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By Root 382 0

bitter cry, but there was no sound, and she started from sleep. With perfect clarity she saw that the dark house was crowded with evil things, insane beings running hither and thither, hopping as on hot coals, quivering and swaying, as though they were all kneading a great trough of dough. A mocking exultation shone in their faces. Rechele could not remember who she was, where she was, or what had happened. Her head was weighted like stone, her skin covered with a glutinous substance. At times Reb Gedaliya heard her gasping. With a candle, he hurried to her bedside. He rubbed her temples with vinegar, blew on her and fanned her, to drive away the intruder. Reb Gedaliya spat three times, and searched every corner of the room for some sign of the visitations. His large hands trembled; perspiration dripped from his body to Rechele's featherbed, and he shouted as though she were hard of hearing: "Wake up! Rechele! Don't be afraid! Thou hast seen a goodly vision! A goodly vision hast thou seen! Goodly is the vision thou hast seen!"

12

Rechele Is Impregnated by Satan

There was famine in Goray. In the half-empty shops shopkeepers dozed before cold stoves; for lack of tools artisans were idle; everything had crumbled that summer. Hollow stalks had been reaped in the fields, and there was no seed for sowing. Abandoning their families, peasants begged throughout the countryside; their emaciated horses were driven from the stalls to become prey to wolves. So devastating a famine had not been known for many years. People were found frozen on the roads; the mills stood motionless, for there was no grain to mill. The people of Goray were debilitated. Heavy per-sons turned saffron-yellow, began to limp, and a white film like perspiration covered their eyeballs. Slender persons developed the shiny, puffed faces associated with toothache. Chatterboxes became silent, pranksters ceased their jokes. Even the children forgot to be mischievous, and anxiety stared from their eyes as from those of the old. From early morning till late at night the men sat in the study house, warming themselves before the broad clay oven. In the beginning they still disputed. The Faithful said that Sabbatai Zevi reigned in Stamboul and that he had sent messengers to the Ten Tribes urging them to join him and to disregard what he had done, for his deeds had been decreed in Heaven. The first fifty ships loaded with mighty warriors, chariots, and arms had already embarked, in preparation for battle. But the Opponents were certain that Sabbatai Zevi, who had changed his name to Muhammed Bashi, had become a caliph and a Jew-hater, and had been responsible for an expulsion of pious Jews. Often the disputants came to blows, tore letters and pamphlets to shreds, wielded belts and drew blood. But now, as though nothing more could be said, there was silence. Despair gripped the town. The old men publicly deloused themselves and snored without restraint on the study house tables and benches. Boys played at Goat and Wolf and never looked into books, since no one cared what they did. There was no longer even sinning; the Evil Spirit himself seemed to have dozed off; every man went his solitary way. The occasional itinerant who found himself in Goray walked the streets disconsolately for a while, and then, with empty bag and a curse on his lips, departed. Alas for Goray--every visitation fell upon it! De-spite the winter, fires were frequent. Houses seemed to catch fire by themselves, and burned to the ground. Only pot shards and bare chimneys remained. More than ever, this year, people slipped, breaking arms and legs. Because the barns were empty, field mice entered the houses. Polecats strangled chickens, and even bit children. Thieves broke into the homes of those who lived on the environs of town; bears and boars lurked on the roads. The destroyer demons had been reveling freely in the streets of Goray. Every night they beat on the windowpanes of Reb Godel Chasid's house. When a candle was lit, the shadow of a bony hand with five outspread fingers could be distinguished