Satan in Goray - Isaac Bashevis Singer [54]
much meat, and there were many cases of vomiting and diarrhea. Mothers ran to the study house to implore God's help, and lit candles in every candle holder. Groups of school boys went to the study house to recite psalms. Nevertheless, in house after house infants succumbed, coughing, eventually to be seized with spasms and turn blue. Joel the Sexton again made the rounds with his black basket. There were so many children for him to bury that he had to wrap the infants in linen and stuff them into the deep pockets of his overcoat. When the storm subsided, flocks of crows appeared, flying low, crookedly, and croaking, as though they hunted corpses. The swamp was oily yellow, and spirals of vapor rose from it, as from a subterranean fire. It suggested Sodom and Gomorrah, where the smoke rose as from a furnace.... The oldest people in Goray could not remember another Feast of Tabernacles like this, nor had they ever heard of anything like it from their elders. On the morning of the third day of the holiday week it suddenly grew dark as night, and everyone at once began to prepare for the worst, for the world seemed to be about to come to an end. The day before Hoshana Rabba there was a hailstorm. Pieces of ice fell, large as goose eggs, injuring many beasts in the meadow, as well as shepherds. Afterward, it began to thunder and lightning, though that was unusual for this time of year. A blinding spiral of fire twisted into the study house, rolled across the tables, like a ball, swirled into the open oven door, and went out the chimney with so loud a crash that many people were deafened. From the study house the lightning flew off to the church, causing considerable damage. On the night of Hoshana Rabba a dreadful thing happened: A woman who had gone to fetch water was thrown by demons into the well, where she was found dead the next morning, head down and feet up. The evil spirits also molested the old night watchman, tearing off half his beard. During prayers in the study house on Shemini Atzeret a completely unexpected fight broke out which was without precedent in Goray. Later, no one could tell exactly how it started. Some people stated that one of Reb Gedaliya's enemies had struck him in the face. Others insisted that "the others" had had a hand in the affair, for a strange man was said to have appeared among the congregation, only to slink out of sight later. Whatever the cause, there were sudden shouts and cries of pain, as during a bandit attack, and a wild bloody fight ensued. The Sabbatai Zevi sect hurled themselves murderously at their opponents, whom they beat and trampled underfoot, ruining their clothes and prayer shawls. Even the women, as though devil-driven, attacked one another remorselessly, tearing bonnets, ripping shawls and jackets, savagely digging their nails into flesh, and filling the prayer house with their uproar. It took Reb Gedaliya and a few other sensible persons a long time and a great deal of effort to separate and calm the factions, for even the old people had become involved in the battle. Reb Godel Chasid's entire body was one big bruise. In the turmoil, even children and invalids were injured. And, as though this event were not outrageous enough, the next morning, at the Feast of the Rejoicing of the Torah, a band of idlers gathered together and to begin with took over the tavern, like bandits, consuming a whole barrel of aqua vitae. Then they went from house to house singing and snatching up geese, pots full of fat and preserves, and anything drinkable that they found. Nor did they spare Reb Gedaliya. They hastened to his house also, but he was too cunning for them. He came out to meet them, and opening his closets and pantries bade them take whatever their hearts desired, for it was proper to rejoice on such a day. Thus he won favor in their eyes and they showed him respect, calling him "Rabbi." Then they departed drunkenly to the back streets where the common people lived and desecrated the holiday in other ways. From that time on, not a day passed without incident or affliction. In the