those who wanted to hear him. At last, he raised both his eyes to heaven to tell the Holy One that we are far from boasting and preaching in public, but since a Commandment has come to us to be fulfilled, to bring human beings back to repentance of course it is desirable for the Almighty that we preach. He turned to the crowd and said, Bring me a bench out to the courtyard of the big synagogue. Perhaps I’ll say a word or two.

All Meah Shearim gathered together and came to hear him, for Jerusalem wasn’t yet filled with theaters and circuses and places of entertainment, and they yearned to hear preaching. They immediately brought a bench out to the courtyard. Reb Grunam mounted the bench and people held him up on all sides. Balak huddled in the hem of Reb Grunam’s cloak and mounted with him. Reb Grunam wiped his nose with the hem of his cloak. And why with the hem of his cloak and not with his sleeve? Because with his sleeve he filters the water before drinking. He rubbed his eyes and glared straight ahead. They started predicting what the sermon would be and what he would preach. Paupers robbed and widows exploited and orphans enslaved and bad judges who become prominent and there isn’t anyone to tell them what to do. Moreover, that year was a drought year and the reservoirs raise the cost of water, and a poor person can’t afford water anymore.

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