Two Tales: Betrothed & Edo and Enam (20 page)

Gamzu clutched his brow and pressed his temples. Then he rubbed his blind eye with one finger; for Gamzu had a blind eye, and when he was overcome by his thoughts he would rub it until it turned as red as healthy flesh. He wiped his finger and looked across at me as if he wanted me to say something. What can I say to him, I thought; I shall say nothing. So I sat facing him in silence. Again he spoke.

“Sometimes I think that Gemulah knows the man who bought it; that he is the
Hakham
from Jerusalem who appeared in her region when I was away in Vienna. And for this I have two pieces of evidence. First, all that same day she sang her
yiddal, yiddal, yiddal
song, a thing she had never done all the time she was here. Secondly, she began to speak the language they use in her parts, a thing she had never done since she left her country. I am sure that the man who bought the talismans brought this about; when she saw him she remembered the times when she lived in her own region and that same man had been a visitor. But then he was dressed like a Jerusalem sage; for anyone who visits those parts dresses that way so that the holiness of the city may protect him from the Gentiles.”

Again Gamzu rubbed his blind eye, which seemed to be smiling between his fingers, as if mocking his distress, as if winking for me to laugh at this man who had sold an article on which his life and that of his wife depended. But I did not feel like deriding him. Rather, I was sorry for him. The thought suddenly came into my head that Dr. Ginat was the man who had acquired Gamzu’s talismans; for had I not heard from Greifenbach that Ginat had a collection of magic articles and had given him some duplicates? I asked Gamzu, “About those charms, what material are they written on? Is it paper or parchment?”

Gamzu answered, “Neither paper nor parchment nor vellum; as I told you before, the charms are inscribed on leaves.”

I correlated the times and saw that it was impossible for Ginat to have been the purchaser; indeed, that scholars’ convention had taken place after the tenth anniversary of the Greifenbachs’ marriage. And even if it had taken place before, was it conceivable that a European like Ginat would dress himself up as a Jerusalem sage, and be able to pass himself off as such?

Gamzu had read much, and studied much, and served many scholars; he had traveled through half the world. Truly there was not a community of Jews in which Gamzu had not been. Besides manuscripts and early printed books, he had brought back from every place he had been traditional tales and customs, wise men’s sayings and proverbs, and stories of travelers. Whatever occurred, he would tell of similar occurrences as though recent events took place merely as the occasion for him to recall earlier ones; or he would pick up a word from those being spoken, and speak on it. Even now, he passed on from his immediate distress over the charms to an account of the way in which charms operate.

There sat Gamzu and rolled himself a cigarette and talked about the magic properties of charms, whose virtue is superior to that of drugs; for the drugs we find mentioned in ancient books cannot for the most part be relied on, since the nature of man has changed and with these changes the effect of medicines has altered. But charms have undergone no change and still retain their first nature and condition, because they are yoked together with the stars, and the stars remain just as they were on the day when they were first hung in the firmament. And their influence is observed on all creatures, and especially on man; for according to the star under which he is born, such is a man’s character and his fate. As it is said in the Talmud, “All depends upon one’s star,” and it is said, “Our star makes us wise, or makes us rich.” The maladies of man likewise depend upon the stars, for the Holy One, blessed be He, gave the stars their power to work upon the lower orders of creation, whether for good or ill. The earth too is altered according to the stars, as Ibn Ezra put it in his commentary on Exodus, “For the regions of the earth change according to whatever star is above them”; and he also wrote, “And those who have the wisdom of the stars know this.” Yet we must not attribute to the stars in themselves any power or purpose, for all their power and purpose stems from that of their Maker and Creator, who keeps them employed. And what need, if one can so phrase it, has the Holy One of stars, except that, as Proverbs says, “The Lord hath made everything for His own sake.”
Le-ma’anehu, for His own sake.
This last word should be derived from
ma’aneh
, meaning song and praise, as in the verse, “sing out -
anu
- to the Lord in praise.” And this is just what David said in his psalm: “The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament declares His handiwork.” All that the Holy One created was made for the sake of Israel, that they might know how to give honor to the Holy One and how to recount His praise, and that the prophecy might be fulfilled, “This people that I have created, they will declare My praise.” And the stars, like the angels, are half of them male and half of them female, in heaven as it is on earth, male and female; even so are the letters of the word “heaven” equal numerically to those of “male and female.” And this being so, they yearn for each other, in heaven as on earth; and thus the way a man and woman are drawn each to the other is in accordance with their stars. What, then, gave the children of Benjamin such assurance, when they seized in the vineyards, each man a wife from the daughters of Shiloh? Were they not apprehensive that they might be unsuitably matched? But they knew that in the time to come the Temple would be built on the heights of their land, and that all Israel would have a share in it. For this very reason the color of the flag of Benjamin resembles the colors of all the rest of the tribes, and accordingly they were sure that the women they seized were their destined mates.

IV

As often happens with ideas, which you may develop as far as you wish or break away from at any time you please, so with Gamzu’s account of the workings of charms and the functioning of stars: he went on until he chose to stop, and then began to tell me of his travels.

“If you wish to see Jews from the days of the Mishnah,” said Gamzu, “go to the city of Amadia. Forty families of Israel live there, all God-fearing and true to the faith. They rise each morning to say their prayers; but they do not know how to pray, except for the verse ‘Hear O Israel’ and the response ‘Amen.’ They do not put on
Tefillin
, save for the rabbi and one old man. At times of prayer they sit in silence, and when the prayer leader says the blessings, they devoutly reply, ‘Amen.’ When the service brings them to the recital of ‘Hear O Israel,’ they shiver and quake, and recite it throughout in fear and dread, with trembling and terror, like men whose time has come to sacrifice their souls for God. And in the neighborhood of Amadia, shepherds move about, men of great stature with long hair; they sleep with their herds in clefts of the rocks, and do not know the laws of the Torah, not the least iota, and do not come to pray even on Rosh Hashanah. To them and to those like them that passage in the Mishnah refers: ‘The case of a person who was passing behind the synagogue and happened to hear the sound of the Shofar.’ Once a year a
Hakham
from Babylon comes to circumcise the boys who were born during that year.” “Is your wife of this people?” I asked him.

“My wife is not one of them. My wife is from another region, from the mountains. At first, her ancestors were settled beside the good springs, where the pasture was also good. But their neighbors made war on them, and they retaliated and drove them back. Because of their great might some of their troops advanced into the lands of the Gentiles, for they misconceived the text: ‘And to Gad he said, Blessed be he who enlarges Gad; he dwells as a lioness, and tears the arm, yea, the crown of the head.’ For they have a tradition that they are of the tribe of Gad, but they did not know that the blessing refers only to the time when they lived in the Land of Israel, not to their exile in the lands of other peoples. All the Gentiles gathered together against them and defeated them and killed many and captured many as slaves. Those who were left took to the high mountains and settled there. They remain there still, and have no fear of the Gentiles; but once every few years collectors come to gather taxes from them. Those who are so disposed pay them, the others take up their weapons and hide in the mountains until the tax collectors have gone. Sometimes it happens that a man who has fled does not return, because he has been made a prey of the eagles who attack and tear him with their talons. And all this time they have looked forward to their return to the Land of Israel, as was promised them by God through Moses our Teacher, peace upon him, who said that they would all return, according to the text: ‘Gad, a troop shall overcome him, but he shall overcome at the last.’ All his troops shall regain their inheritance, which they took up beyond the Jordan, and no man of them shall be missing. Moreover they will come back with great possessions, as is written in the Aramaic Targum: ‘And with ample riches they shall return to their land.’”

Gamzu went on to relate how when he first came upon them they were dejected, with many sick at heart because of their long exile and long-deferred hope. But Gevariah ben Ge’uel, his father-in-law, is remembered for good, for he read to them from the Midrash and the Jerusalem Targum, which they have in its complete text, and which he translated into their language, and so gave them new heart, till they began to remember all the promises and assurances given us by the Holy One concerning the time of the Messiah.

Gamzu continued, “Gevariah ben Ge’uel, my father-in-law, was a mighty man. His face was the face of a lion, his strength was that of a bull, and he was light-footed as an eagle in flight. High praises of God were in his mouth and a two-edged sword in his hand. He led his people in prayer, and he forged their weapons of war. He also healed the sick, wrote charms, and taught betrothed maidens the marriage dances and songs. For this he would take no fee; all his works were done for the sake of heaven. And Gemulah his daughter was his mainstay. She was accomplished in all their songs, those that they had once sung when they dwelt by the springs and also those of the mountains.

“If you had seen my father-in-law Gevariah when he stood on the peak of a rock, a sky-blue turban on his head, his complexion and beard set off by his flowing hair, his dark eyes shining like two suns, his feet bare and the color of gold, his big toes striking the towering rock while he raised a song from the depths as he led his troops onward and Gemulah his daughter sang at full pitch and between twenty-two and twenty-seven maidens danced, all of them beautiful and high born, then you would have seen a likeness of the festive days of ancient Israel, when the daughters of Israel went out to dance in the vineyards.”

And how did Gamzu come to their land? “I had gone in search of manuscripts. I sailed the sea routes and walked for forty days in the wilderness. A sandstorm arose. But I failed to lay my head to the ground after the manner of those who cross the desert, who cover their heads when a sandstorm strikes, and when the storm has blown over stand up unhurt. The sand got into my eyes and blinded me; there was darkness all around me.

The leader of the caravan saw my distress, and after some days brought me to a settled region, and to the house of a certain man, saying, ‘He is of your people.’ That man was Gevariah ben Ge’uel. He prepared charms and medicines for me, and his daughter Gemulah tended me as I lay sick.

“Gemulah was then about twelve years old, and her gracious bearing and lovely voice were the most beautiful things in the world. Even when she spoke of commonplace things, saying, for instance, ‘Your bandage has slipped, Gabriel,’ or ‘Look down while I put ointment in your eye,’ my spirit rejoiced as if odes had been chanted to me. And when she sang, her voice stirred the heart like that of the bird Grofit, whose song is sweeter than that of any creature on earth. At first I had difficulty in understanding their speech, even when they spoke to me in the Holy Tongue, because their Hebrew has more full vowels and fewer elided syllables than ours and they pronounce words differently. Their speech rhythms are strange, too, so that I was unable to distinguish between their Hebrew and the language they spoke among themselves, a language that no outsider has heard. Gemulah and her father had yet another language. Often I would find them sitting in the twilight, a white kid lying in Gemulah’s lap and a bird hovering over the old man’s head, while they conversed, sometimes in a leisurely way and sometimes in haste, sometimes cheerfully and sometimes with an expression of fear. I would listen to them but not understand a word, until Gemulah revealed to me that this was an invented language which they had made up for their own pastime. Since the day Gemulah was torn from her native soil all that speech has disappeared from her lips, nor does she express herself in any song, save on the nights when the moon is full and she takes her walks, singing as she goes. But on the day when I sold the magic text, she spoke in that language and let her lovely voice be heard in song. And in the evening she said, ‘I want to eat
kavanim
.’ This is a kind of flat cake which they bake on live coals. Now I must go and see if my wife has come back.”

Gamzu took off his skullcap, placed his hat on his head, and stood up. But he had not got as far as the door when he turned back and began to pace about the room, his arms folded behind him, the fingers of his left hand fluttering nervously. After a little while he said, “I can’t understand why I came here, especially since I saw no light and didn’t know you were in the house; but certainly there is some reason for my coming, and even if I don’t know the reason, that doesn’t remove it. Who lives here?”

“A certain Dr. Greifenbach,” I said.

“And where is he?”

“He has gone abroad with his wife. Do you know them?”

“I do not know them,” said Gamzu. “Is Greifenbach a doctor of medicine?”

“He is a doctor who has left his profession. Why do you ask?”