Read Online No Time for Tears by Cynthia Freeman - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Cynthia Freeman
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ventured on deck. There was music from a concertina, a violin, a tambourine, and the dancing lasted until dawn. Still, this night seemed impossible for Dovid. His worry about the future seemed to eat him up, and the festivities above only grated on his nerves.
As they neared Palestine the sea became calm and the air almost stifling. Although he had never mentioned it, in spite of the tightly bound cloth Chavala had made for him his ribs were far from healed and tonight they ached badly. He watched his wife sitting with the other women as she held little Chia, and wondered why still she hadn’t conceived. A dark thought passed through his mind …his beloved Rivka seemed to have had the same nature; she had conceived late in life, and when he thought of her and her awful death he almost hoped he and Chavala would be childless. After all, there were the girls to raise, and they were like his own. Little Chia would think of him as a tateh , and—his thoughts were interrupted as a young man sat down next to him, took out his handkerchief and mopped his forehead. The shock of dark hair receded, although Dovid would have guessed them to be the same age.
“In a few days well be in Eretz Yisroel. What do you think of that?” the stranger asked.
“What do I think? I think it’s a miracle—”
“Ah … the miracle has just begun. Where are you from?” The stranger was short, stocky.
“Near Odessa. And you?”
“Plonsk. What do you do for a living?”
“Make boots. You?”
The stocky man laughed. “I’m a sort of builder … of dreams … some people say visions …”
Dovid looked carefully at this man. “What’s your name?”
“David Grien.”
“Mine is Dovid Landau.”
The two men shook hands, and Dovid, taken by the man, asked him about himself.
David Grien’s mother had died when he was very young, and his father and he proceeded thereafter to have huge disagreements about their beliefs. In the end David defied his father and announced without preamble his departure to Palestine. That was as far as David wanted to go on about the saga of his life. It was as though the rest of his past were nonexistent, no longer of any consequence. “The past is prologue, as Shakespeare said, I come into this old, new world with very little, yet so much. I bring to Palestine young and healthy arms. The love of work, an eagerness for freedom to live in the land of our forefathers, and a willingness to be frugal. If we are to be redeemed, Palestine must be built with our hands. There we will create a model society, based on economic abundance. But above all, political equality.” He went on and on, like a missionary … with a passion that seemed to Dovid to be seared into his soul. One day, he said, the Jews of the world would rise up, not with arms, not with violence, but with one universal voice … “Let my people go, let them live and multiply in the land of their heritage. The land that was their portion when King David brought the Ark to Jerusalem …” No question, the man was a spellbinder, and totally convinced… and convincing…
Now the two sat silently and looked at the midnight sky, sat with thoughts of the future…
“Well,” Dovid said to the round-faced young man. “I have to go now and join my wife, but I wish you well. I hope we meet again.”
“I hope so too, chevramem .”
The two clasped hands. “If you come to Petach Tikvah, ask for David Ben-Gurion, not David Grien. I left that name behind in the ghetto of Plonsk. Now… shalom… ”
Palestine 1906
CHAPTER THREE
T HE LEAKING VESSEL NOW stood anchored beyond Jaffa. It was early morning, a white mist obscured the distance beyond, but everyone stood at the rail. They had come home at last. As the mist lifted, the shoreline of Jaffa could be seen.
Beauty, promise lay beyond as the pink-and-blue sky seemed to embrace the green waters of the Mediterranean. Suddenly there was a feeling beyond expression. It was as though all their
As they neared Palestine the sea became calm and the air almost stifling. Although he had never mentioned it, in spite of the tightly bound cloth Chavala had made for him his ribs were far from healed and tonight they ached badly. He watched his wife sitting with the other women as she held little Chia, and wondered why still she hadn’t conceived. A dark thought passed through his mind …his beloved Rivka seemed to have had the same nature; she had conceived late in life, and when he thought of her and her awful death he almost hoped he and Chavala would be childless. After all, there were the girls to raise, and they were like his own. Little Chia would think of him as a tateh , and—his thoughts were interrupted as a young man sat down next to him, took out his handkerchief and mopped his forehead. The shock of dark hair receded, although Dovid would have guessed them to be the same age.
“In a few days well be in Eretz Yisroel. What do you think of that?” the stranger asked.
“What do I think? I think it’s a miracle—”
“Ah … the miracle has just begun. Where are you from?” The stranger was short, stocky.
“Near Odessa. And you?”
“Plonsk. What do you do for a living?”
“Make boots. You?”
The stocky man laughed. “I’m a sort of builder … of dreams … some people say visions …”
Dovid looked carefully at this man. “What’s your name?”
“David Grien.”
“Mine is Dovid Landau.”
The two men shook hands, and Dovid, taken by the man, asked him about himself.
David Grien’s mother had died when he was very young, and his father and he proceeded thereafter to have huge disagreements about their beliefs. In the end David defied his father and announced without preamble his departure to Palestine. That was as far as David wanted to go on about the saga of his life. It was as though the rest of his past were nonexistent, no longer of any consequence. “The past is prologue, as Shakespeare said, I come into this old, new world with very little, yet so much. I bring to Palestine young and healthy arms. The love of work, an eagerness for freedom to live in the land of our forefathers, and a willingness to be frugal. If we are to be redeemed, Palestine must be built with our hands. There we will create a model society, based on economic abundance. But above all, political equality.” He went on and on, like a missionary … with a passion that seemed to Dovid to be seared into his soul. One day, he said, the Jews of the world would rise up, not with arms, not with violence, but with one universal voice … “Let my people go, let them live and multiply in the land of their heritage. The land that was their portion when King David brought the Ark to Jerusalem …” No question, the man was a spellbinder, and totally convinced… and convincing…
Now the two sat silently and looked at the midnight sky, sat with thoughts of the future…
“Well,” Dovid said to the round-faced young man. “I have to go now and join my wife, but I wish you well. I hope we meet again.”
“I hope so too, chevramem .”
The two clasped hands. “If you come to Petach Tikvah, ask for David Ben-Gurion, not David Grien. I left that name behind in the ghetto of Plonsk. Now… shalom… ”
Palestine 1906
CHAPTER THREE
T HE LEAKING VESSEL NOW stood anchored beyond Jaffa. It was early morning, a white mist obscured the distance beyond, but everyone stood at the rail. They had come home at last. As the mist lifted, the shoreline of Jaffa could be seen.
Beauty, promise lay beyond as the pink-and-blue sky seemed to embrace the green waters of the Mediterranean. Suddenly there was a feeling beyond expression. It was as though all their
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