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By Root 396 0

suffered from all sorts of illnesses. Reb Zeydel Ber wished to marry Rechele because she was beautiful and of good family, and he looked after her as though she were his own daughter. He hired a servant maid to care for her, and he had recourse to various cures and charms. A woman was brought in to drive the evil spirit away by incantation; another washed her body with urine; still another applied leeches. Rechele lay inert on her bed. So that she might forget her pain, Reb Zeydel Ber brought her books and even went so far as to instruct her in the Torah. Sometimes the Polish physician who bled Rechele read with her from a Latin book. Eventually Rechele improved and could once more stand, but her left leg continued paralyzed, and she walked with a limp. Then Reb Zeydel Ber died, and Rechele returned to her father, Reb Eleazar Babad, who in the meantime had lost both wife and son. Thenceforth Rechele was one apart. She was beset by mysterious ills. Some said she suffered from the falling sickness, others that she was in the power of demons. In Goray Reb Eleazar left her completely on her own, rarely returning from his round of the villages to see her. When people spoke to him about his poor orphan daughter, he would hang his head and answer in confusion: "Well, let it be...! There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the Lord!"

Reb Itche Mates, the Packman

A packman came to Goray with a full sack of holy scripts and fringed vests, phylacteries and skull caps for pregnant women and oval bone amulets for children, mezuzahs and prayer sashes. Packmen are notoriously short-tempered and suffer no one to touch their merchandise who is disinclined to purchase. Gingerly, one at a time, the young men approached the packman, stared curiously at the store of goods which he spread out on the table, ran their fingers along the books, and turned the leaves with silent caution, so as not to arouse his wrath. But apparently this was a courteous packman. Putting his hands up his sleeves, he allowed the boys to riffle through the books as much as they pleased. A packman comes from the great world, and usually brings with him all sorts of news. People sidled over to him and asked: "What do they call you, stranger?" "Itche Mates." "Well, Reb Itche Mates, what's happening in the world?" "Praised be God." "Is there talk of help for the Jews?" "Certainly, everywhere, blessed be God." "Perhaps you have letters with you and tracts, Reb Itche Mates?" Reb Itche Mates said nothing, as though he hadn't heard, and they understood at once that these were matters one did not discuss openly. So, murmuring under their breath, they said, "Are you staying here awhile, Reb Itche Mates?" He was a short man, with a round, straw-colored beard, and appeared to be about forty years old. His dilapidated hat, from which large patches of fur were missing, was pulled down over his damp, rheumy eyes; his thin nose was red with catarrh. He was wearing a long patched coat which reached to the ground. A red kerchief was wound about his loins. The young men rummaged through his books, ripping the uncut pages, and doing all sorts of damage, but the pack- man made no objection. Mischievous boys played with the embroidered fringed vests and tried on the gilded skull caps. They even dug down deep in the packman's sack and discovered a Book of Esther scroll cased in a wooden tube, a ram's horn, and a small bag containing white, chalky soil from the Land of Israel. Very few people bought; everyone handled the merchandise and seemed to be conspiring to enrage the packman. But he stood woodenly in front of his goods. When they recited the Holy, Holy, Holy, his straw mustaches quivered almost imperceptibly. When asked anything's price he capped his hand to his ear as though he were hard of hearing, thought for a long time, avoiding his questioner's face. "What does it matter?" he would finally say in a low hoarse voice. "Give as much as you can." And he extended a tin coin box, as though he wasn't really a packman but was collecting money for some holy purpose. Levi,