Only Yesterday (57 page)
The sun flames and blazes and the sand bubbles. From morning till night, our comrades stand up to their navels in sand and move mountains and fill valleys and pave streets and smooth roads. Mountains and hills are moved and valleys and dales are filled. The lizards and snakes flee, and ravens and the offspring of ravens spread their wings and fly away. Small carts race, and our comrades accom-pany them with song. They wring the sweat out of their clothes and dry them in the sun. Scores of our comrades who were wrapped in tatters and were yellow with malaria, stand half naked and rejoice at their work and are happy at their building.
Sometimes a cool wind passes by and a smell of sycamore refreshes the heart with its sweetness. Young men who had already despaired of the Land ask themselves what was wrong with us. Gorishkin pulls his wagon and drives it. His face is tanned and his eyes are red. By day he transports sand and at night he writes memoirs. Like the number of wagons he transports by day is the number of pages he writes at night. Today his memoirs aren’t important, but in the future, when houses stand and people are dwelling in them,
they’ll open the book of his memoirs and read how their houses were built and who built them. Mendele and Bialik write about beggars and Yeshiva students, while he writes about the Land and the builders of the Land. The world takes off one shape and puts on another, anyone who will want to know how the Land was built will pick up Gorishkin’s book and read it.
Tourists who came later on to tour the Land and saw that fine new neighborhood of sixty small houses called Tel Aviv, and every house is surrounded by a small garden and all the streets are clean, and boys and girls play in the streets, and old people sit leaning on their canes and warm themselves in the sun—those tourists couldn’t have imagined that that place was desolate without a settlement and that there were a lot of quarrels among the builders. It doesn’t occur to a man who sees a perfect, beautiful girl that that girl wasn’t so beautiful and perfect at the beginning of her creation, but her parents put a lot of toil into her, and often would quarrel about her. When the daughter grew up and stands at the height of her charm and grace, her father and mother quarrel about her and each one claims that it was only because of him that she had come to be what she was. The same with Tel Aviv. The tourists think Tel Aviv was like that from the beginning and each one of her forefathers, the builders of Tel Aviv, attributes the splendor of Tel Aviv to himself. But we who know God the Eternal, the Creator and Shaper and the Almighty, and by His will He gives life and grace and favor, we laugh heartily at all those who, in their innocence, err in thinking that they made Tel Aviv by their own power and by the strength of their hand. Tel Aviv became Tel Aviv by the life force of the Living God, the complete opposite of what the founders of Tel Aviv wanted to make of Tel Aviv, for if they really thought of making Tel Aviv as it is now, why did they make narrow streets that aren’t fit for a city?
Isaac Wants to Return to Jerusalem and Cannot
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In those days, Rabinovitch returned from Outside the Land. At first, we didn’t recognize him because his hair had turned white and because he was dressed like a tourist, until he tapped us on the shoulder and then we recognized him. Everyone who returns to the Land of Israel even dressed in foreign garb, when his foot touches its soil, he is no longer estranged from it.
Isaac heard that Rabinovitch had returned and longed to see him but was afraid of him. Even though his affairs with Sonya were over, his affairs with himself weren’t over. And if Rabinovitch had never been out of his mind’s eye for a day, those days he grew severalfold. And as he grew so did that sin grow and none of his justifica-tions justified his deeds. And if he put Shifra before his mind’s eye to prove that he has nothing with Sonya, He Who reproaches him evokes Sonya in his mind’s eye. Isaac’s love for Shifra made him for-get Sonya’s good qualities and he was amazed at himself and asked, What did I see in her to trail along after her? And He Who reproaches him says to him, That’s the same question I ask. Isaac’s peace was gone and he found no satisfaction staying in that Jaffa he had been so fond of just a short time ago. When he wanted to return to Jerusalem, his hut held him. That hut which had made him stay in Jaffa longer than he had planned at first didn’t let him go, for he had to deliver the key and he didn’t know who to deliver it to.
Sweet Foot went and no one knows where he went. Two or three times, the Rabbi’s Wife came to ask about him and Isaac replied that he doesn’t know. An hour or two after the Rabbi’s Wife left, Mendel the upholsterer came to spy on her. Since he didn’t find
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her, he got angry. Finally he asked Isaac, Where is Leichtfuss? Isaac told him, I don’t know. Said Mendel, If so, who does know? Said Isaac, You know? Mendel mocked him and said, You think I don’t have anything else to do besides this? Said Isaac, I see that you have something else to do here. Mendel raised his face to him and scowled at him and said, So, this matter, in your opinion, what is it, for example? Said Isaac, In my opinion, I set before my mind that it is clear enough to you. Mendel stroked his beard and replied calmly, You want to know what I set before my mind. A Jew who follows the ways of the Lord always sets before him what he is commanded to do in paragraph one of the Shulkhan Arukh, I have set the Lord always be-fore me.
Isaac wanders outside from the hut and from outside to the hut. Aside from Hemdat, there isn’t anyone here to whom he can deliver the key, and Hemdat can suddenly get up and go his way for several days and when Sweet Foot comes back, he’ll find his hut locked and no key. Isaac decided to consult with Mr. Orgelbrand, maybe he would find some advice. Meanwhile, wherever Isaac goes, the image of Rabinovitch goes before him. If he sits in his hut, it seems to him that Rabinovitch came. If he closed the door, he went to see if he had come. If he heard footsteps, he feared it was Rabinovitch. If he didn’t hear anything, he feared he was walking stealthily and would come upon him suddenly. Because Isaac was afraid of meeting Rabinovitch, he was eager to return to Jerusalem. He hurried to Mr. Orgelbrand to consult with him about delivering the key.
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Orgelbrand still lives in the German quarter in Rabinovitch’s attic. Orgelbrand is satisfied with his apartment and is satisfied with the landlady and is satisfied with the neighborhood. When he comes home from his work, he sits down at the window with his little pipe in his mouth and looks at the trees, and at night he puts on his beret and goes for a stroll with his walking stick. What does a bachelor need? A bed and a table. And here’s a bed and a table. And if you want peace, is there more peace than here. Here there are no as—
Isaac Wants to Return to Jerusalem and Cannot
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467semblies and no meetings, no debates and no quarrels, but every per-son sits within his own home and enjoys whatever can be enjoyed.
Since the day Isaac last saw Orgelbrand, his hair had turned a bit silver and his eyes had become more sorrowful. Nothing new had occurred to him, but something new was approaching, for the director of the Anglo-Palestine Company was planning to make him director of a branch. Orgelbrand was still evading it, but he would be forced to accept the position because it’s impossible to refuse, and because his stepmother’s husband needed money for doctors. Orgelbrand has another need for money, for when he was a lad, his father’s hand weighed heavy on him, he escaped to the town of Baruch Zweiering, his relative, Zweiering greeted him warmly and supported him. Now that Zweiering has become poor, it is only proper that he help him in his hour of need, but he doesn’t know how. Perhaps he should return to him his expenses, but he doesn’t know how much he spent on him, and perhaps he should estimate, but Orgelbrand doesn’t like estimates. And sending him a gift of money in-volves some shame. After Orgelbrand examined all the ways, he wanted to make a conspiracy with Sonya to give her what she needs to live on, and let her write her father that she found a job and doesn’t need his money. Thus Barukh Zweiering would be freed from Sonya’s expenses. And if she wants to go to Berlin to study, Orgelbrand is willing to pay her expenses. When he observed the matter more closely , he began to worry that if she went, she would distance herself from him. It occurred to him that, ever since the day he went to work in the bank, he hadn’t missed a single day and hadn’t taken any vacation. Now he would take a vacation and go with Sonya, to assist her on her trip and to help her settle in Berlin. And on the days when the school is closed, he would take her to the museum and the theaters. And when they are in Berlin, where she doesn’t know any-one except him, she’ll see all the favors he is doing for her and will see that she has no one better in the world than him. She turns her mind away from all the other fellows in the world and goes with him to the Rabbiner to marry them. The Rabbiner wears rabbinical garb and marries them, while the big organ in the temple plays and the
temple is lighted with many candles, and heavy, expensive carpets are rolled outside from the temple, and all the Zionist dignitaries in Berlin come and join their celebration. Finally he takes Sonya on a honeymoon,
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Isaac enters the group of citrus groves which extends to the German quarter, where Mr. Orgelbrand lives. In these houses, amid gardens and orchards, our comrade Isaac had found his livelihood at a time when he despaired of everything, and here he strolled with Sonya at the time when he thought he had everything. And even if he had taken his mind off of her, the roads still exist. And nearby is the He-brew Gymnasium. Once, in those days when he was despondent, he went to visit one of his friends who was a secretary at the Gymnasium. He found him sitting with the teachers and drinking tea. He sensed that Isaac hadn’t eaten a thing that day, and brought him tea and cake. Where is the one who helped him in his hour of hunger? His wife couldn’t stand the afflictions of the Land and he returned with her Outside the Land. If he hadn’t found a job here, he would-n’t have had money for the travel expenses and would have stayed in the Land. Now that he lived Outside the Land, his sons are growing up without Torah and he mourns for them and for himself. Years later perhaps he will return to the Land and won’t find any work to do, for his job had already been given to someone else and new jobs you don’t find every day. What does Rabinovitch want to do in the Land? Oh, God, Isaac shouted in his heart, will I never be free of my thoughts of Rabinovitch?
Rabinovitch
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A gentleman encountered him and said, If my eyes don’t deceive me, you are Mr. Kumer. Said Isaac, And what is your name, sir? Said that gentleman, The name of your “sir” you should know by yourself. Said Isaac, Your voice I do recognize, but your face I don’t. Rabinovitch? Said Rabinovitch, Have I changed so much that it’s hard to recognize me? Isaac looked at him and said, In fact, you haven’t changed, but it seems to me you didn’t use to smoke. Rabinovitch stretched and said, I didn’t smoke? Said Isaac, At any rate, not black cigars. Said Rabinovitch, You are right about that, my friend. Isaac pondered, He says, You are right about that, which means I wasn’t right about something else. At any rate, from his face it doesn’t look like he has any grudge against me. On the contrary, he greeted me nicely and even gave me a friendly kiss.
Rabinovitch asked Isaac, Where are you going? He told him. Rabinovitch said to him, If I’m not mistaken, Lorentz’s coffeehouse is near here, let’s go in and have something cold to drink. Confound it, such a fat lizard I’ve never seen before, how nimble she is, hopping like a devil and hiding behind the shutter. And she doesn’t know that when they open the shutter, she’ll be crushed. Lorentz has enlarged his coffeehouse. Do you come here often? Said Isaac, Me? Said Rabinovitch, Who am I talking to? Not you? Said Isaac, I don’t live in Jaffa. Said Rabinovitch, Where do you live? Said Isaac, In Jerusalem. Said Rabinovitch, Then you’re a visitor here? What do you do there in Jerusalem? You paint to cover up? Will you smoke a cigar? Said Isaac, I don’t smoke. Said Rabinovitch, Why not? Said Isaac, Because I don’t get any pleasure from
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smoking. Said Rabinovitch, A person has to educate himself for pleasures.
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Isaac saw that Rabinovitch didn’t have anything at all against him in his heart. On the contrary, he treated him affectionately, maybe even more than before. If we weren’t apprehensive about making com-parisons, we would compare him to a big brother who left his father’s house in time of trouble and when he returned, he is grateful to his little brother for staying and protecting the house.
As they sat in the coffeehouse, Isaac asked his comrade, Why didn’t you write to us at all? Rabinovitch smiled and said, Us, you say, that is, you and Sonya. What will you drink, maybe a cold beer? I’ll tell you the truth, as long as I was deep in troubles, I didn’t want to write. And when I came out of the troubles, I was busy earning a liv-ing. And do you think it’s easy, my dear, to support a wife? Women Outside the Land aren’t satisfied with bread and tomatoes. Waiter, two bottles of beer and some rolls. Isaac, take the beer and drink. What are you contemplating?
Isaac sat and contemplated. Now that Rabinovitch was married, he wouldn’t mention the offense of Sonya to him. Nevertheless, if he asked him, what would he tell him? Said Rabinovitch, If it’s my marriage, I’ll tell you some other time. I plan to settle down here and we’ll find time to talk. Isaac asked Rabinovitch, What do you say about Jaffa? It’s grown, hasn’t it? Did you see Sonya? Rabinovitch picked up his hat and waved it like a fan, and said, I saw her, I saw her. A supple girl. So supple she slips through your fingers. Waiter, another bottle. Where did the corkscrew disappear? Here. Thank you. Now, my dear boy, let’s drop the subject of Madame Zweiering. At any rate, we mustn’t be ungrateful. Here’s to life, Isaac, here’s to life.
Isaac put his mouth on his glass and cooled his lips. He says we mustn’t be ungrateful, which means he knows there was something between me and Sonya. Isaac tightened his fingers around his glass and pondered to himself, Not good, not good that I didn’t re-turn to Jerusalem and I met Rabinovitch. He put his glass down and said, I’ve got a lot of things to ask you and I don’t know what to ask
first. Said Rabinovitch, There’s plenty of time for that. In fact, I don’t know why I came back to the Land of Israel, if not to fulfill what they say, that a covenant was made with the Land of Israel that everyone who leaves her ends up coming back. Said Isaac, Which means you came to settle down. Said Rabinovitch, What else, you think I came as a tourist. For the time being, I don’t know what I’ll do, I’ve got one offer to buy a citrus grove near Jaffa, and I have another offer for al-mond groves in Hadera, and I have another offer to go into partner-ship with a carpenter who wants to expand his workshop. In short, a lot of deals are waiting for me here, and it doesn’t occur to anybody that this Rabinovitch, an expert in the clothing business, should perhaps open a clothing store. But it’s not a man’s training that counts, but money. And Makherovitch, as usual, stands me in front of a map of the Land of Israel and offers me lands in the east and in the west, in all four corners of the Land, on the palm of his hand and on the smooth place of his bald head. Even though on the other hand, he says I should set up a new printing house here. And Makheranski concurs in that advice. Makheranski says that there is only one printing house in Jaffa, and in a place where there is one there is a place for two. If one Jew eats bread why not have another one join his repast. And Makherson agrees with him, for the writers of Jaffa are about to publish a daily newspaper and need a big printing house. And Mordechai Ben-Hillel has already composed a prospectus to send to the Odessa Committee, and Doctor Luria is willing to sign the prospectus, and needless to say, Ludvipol, who is willing to edit the newspaper, but they’ve got to beware of S. Ben-Zion in case Us-sishkin asks him, for S. Ben-Zion claims there are no writers here, that those who regard themselves as writers aren’t writers. On the other hand, Dizengoff is an optimist. Says Dizengoff, There are writers or there aren’t writers, I’ll send you a barrel of ink and you write as much as you want. Meanwhile, Sheinkin comes to me with shares in the Gymnasium and Mrs. Buchmil with shares of Shiloh. A handsome woman is Mrs. Buchmil. Isn’t she? Waiter. Check. You see, Isaac, a lot of livelihoods are in store for me in the Land of Israel, but I don’t like any of those deals. So what shall I do? When the time comes, I’ll tell you.
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Ahuzat Bayit began building its houses. One day, Ruben lays a foundation for his house and one day Simon lays a foundation for his house. They come from Neve Tsedek and from Neve Shalom and from the street along the sea and from Hobard Street and from the Ajami quarter and from gloomy alleys with no light and no air and they bring wafers from Albert and wine and seltzer. They drink and they dance and they sing, offer the sacrifices of righteousness and put your trust in the Lord. There be many that say, Who will shew us any good? And the workers burgeon forth from piles of sand and partici-pate in the rejoicing of the homeowners and no one knows who is happier, the one who owns the house or the ones who are building the house. Some weep out of joy and some weep for joy. They went through a lot before they could start building Tel Aviv. The Anglo-Palestine Company embittered their lives and middlemen changed the conditions of the sale seven times a day and Turkish government officials invented complications every day, and every day benefactors appeared who had to be appeased with a tribute so they wouldn’t go and harm them. Now they are standing on that ground and building houses for themselves with the hope and expectation that they will be blessed to dwell in them in peace and righteousness and that they will be blessed to see the building of the whole Land.
Some owners are occupied themselves with the building, and some are occupied with their occupations and entrust the building of their houses to contractors, and the contractors make partner-ships with financiers. Rabinovitch, who brought money with him, agreed to become a partner of contractors. When our comrade Rabinovitch ascended to the Land of Israel, it was to work the Land that he ascended, it didn’t respond to him, and he engaged in trade. When he saw that trade needed innovation but his bosses didn’t want to change their ways, he left the Land and became an expert in his profession, and married a rich woman, and returned to the Land to derive profit from his learning for his own benefit and for the benefit of the Land. Before he got started, he got into that business of contracting. When our comrade Rabinovitch left the Land, he left poor, when he came back he came back rich, and as a rich man he
doesn’t have to go looking for a livelihood, for the livelihood comes looking for him.
Rabinovitch forgot Sonya. Rabinovitch had managed to learn that man wasn’t created to spend his days and his years with girls who don’t know what they want or what they’re looking for. Rabinovitch forgot Sonya, but Isaac he didn’t forget. And even though many people want to be close to him, he turns to Isaac. And that is amazing, for Isaac doesn’t have a name or anything at all. Moreover, something they do share, that is, the matter of Sonya, they don’t even hint at. But they talk about all other matters. And Isaac had already told Yedidya a few of his adventures, even his events with Shifra, to whom his heart was drawn, and he is waiting for the compassion of the Lord.
For years, Rabinovitch hadn’t heard the Lord’s Name, and today he hears the Name of the Holy-One-Blessed-Be-He every sin-gle time he talks with Isaac. Those Galicians, they like all men, but when they want something, they immediately put their trust in the Holy-One-Blessed-Be-He and aren’t ashamed to mention Him. Rabinovitch has nothing to do with his Creator and nothing against his Creator. Ever since the day Rabinovitch left his hometown, it’s doubtful that he remembered Him. Many are the issues concerning a person and he hasn’t got time to remember everything. But Rabinovitch should be remembered for he remembers his comrade. Out of his affection for Isaac, he decided to bring him into his business, and give him the job of painting as a contractor or otherwise, whatever Isaac liked. And Isaac had already agreed to work with him, as a contractor or otherwise, whatever Rabinovitch liked.
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Isaac remained in Jaffa another day and another day, on account of business and everything relating to it. And Rabinovitch was a busy man and delayed Isaac another day and another day. Isaac frequented Rabinovitch’s house and supped at his table, for our comrade Rabinovitch was a generous soul and loved guests. In the past, when Rabinovitch was a poor worker and lived in a rundown hut, he entertained his guests with coarse bread and tea, and now that he is
a rich man, he entertained them with fine bread and wine and various foods. And his wife is happy with the guests, for what is left for a woman in the Eastern lands aside from the kitchen and entertaining guests? In truth, there are activist women and women lobbyists and women orators here. Hilda Rabinovitch isn’t one of them and doesn’t want to be like them. Women are of many minds, and her mind was given to herself and her house.
Among Rabinovitch’s guests, you also find Mr. Orgelbrand. Mr. Orgelbrand does not visit any house in Jaffa, but Rabinovitch made him come to his home, and sometimes even to sup at his table. And as he dines, Rabinovitch laughs at Mr. Orgelbrand and his boss, the director of the Anglo-Palestine Company. Says Rabinovitch, Why doesn’t our friend Orgelbrand get married? Because if he does get married and have a son, he will have to honor his boss as the god-father, and therefore he foregoes marriage. And may he not remain a bachelor all his life.
Sonya Zweiering also frequents Rabinovitch’s house, for there is love and affection between her and Hilda Rabinovitch, for once they met each other and Mrs. Rabinovitch saw Miss Zweiering’s shoes which were beautiful and asked her who made her shoes here, and Sonya Zweiering took her to a small cobbler from Homel, who makes nicer shoes than all the cobblers in Jaffa, even nicer than the Greek cobblers, whose shoes were all the rage among most of the ladies of Jaffa and the nearby settlements. From then on, a great friendship developed between Mrs. Rabinovitch and Miss Zweiering and Mrs. Rabinovitch invited her to her home. And Rabinovitch honored his wife’s guests, just as she honored his guests, even Isaac Kumer, although she wonders what Rabinovitch found in him to be so close to him. And Sonya agrees with her that that Jerusalemite is a boring person. In fact, every person here is a fund of boredom. And if somebody tells you, Hemdat isn’t boring, you tell him, But that maiden he chose, that Yael Hayyot, is boredom times two. Does Hilda Rabinovitch know what went on between her husband and Sonya? Even if she did know, she wouldn’t care. Hilda Rabinovitch isn’t provincial and doesn’t bother about the sort of frivolous things you see as serious.
Isaac sits at the home of his comrade Rabinovitch among special people and among frivolous people, and Rabinovitch sits at the head of the table and his words fill the house, about everything there is in the Land of Israel and about everything there isn’t in the Land of Israel, about public activists the public doesn’t need and about Turkey and its leaders and about the situation of the Jews in Turkish law, about industry and manufacturing and about the craft of laying floor tiles, which didn’t exist among Jews a few years before, aside from one Mughraban who carved tombstones, who hired Gentile workers but not Jews. From the industry we have and the industry we don’t yet have, Rabinovitch returned to the issues of our national institutions, and from them to our leading institution, the Anglo-Palestine Company in Jaffa, and from the Anglo-Palestine Company to the head of the Anglo-Palestine Company, who is a cautious man and protects the national treasure, but so much caution makes him most punctilious with the customers and he doesn’t give credit to those who need credit, like a certain Jewish factoryowner, while the German bank did give him credit. But that credit of the German bank is limited, and he has to go looking for moneylenders who are usurers and charge him eighteen percent and that is why he can’t start up his business.
From issues of credit and banks and industry, Rabinovitch turns to the issues of our comrades who were afflicted with malaria and torments and spent their days in debates, or sat in couples on the beach and sang Take me in under your wing and Be a mother to me and a sister. Rabinovitch calls out, Confound it, you found yourself a mate, why are you prattling on about a mother and a sister? Worse than them were the people of Jerusalem, they don’t sit on the beach and they don’t sing songs about mother and sister, but they run from grave to grave, and from prayer to prayer. If they won’t go to hell for their idleness, they will be sent back to this world to be workers and artisans so that, in the next incarnation, they can repair what they have damaged in this one. And when Rabinovitch mentions Jerusalem, he praises Isaac and praises his modest girlfriend from Jerusalem, who never raised her eyes to another man, for no joy is greater than a man’s joy at a woman like that. At that moment, Rabinovitch is thinking of his own wife, who was married to somebody else before. At that moment, he feels a lack, but he judges himself fairly, for he didn’t enter the marriage clean of all impurity either, and if he makes a fair accounting, the Holy-One-Blessed-Be-He might have some change coming. How did Rabinovitch get to that woman? A little dog she had and Rabinovitch gave it chocolate and sugar. Rabinovitch became fond of the dog and of the dog’s mistress, she left her husband and went with Rabinovitch. And behold, what happened to Rabinovitch, something like that happened to Isaac. Once Isaac was working in one of the neighborhoods of Jerusalem, and a dog came and lay down in front of him. Isaac didn’t pet the dog and didn’t give him sugar and chocolate, but on the contrary, he kicked him and wrote slandering words on his skin. But if he hadn’t kicked him, the dog wouldn’t have been driven away to the place of Reb Fayesh and wouldn’t have barked at him, and Reb Fayesh wouldn’t have been shocked and wouldn’t have gotten sick and Isaac wouldn’t have frequented his house and wouldn’t have become close to Shifra. In everything, the Holy-One-Blessed-Be-He carries out His mission, sometimes in the open and sometimes in secret. What is done in the open, we see, what is done in secret, we don’t see.
Our comrade Isaac sits at Rabinovitch’s house at a fine table, where several kinds of good foods are served. Such food Isaac had never seen, neither in his father’s house nor in the inns of the Land of Israel, where most of the innkeepers he frequented had never seen an inn in their lives, and don’t know what is proper for a guest and what isn’t, they provide whatever they provide, just so they receive payment, and most of the guests are poor and don’t go looking for what befits them, just so they fill their bellies and won’t be hungry. Several people sit at Rabinovitch’s table and eat for their enjoyment and spice the table with fine conversation. Some of those sitting there had stood with them to hire themselves out as laborers, and some of them had refused to hire our comrades. When God makes things better for folks, folks too are nice to one another.
And behold, once Victor came to Rabinovitch’s house. How? That summer Victor went to Karlsbad to repair his body and reduce his fat. There in Karlsbad, he met a maiden. She heard he
was from Palestine. She told him, I have a sister in Jaffa, and that sis-ter was Hilda Rabinovitch. Victor agreed to deliver her regards. And so Victor came to Rabinovitch.
Victor knows how to behave with people. As long as Rabinovitch was barefoot and looking for work, he treated him the way you treat the barefoot; now that he is rich, he treats him as you treat the rich. And our comrade Rabinovitch, you know him. Rabinovitch is a practical man and doesn’t waste his time in accounts of revenge and grudges. And when Victor came to him he greeted him warmly and sat him down among our comrades. But some of our comrades like arguments at every hour and in every place and with every per-son. One of our comrades says to Victor, By what right do you farmers feel superior to us workers. Didn’t we all come here empty-handed, didn’t we. But you got land given to you by the Baron, by IKA, by the Lovers of Zion, didn’t you. And you became farmers, didn’t you. And we who weren’t given an estate in the Land, we be-came workers, didn’t we. So, all of us live because of the Lovers of Zion, don’t we. So how are we worse than you? Aren’t we. While the latter asks and the former has no answer, the host pours a glass of beer for the former and a glass of beer for the latter, Mrs. Hilda takes the latter’s hand and puts the former’s hand in it and says, I’m not mov-ing away from you until you drink to each other. They raise their glasses and drink and toast each other, and everyone drinks with them. The joy of peace they make in Rabinovitch’s house, as if nothing was wrong between workers and farmers. Of such things our comrade Naftali Zamir would sing, on a glass of liquor and wine. Brothers in mind, of one descent. Can’t tell farmer from worker, or a hundred from a cent.
Isaac is satisfied and isn’t satisfied. Before Rabinovitch went Outside the Land, there wasn’t a place and time that Isaac didn’t seek him out, when he came back to the Land, sometimes he seemed to be a stranger to him. Isaac avoided visiting his friend. Rabinovitch found him and brought him back. On the way, Rabinovitch got flowers for his wife. Isaac looked at him and wondered why he wasted his money on luxuries like flowers. Rabinovitch lit himself a thick cigar and said, A person has to get accustomed to luxuries. If he hasn’t got
a great desire for luxuries, he must desire them, for if you have great desires, you desire to fill them, and when you do you increase your strength of will, you don’t sit idle, for lusts require money, and money requires activity. You get rid of laziness and bring yourself to activity and thus you are building yourself, and the Land will be built along with you. The Land of Israel is not given to those who eat manna. I’m not a great scholar, but I do know that when the children of Is-rael entered the Land of Israel, the manna stopped.
Isaac inhales the smell of the flowers blended with the smell of the black cigar and doesn’t know what to answer his comrade. Rabinovitch’s opinions have changed, but his heart is as fine as it was. Our two comrades, Isaac Kumer and Yedidya Rabinovitch, walk along. Sometimes Isaac walks beside his comrade and sometimes he keeps his distance from him, keeps his distance and is drawn to him, until they reach the house. When they come, Hilda takes the flowers and smells them and says, Thank you very much, Rabinovitch, and she puts them in special vases, and enjoys how they look and how they smell. Perhaps our apartments in Jaffa aren’t handsome, and perhaps the other things in the Land don’t match our style, but the flowers in the Land are beautiful and worth giving up some of our necessities for them. Says Rabinovitch to his wife, Wait five or six months and we’ll move into a new dwelling which isn’t inferior, even to those in Europe. And to Isaac he says, You too will move out of your apartment and live here with your wife. Mrs. Rabinovitch suddenly turns her beautiful eyes on Isaac and sings in the tongue of the German poet, which we translate simply, There is room even in a small hut for a pair of lovers. Isaac blushed. Even though all his thoughts were on Shifra, he hadn’t yet imagined where he would live with her. Isaac ponders to himself, I’ll move out of my apartment and I’ll live with Shifra in Jaffa. I’ll take her out of the nest of gossips and bring her to friendly people and I’ll make us a house and I’ll buy us furniture and I’ll expand her mind with everything the Lord puts in my hands.
