• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

By Root 432 0

a dog, lowed like a cow, neighed like a horse, or made sounds of the lion and the leopard. There were days when she could not open her mouth; and there were others when she was deaf. Occasionally, she would squint and become cross-eyed, and her tongue would stammer incomprehensibly, as though she spoke in her sleep. The pills she was given for her illness remained in her throat, and she had to spit them out again. Rechele's name had become a byword. Reb Gedaliya struggled vainly to conceal what had happened, for the walls have ears. Her odd behavior was re-marked on everywhere. At night when the moon shone, Rechele went into the snow, barefoot and in her nightgown. Sleepwalking, she visited the cemetery, where she crawled among the tombstones; scratching in the dirt with her fingernails, she unburied dead infants, and she climbed up on the apex of sepulchers. She had been observed sitting at the rim of a well and crowing like a rooster. One woman swore she had seen Rechele riding on a broom, with a dog rolling after her on a hoop. The village runners encountered Rechele sitting on the banks of the river rinsing clothing. The tale of what had happened to Rechele spread to Yanov, Turbin, Zamosc, Krasnik, and even to Lublin, for her name was famous in all these places as that of a prophetess. The peasants, also, knew that Satan had entered into the body of a daughter of the Jews, and this visitation was spoken of at fairs and in taverns. The shutters of Reb Gedaliya's house were bolted day and night, and he did not show his face outdoors until dusk fell. Then Reb Gedaliya would wrap himself in his great coat and set out for the slaughterhouse, carrying a heavy stick and a lantern, afraid of people and the mockery in their glances.

13

The Dybbuk of Goray

A marvelous tale treating of a woman that was possessed of a dybbuk (God preserve us): Taken from the worthy book The Works of the Earth and rendered into Yiddish to the end that women and girls and common folk might perfectly comprehend the wonder of it all and that they might set their hearts on returning to God's ways: And that they might be instructed in how great is the punishment of the sinner who staineth his soul (God save us): May the Almighty protect us from all evil and avert his wrath from us and expel Satan and his like for ever and ever Amen:

AND IT CAME TO PASS in the town of Goray that lay among the hills near the holy communities of Zamosc, Turbin, Krashnik et al. where formerly dwelt the author of the work Holy Offering and where latterly Rabbi Benish Ashkenazy occupied the rabbinic chair (the remembrance of the righteous be a blessing to us all). It happened in that terrible year when the pillars of the earth trembled with the deed of Sabbatai Zevi (may the memory of him be blotted out): Who (for our sins are great) was himself converted and did seduce many others from the paths of righteousness and many pious amongst them and he lighted a fire in every corner of the Exile: May God who is a jealous and an avenging God give him his due and repay the wicked for his wickedness as he deserveth and may we all be deemed worthy to witness a true and a full redemption speedily and in our days and let us say Amen:

AND IN THE TOWN of Goray there dwelt a man renowned far and wide for he was a Godfearing man and had a pleasing countenance and his deeds were good and the name of this man was Gedaliya: And this man was versed in the uses of the cabala and in the mysteries: To wit he could draw wine from a wall and was expert in the science of alchemy and every Sabbath eve he created a third-born calf like unto the tradition concerning our holy Amoraim: This man also knew many nostrums for he was a sage and he found favor in the eyes Of all men with his under-standing and smooth tongue: But in fact he was a son of Belial and entirely wicked and all that he did he did to provoke the blessed Creator: For in secret he invoked the name of the profane and he conjured up Lilith Naamah Machlot and all the other destroyer demons that they might do his will and that he might