Satan in Goray by Singer Isaac Bashevis

Author:Singer, Isaac Bashevis [Singer, Isaac Bashevis]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General Fiction, Fiction, Nobel Prize for Literature 1978, Literary
ISBN: 9780374524791
Publisher: Vintage
Published: 1955-01-01T07:00:00+00:00

2

The Seven Days of Benediction

It was now three nights since they had led the bride and groom to the marriage bed, and Rechele was still a maiden. Early each morning, after Reb Itche Mates had left for the study house, the two women who had given the bride away came, along with a few other interested matrons, to discover whether Rechele and her husband had as yet known each other. Ashamed, Rechele hid under the bolster, but that did not bother them, for was she not an orphan, with no mother to look after her? And so they uncovered her, and examined her slip and bedclothes carefully, their faces reddening as they piously went about their work. Each day they would ask the same question: "Well, have you been together? Has he lain with you?"

The crows were already proclaiming the news from the rooftops to the amusement of the frivolous in Goray. As for Reb Itche Mates, he began to pray behind the oven in the study, hiding his face in his prayer shawl, so that his devotions might not be disturbed by the grimaces of ruffians and apprentices. The followers of Sabbatai Zevi saw that measures had to be taken and Reb Godel Chasid brought Itche Mates home with him for the express purpose of feeding him roasted garlic and saltless peas, food that would make a man potent. Rechele also received in-struction, Nechele explaining to her the ways of arousing lust in a husband. And for seven nights, as was the custom, bride and groom were led to the marriage chamber and all waited expectantly for the consummation. During this period, the time of the Seven Benedictions, all the members of the sect gathered together at the evening meal. Rechele still wore her white bridal canopy dress and jewelry, for she was still a bride. She sat shyly on her chair while the shoemaker passed lewd remarks to rouse everyone's spirits. Reb Itche Mates wore a coat of satin. His forehead was flushed, and he was forever wiping the perspiration from his face with his pocket handkerchief. He scarcely touched the dishes set before him, and what he did eat he swallowed with revulsion. The food seemed to stick in his throat. When the subject of marital relations came up he would shake his head, his dead eyes blinking in terror.

"Yes... yes... of course," he would stammer.

In the afternoons young men were despatched to Reb Itche Mates, grooms who were still boarding at their in-laws', to keep him occupied and pre-vent him from being melancholy. They asked each other riddles, played at Goats and Wolves, chess, and even dice. Some of them wrote in a fine, curlicued script to exhibit their learning; others kneaded soft bread into all kinds of birds and beasts. Those who could sing did so, and the bright ones thought up new turns of pilpul. A few young men who were students of world affairs conversed about the ancient wars of which they had

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