Read Online The Parable and Its Lesson: A Novella by S. Y. Agnon - Free Book Online
Authors: S. Y. Agnon
Tags: Literature & Fiction, Jewish, History & Criticism, Criticism & Theory, Regional & Cultural, World Literature, Movements & Periods
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leaders, and regional rabbis. It is because of their stature that they have their own compartment of Gehinnom.” He added, “The wicked in Gehinnom are punished with the very sin for which they were found guilty. The people you saw are punished with the opposite of what they committed. Because they sinned by speech, they are condemned to be mute.”
Here our Master stopped and pointed to the lantern I was holding. I looked and saw that the candle was about to burn out. I quickly pulled out another one and lit it with the one that was reaching its end, sticking the new one on top of the old.
Seeing this, our Master recited the verse The soul of man is a candle of the Lord . He always paused a bit when he quoted a Biblical verse so as to set it apart from his own speech. Then he said to me, “Some candles shine right to their end and even as they go out they burn brightly. And some candles go out while still burning. Happy is the one whose soul shines forth in this world and its light continues on in the world to come. Now, as for what you asked me, the people you saw sitting far apart sat right next to each other in their lifetime, and all the synagogues and study houses were filled with their talk. Now they cannot utter a word, not because they are dead but because they chattered during prayers and nattered while the Torah was being read. Though they are allowed to devise ḥidushim, they are punished thus: when they wish to present their ḥidushim to others, their lips fly apart and their tongues are impaled on their teeth. Their colleagues see this and start to scream, but the sound dies in their mouths.”
Our Master added, “The people you saw are not new arrivals. Among them are scholars who have been sitting there for generations, some from before the expulsion from Spain, some even from the time of the Talmud. Happy is he whose transgression is forgiven. But there is one sin about which the Holy One, blessed be He, is very particular, and that is talking during the service and the Torah reading. God Himself is truly compassionate and gracious and forgives iniquity, but the angels created by transgressions are an unforgiving lot. Happy is he who does not talk while praying. His prayer ascends to the Gates of Mercy and becomes a crown for his Creator.”
13
Our Master’s words disturbed me more than anything my eyes had seen. I knew that talking during prayers and Torah reading is a serious offence, but I had no idea how serious.
I was mortified. Who can say that he has never committed that sin? Who among us keeps his lips and tongue under control at all times? Who has not talked during the service or the Torah reading? And if those learned in Torah bear such a punishment, what about the rest of us? Even if the ḥidushim that scholars come up with do not always spring from the purest motives, there is still a scintilla of sincerity behind them. May you good people of Buczacz never know the dread I was feeling.
Adding to my anxiety was my astonishment at the duration of the punishment. Can that be the penalty for talking during the service or Torah reading? Even if one could explain it as the consequence of the bother the angels had to go to in separating true prayers from idle talk, the matter still remains unsettled and unsettling.
A verse in the Torah occurred to me: The sword shall not cross through your land . I interpreted the sword to refer to metaphysical speculation, and the verse to be saying that as it passes through your mind it will not only not undermine your faith, it could even strengthen it. In my heart I recited the verse I am racked with grief, sustain me in accordance with Your word . Our Master looked at me and whispered, “It is time to go back.” My heart broke within me and I followed him.
Here the shamash suddenly stopped to survey the room. After he took in with one glance a group of scholars, his eye caught sight of some others who were not learned but who had a voice in civic
Here our Master stopped and pointed to the lantern I was holding. I looked and saw that the candle was about to burn out. I quickly pulled out another one and lit it with the one that was reaching its end, sticking the new one on top of the old.
Seeing this, our Master recited the verse The soul of man is a candle of the Lord . He always paused a bit when he quoted a Biblical verse so as to set it apart from his own speech. Then he said to me, “Some candles shine right to their end and even as they go out they burn brightly. And some candles go out while still burning. Happy is the one whose soul shines forth in this world and its light continues on in the world to come. Now, as for what you asked me, the people you saw sitting far apart sat right next to each other in their lifetime, and all the synagogues and study houses were filled with their talk. Now they cannot utter a word, not because they are dead but because they chattered during prayers and nattered while the Torah was being read. Though they are allowed to devise ḥidushim, they are punished thus: when they wish to present their ḥidushim to others, their lips fly apart and their tongues are impaled on their teeth. Their colleagues see this and start to scream, but the sound dies in their mouths.”
Our Master added, “The people you saw are not new arrivals. Among them are scholars who have been sitting there for generations, some from before the expulsion from Spain, some even from the time of the Talmud. Happy is he whose transgression is forgiven. But there is one sin about which the Holy One, blessed be He, is very particular, and that is talking during the service and the Torah reading. God Himself is truly compassionate and gracious and forgives iniquity, but the angels created by transgressions are an unforgiving lot. Happy is he who does not talk while praying. His prayer ascends to the Gates of Mercy and becomes a crown for his Creator.”
13
Our Master’s words disturbed me more than anything my eyes had seen. I knew that talking during prayers and Torah reading is a serious offence, but I had no idea how serious.
I was mortified. Who can say that he has never committed that sin? Who among us keeps his lips and tongue under control at all times? Who has not talked during the service or the Torah reading? And if those learned in Torah bear such a punishment, what about the rest of us? Even if the ḥidushim that scholars come up with do not always spring from the purest motives, there is still a scintilla of sincerity behind them. May you good people of Buczacz never know the dread I was feeling.
Adding to my anxiety was my astonishment at the duration of the punishment. Can that be the penalty for talking during the service or Torah reading? Even if one could explain it as the consequence of the bother the angels had to go to in separating true prayers from idle talk, the matter still remains unsettled and unsettling.
A verse in the Torah occurred to me: The sword shall not cross through your land . I interpreted the sword to refer to metaphysical speculation, and the verse to be saying that as it passes through your mind it will not only not undermine your faith, it could even strengthen it. In my heart I recited the verse I am racked with grief, sustain me in accordance with Your word . Our Master looked at me and whispered, “It is time to go back.” My heart broke within me and I followed him.
Here the shamash suddenly stopped to survey the room. After he took in with one glance a group of scholars, his eye caught sight of some others who were not learned but who had a voice in civic
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