Only Yesterday (15 page)
Rabinovitch saw that there were finicky people in the Land of Israel who like their clothes to be à la mode, and when they travel outside the Land, they have their clothes made there, for the clothing dealers in the Land of Israel bring their merchandise from Vi-enna after it has gone out of style there and is sold cheap, and it isn’t
cut to anybody’s size. He started coaxing his bosses to import good merchandise and hire expert tailors to supply the needs of people with good taste, but his bosses didn’t listen to him and didn’t want to change their habit, for they had gotten used to spending a little and taking in a lot. To make a long story short, they didn’t want to change their habit and he didn’t want to change his mind. He started looking for another shop, and found a fine shop whose owners employ permanent tailors, who sew clothes for rich Christians and for generals of the Turkish army; but this shopkeeper hired his salesmen from his family, and since Rabinovitch wasn’t a relative he didn’t hire him. Rabinovitch began considering Beirut and Egypt. But as he considered leaving the Land, he said, I better go to Europe where I’ll learn something I won’t learn in the lands of the Levant. And as for the conquest of work, this profession also needs conquering. Even though it was already in the hands of the Jews, not all Jews, especially those who are finicky about their clothing, have their clothes made in the Land of Israel because they don’t find the clothes they need. Yarkoni, the son of rich people, whose father sends him money, went to study agriculture, and I who don’t have a rich father and don’t have money, I’ll go study the ways of commerce, and from agriculture and commerce the Land will benefit. And so our comrade Rabinovitch left the Land of Israel, as others had done before him and as others do after him, coming as dreamers and leaving as doers.
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Rabinovitch boarded the ship with all the others who were leaving the Land of Israel because the Land didn’t absorb them, so they leave the Land and return Outside the Land. Some are glad to get away from the suffering of the Land and some are sad for they don’t know what they will do Outside the Land. When they ascended to the Land, they knew why they ascended, when they descend and go outside the Land, they don’t know why they are descending. Different, perhaps is our comrade Rabinovitch who knows why he is leaving, he is leaving to return and establish a clothing shop here, so everyone will find clothes that fit him. Three years Rabinovitch wasted in the Land of Israel, now at last he knew his calling. And since he knew
his calling, he took action and withdrew from the Land of Israel for the sake of the Land of Israel, for he trusted in the future when all those who reproach him will say on the day he returns, You did well to leave, because it was for the good of the Land that you left. Just as the Land needs people to work the soil, so it also needs expert merchants. That day was the Sabbath, a day when all the Children of Israel, even a person who doesn’t keep the Sabbath, rest from their work, and so, many people accompanied their comrades who were departing. Some weep for their comrades who are leaving the Land of Israel, and some envy them for going to Europe, just as their comrades wept for them and envied them when they left their hometown for the Land of Israel.
Isaac also accompanied his comrade who was about to sail off on the sea. From the day Isaac ascended to the Land of Israel until now, he hadn’t been on a ship, and now that his comrade is leaving the Land, Isaac boards the ship to be with him until his departure.
The big ship stands in the sea of Jaffa, the same sea we’ve already forgotten, the sea we sailed on to the Land of Israel and we didn’t imagine that someday it would take us Outside the Land. A smell of coal and of sea blended together. Sometimes the smell of coal takes the upper hand and sometimes the smell of sea. And another smell, a good smell of food and baked goods, comes from the ship, the smell of a world where folks sit comfortably eating and drinking and are well dressed, like those lords and ladies who stand on the deck and look at the sea.
Rabinovitch is busy with his valises and all the other matters of travelers before departure, and Isaac stands a bit apart from him so as not to disturb him if he can’t help him, for Rabinovitch is a nim-ble man and likes to do things by himself. Isaac stands there and looks at his comrade tying and untying and untying and tying, and thinks to himself that his comrade has already gone off. And he pities him for having to wander off to faraway places, and at the same time that he pities him, he also envies him, for those faraway places have become close to his heart. Isaac remembers all the cities and villages and mountains and rivers he passed on his trip to the Land of Israel, and all the mountains and rivers and cities and villages he saw on his
trip and didn’t pay attention to because his eyes and his heart were in the Land of Israel, now they all come and stand before him in his mind’s eye, and every place is more beautiful than the last. Tall build-ings rise and pleasant parks are spread out and delightful statues spray water and well-dressed people sit in the café and a smell of thick cig-ars wafts up with the smell of cakes and coffee. Mountains and hills emerge, and a smell like the smell of snow sprouts up from the mountains, and primeval forests wave their trees, and rivers caper between valleys, and jolly palaces hum, and pleasure carriages run, and lords and ladies sit together on red cushions of velvet and silk. And suddenly all the fine places disappeared, and once again Isaac saw himself in the place where he is standing, in this city of Jaffa that his comrade was leaving. He and his comrade are still standing on the ship, but soon one will sail out of the Land and the other will go back to Jaffa. And once again days will come with no change, no transfor-mation. Day follows day and week follows week, and once a week or once every two weeks comes a letter from Father, and once a week or once every two weeks he writes to Father. The letters Father writes to him and the letters he writes to Father all seem to be made from the same model, and they don’t add anything except sighs. Isaac looked around and saw people about to set sail. And Isaac began thinking, I won’t move from the ship until it reaches Europe and I get to those places where people live in peace and enjoy the world. And as for traveling expenses, I’ll hire myself out to the sailors, like some of our comrades who left without a penny and worked off their passage as members of the crew. Shall I miss my furniture, shall I miss my tools? At that moment, it was easy for Isaac to leave the Land of Israel, just as, years before, it was hard for him to get to the Land of Israel. And he didn’t ask what he would do in Europe and how he would support himself there, for he had nothing but a simple craft and he wasn’t an expert in that. As he stands on the ship, he sees himself in Europe, getting rich, dropping in on his hometown and settling his father’s debt, and giving him something to live on and a dowry for his sisters and pulling his brothers with him and making them rich. How much the people of his hometown envy him, some envy him because he was in the Land of Israel, and some envy him
because he dwells in big cities. And both the former and the latter envy him because he is rich.
As he sees a dream of Europe, the ship’s horn signals that it is about to sail. Rabinovitch grabbed Isaac and gave him a farewell kiss. When Isaac parted from his father and his brothers and sisters, they kissed him and wept on his neck, but the kiss of a comrade he had not tasted until that moment. He looked at his comrade’s patent leather shoes, which were shinier today than on any other day, and he turned his head away to suppress his tears. A sweet blue dallied in the sky and a deep blue fluttered up from the sea, and the world was white and fresh like that almond tree in bloom, and something throbs in the air like something a man’s soul yearns for.
As Isaac stands there, he sees Sonya Zweiering, Rabinovitch’s girlfriend, embraced in Rabinovitch’s arms and both her arms caress his neck and her hat slips down over her ear. Her face is sickly and pale. At that moment, Sonya looks like a sick lad.
The ship’s horn sounds once again. The sailors run urgently and hastily. Some are preparing the ship for the journey and others are urging the visitors to get off the ship. Sonya drew herself up and stood on Rabinovitch’s shoes and gave him one last kiss. Rabinovitch turned to Isaac and said goodbye. He took a handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped his shoes. Sonya and Isaac went down the ladder of the big ship into a small open boat. The big ship moved at the top of its voice and sailed off onto the open sea, and the little boat wagged in the water of the port.
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The two of them sat in silence. The sailors slapped their oars and guided the boat between waves and rocks. Jets of salt water sprayed high. The water is chilly and the chill is briny. Sonya looked back. The big ship is moving away and Jaffa looms ever closer. No pleasant surprise is in store for her there. Sonya thought about the three or four fellows she had come across in the Land, and also about one Russian journalist, a friend of her father who taught her Hebrew, who would take his rings off his fingers when he was about to embrace her. Between them came Grisha, whose rage cannot be endured.
Even when he embraced her, he glared at her with nasty eyes. If not for Rabinovitch, she would still be in his hands. As she pondered, the boat reached the port.
Sonya jumped out and climbed up onto dry land as quick and vigorous as a lad. The sailors saw her and smiled with good will and affection. Behind her Isaac got out with the help of two sailors. Sonya shook her dress and smoothed its wrinkles. Men and women appeared, they had also gone to bid farewell to their comrades who were leaving the Land and they too are returning to the city. Sonya stood still and said, Those are going and others aren’t coming, and the Land is growing empty.
The square of the port is abuzz with stevedores and sailors scurrying around. Stevedores to their own houses and sailors to houses of pleasure. Customs officials leave the customs house, and warehouse clerks go out to welcome them. Mailmen of the six postal services in the Land scurry around, tossing letters and newspapers in one direction and newspapers and letters in another, mail the ships had brought from Outside the Land. Five or six Jews in Sabbath clothes gaze at the full bags of the mailmen and request and implore, Is there something for me, is there something for me? If the mail-carrier is in a good mood, he gives them. If not, he replies, A good Sabbath, and turns away from them. And they retreat, looking around to see if anybody noticed them. Sonya raised her eyes and said to Isaac, Next Saturday we’ll get a letter from Rabinovitch.
An autumn silence enfolded the square and the silence was wrapped in a chill. The world shrank and there was a smell of sea water mixed with a smell of rotten oranges. Isaac and Sonya fell silent until they left the sand of the port and entered the street of the city. Sonya stood still and picked a bunch of jasmine, smelled it, and tossed some behind her, and said, I’ll polish my shoes. She put one foot on the box of a shoeshine man and raised the hem of her dress. The shoeshine man straightened her foot and stroked her shoe. He picked up his brush, spat into it, dipped it in polish and started rubbing until the shoe gleamed like a mirror. Isaac remembered the mo-ment when Sonya had stood on Rabinovitch’s shoes and kissed his forehead. And Isaac passed his hand over his forehead and peeped
into his hand. And Sonya put the other foot in front of the shoeshine man and urged him to make it very very nice, as if this foot was the main one. Afterward, what happened, Isaac asked himself and answered himself, Afterward Rabinovitch took out a fine silk handkerchief and shook the dust off his shoes with it. Finished, Sonya called out, paid the Arab his fee and walked off, and Isaac walked with her, sometimes close to her and sometimes a bit distant from her.
In silence, they reached the main street, with its big shops and consulates and offices, and the shop where Rabinovitch had worked. Since it was the Sabbath, the shop was closed and didn’t no-tice that Rabinovitch had left it and descended Outside the Land. And above the shop is a balcony and on it is a white sign with blue letters of the information office. Many times Isaac had stood in that office with comrades as dejected and dog-tired as he. A mute sadness circled his lips.
Sonya looked at the sign of the closed shop and said, Rabinovitch left and won’t come back so fast. Like Yarkoni, like Rabinovitch. They come in shouting at the top of their voices and go out stealthily. Now Gorishkin considers himself unique in the world. Do you know Yael Hayyot? Gorishkin is courting her friend Pnina. If you don’t know her, you haven’t missed anything. Did you see Gorishkin’s mustache, like two bananas hanging vertically on his face? Sonya brought the bunch of flowers to her nose and smelled them.
Isaac shrank before Sonya. All his answers were simply yes or no. If a bon mot had fallen into his mouth he would have said it. Even though she isn’t important to him, she is important because she is his friend’s girlfriend.
In silence he walked beside Sonya. Since he wasn’t used to women, he walked carefully, as if she was the daughter of lords and dukes. This behavior amused Sonya and annoyed her, annoyed her and amused her. She looked him over and asked, Is this how you act with a woman back in Galicia? Isaac lowered his eyes as he blushed, and said, Never in my life did I talk to a woman, aside from my mother and my sisters.
Many times had Sonya met that Galician and had wondered what Rabinovitch saw in him that he was so close to him. She looked
at him and closed her eyes. She straightened the two points of her collar and passed her hand over her heart.
When they reached Neve Shalom, with the flowers in her left hand, Sonya pointed to one alley and said, Here’s where I live. She seemed to want to tell him something, but thought better of it, gave him her hand and said goodbye. Sonya entered the alley and Isaac went home.
Sonya
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Jaffa, belle of the seas, ancient city. Japheth, son of Noah, built it and gave her his name. But of all the Greek beauty of Japheth, all that remains is what human beings can’t remove from her, and their city changes with the nature of her inhabitants. Her white houses gleam in the hills of sand, and her green citrus groves crown her with fruit trees, and the luster of her sun hovers over her, and the sea breeze blows among her dark cypresses, and the blue of the sea plays with her sands, and a good smell wafts from her vineyards and from all the other desired trees that desired to settle in Jaffa.
Like all big cities built in ancient times, Jaffa has seen mutations and permutations. Many peoples have warred at her gates, some demolished her foundations, and others built her up on her own heap. Egypt governed her first, then came Assyria and Babylon. The Philistines settled in her, and other nations nested in her walls, until the Holy-One-Blessed-Be-He took her out of their hands and gave her to us, the Sons of Abraham His beloved, seed of Isaac His only son, the community of Jacob His firstborn son. To the shore of Jaffa the city of Tyre brought cedars to build the Temple of our God in Jerusalem, and from Lebanon to the sea of Jaffa cedars were brought to build the Second Temple. The Hasmonean kings made war there, and the ships of the heroes of Israel sailed in her sea to plunder and loot the spoils of war, when the wicked Roman Empire ruled over them. And for our many sins, Jaffa slipped out of our hands and the Romans and Byzantines destroyed her. After them came the Arabs and after them the Franks, after them Egypt and after them the Turks. And even though it was under the yoke of foreigners, we found
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99there a bit of refuge in the shadow of Ishmael. And even if Jaffa is not sanctified with the sanctity of the Land of Israel, it has become the gate to the Holy Land, for all those who ascend to Jerusalem the Holy City ascend first to Jaffa. And at the end of days, all the silver and gold and precious stones and gems lost by all the ships in the open sea, the open sea will vomit them up to Jaffa for the righteous at the end of days. For many generations Jaffa was not inhabited by the Children of Israel because of the ban of the ancients not to settle there permanently so as to increase the settlement of Jerusalem, and because of the dread of the Knights of Malta who invaded the cities of the shore. When the ban was lifted and the strength of the Knights of Malta dwindled, Jaffa was once again a city in the Land of Israel.
In those days when we lived in Jaffa, Jaffa grew to be a big and bustling city. Ships came from far away and brought their wares, and Jaffa sent its produce to distant lands. Tourists who came to travel through the Land didn’t pass over Jaffa, and from the settlements of Judea, men came to Jaffa every day on business and women came to buy supplies. Neve Tsedek and Neve Shalom were already standing. And before them, the Templars built their houses. About forty thousand people inhabited Jaffa, maybe more, including perhaps five thousand Children of Israel, Ashkenazim, Maghrebians, Sephardim, and Yemenites. Some lived in the sands in Neve Tsedek and Neve Shalom, on the seashore and in the Agami quarter, and among the citrus groves on the way to Sarona. From Neve Tsedek to the port is a half-hour walk, and from the port to the end of Agami is a half-hour walk, and you still haven’t circled all of Jaffa. There are places in Jaffa that seem to you like the end of the city and are only its center, for big citrus groves go on there, and after the citrus groves, houses emerge, and after the houses, again citrus groves and houses. Here a house is hidden in the shadow of a citrus grove, and here a house is peeping out of the citrus grove, and sometimes there’s nothing there but a stand of fig trees or a group of vines or pomegranates. And the settlement of the city hasn’t yet ended, for overnight a new house pops up. There are places in Jaffa where you don’t find a friend or acquaintance, and when you return to your own neighborhood you find them all, for they all live in three or four neighborhoods close
to your neighborhood. And if you don’t find all of them—some of them you surely find, those you have removed from your mind and those you think about. And sometimes you come across a person you had removed from your mind, but he may well raise a lot of thought in the future.
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Let us return to Isaac. Eight or nine days hadn’t passed before Isaac happened to meet Sonya. Great was Sonya’s joy when she found Isaac, for a letter had come from Rabinovitch with regards for Mr. Kumer. Amazing that, all the days the letter was wandering on the road, they hadn’t come across each other, and when it came they did come across each other. In fact, it isn’t really a letter, but just a picture postcard, but it is a sign that he is thinking about us.
Sonya held out the card and read it to Isaac. Finally she gave him the card and said, Please read. Indeed, he doesn’t have to read it to her, for she has already read it, but if he wants to read it to her he may read it. There isn’t much trouble here, for all that the writing on the card takes only three lines, and one line doesn’t concern her, but only Mr. Kumer. So, said Sonya, he wrote this card in Alexandria, and Mittelman he doesn’t mention. Don’t you know Mittelman? We have a friend named Mittelman. Haven’t you heard about him?
Sonya looked down at Isaac’s shoes, and said, You haven’t heard of Mittelman, who owns the shoe factory? For three years, Mittelman lived with us in the Land, in the end he got up and left. When he left he had enough money to travel only as far as Alexandria, but not to Russia. And with the money his mother sent him for the trip he bought himself nice clothes and good shoes and a new hat, so he wouldn’t put the Land of Israel to shame, and he trusted that the sailors would let him work for his passage on the ship. When he told the ship’s crew, they went and informed the shipping clerks that there was a Jew here who wanted to cheat them out of his fare. And the shipping clerks were anti-Semites, and members of the Black Hundreds. When the ship docked in Alexandria in Egypt, they put him off with a reprimand and hurled his belongings after him, and the
Jews accompanying him didn’t recognize that he needed help, because he was dressed like a rich man. So Mittelman stood on the shore of Alexandria with no money and no friend. He recalled that there was a branch of Carmel Wine there and somebody from the Land of Israel was its leader. He went there and didn’t find him. He wandered here and there and looked hither and yon, until he started worrying about his feet because of the walking and about his eyes because of the looking. He saw a shoe store, stood still and peeped in the window to collect his thoughts. The owner of the store came out and saw a well-dressed man wearing new shoes, standing and looking at his wares. He thought he was a professional man, brought him into the store and showed him some of his wares. Mittelman’s head didn’t follow the shopowner’s shoes, so he started showing him more, and ordered coffee for him. Then his tongue loosened up and he started talking. He talked about this, that, and the other. About the manufacture of shoes in general and about the manufacture of shoes in the Land of Israel and in Syria. About the decline of craftsmen in Germany, where factories are driving them out of business and leave them with nothing but patching up shoes, but that is not the case in the Near East, where industrialization doesn’t yet exist, but there is room for capitalists to hire laborers and make whatever shoes are needed locally. And here Mittelman began lecturing on Jewish sandals and on Greek sandals, and what kinds of shoes are popular among the inhabitants of the Land, and what kinds of leathers are found in the Land, and what kinds are imported from Outside the Land, what shoes are good for the cities of the shore whose soil is sandy and what shoes are good for the mountains and the rocky ground. And as he talked, he mentioned customs duties and rates of exchange, and such things. Mittelman is no charlatan and doesn’t intend to lead folks astray with his words, but since our Yishuv is new and there isn’t anything here, people talk a lot about everything the Land needs, and everybody regards himself as an expert. And maybe Mittelman chanced to hear something about the profession or come across an article and read it, for since there are too few books and too much time, a person reads whatever comes to hand. Moreover, Mittelman was a moderate man and his speech was mild. He didn’t
budge from there until the store owner invited him to lunch. He did-n’t budge from there until he told him, Come work with me. And he agreed to work with him. And he knew no more about shoes than any other two-legged creature, but in a short time he learned all he needed to know. Mittelman is a diligent and clever man, and if a per-son had work here in the Land, he wouldn’t have to go Outside the Land. To make a long story short, before long he married the store owner’s sister and became a partner in his business. And now he owns three stores in Alexandria, and his hand extends over the whole land of Egypt. That’s it, my friend, the intelligent ones leave and the weak-lings stay. What will happen to the Land, this is a question that has no answer. And here we are at the Laborers’ Club. If you like, we’ll go in. Nowhere in Jaffa can an intelligent person find tea and a newspaper on a winter night except in the Laborers’ Club. The newspapers I don’t care about, but a cup of tea I am willing to drink.
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