Free The Parable and Its Lesson: A Novella by S. Y. Agnon Page A

from his body the keen sword did sever,
From our shame we beseech you, O Lord us deliver
    our Master sobbed in grief, placed the prayer book on the table, and his head slumped down on it. After a while he pulled himself up, and his white earlocks shone like polished silver. The interpreters of mystic secrets said that our Master had bathed his head in the waters of grace. His face shone in the crimson glow of the setting sun, but his eyes were closed, and our Master seemed like one who had been on a distant journey. Those same commentators said that he had returned from the far western edge of the world, where the Divine Presence resides, and there he had seen his master, that holy light Rabbi Mikhl of Nemirov, and all the martyrs with him, sitting in the Academy on High, radiant in the Divine Presence. I do not concern myself with hidden matters—for a person like me what my eyes behold is sufficient—but I agree with those who say that every single one of our Master’s curls resembled a silver goblet that has been immersed in pure water. I remember once before Passover they brought him a silver goblet and he looked at it and pronounced it fit to be used as Elijah’s cup at the seder. He instructed me to go and immerse it in a mikvah, which I did, and when I took it out the water made it glisten.
    There were whispers that our Master was too weak to complete the prayer and they signaled to Reb Ḥizkiah, the prayer leader, to go up and finish. When our Master saw Reb Ḥizkiah coming up, he again took hold of the prayer book and in a heart-rending voice chanted
Angels unsullied and holy beings pure
Cry out at the bitterness they must endure;
How shameful our lot, we are objects of scorn,
Disgrace and contumely, we are left all forlorn.
Hellas and Araby together contrive
That none born of Israel shall live or survive.
Our God is One and His great name is One,
Thus may our enemies all be undone.
    When our Master said the words “Our God is One and His great name is One,” a great dread fell upon him. He placed the prayer book on the table, put his head down upon it, and stood there trembling. A few moments passed until he again picked up the prayer book and chanted
All who are pleasant to behold . . .
    when he stopped and handed the prayer book to Reb Ḥizkiah. Reb Ḥizkiah stood there, not knowing if our Master simply wanted to pause and finish the prayer or if he wanted him to complete it. Our Master then with great effort chanted word by word the rest of the prayer as I held in front of him the tablet on which it was inscribed.
    When he finished, an argument arose over whether our Master had said “proud head from his body the keen sword did sever” or “proud head from his body the mean sword did sever.” In my opinion he said “the keen sword,” which is how it was copied on the tablet. It was inappropriate that someone had erased “keen” and written “mean.”
    After the Aleinu prayer, our Master instructed the aged Reb Meshullam to say the concluding kaddish because he was a descendant of Rabbi Meir ben Isaac, who composed the Akdamut prayer for Shavuot and saved a major Jewish community, and also because he came from Ashkenaz, where there had been much persecution.
    After the kaddish our Master instructed Reb Ḥizkiah, the prayer leader, to chant the piyyut “Though few in number we plead before You.” Though this poem was composed by Rabbi Meshullam ben Kalonymus for the Fast of Esther, some maintain that our Master intended it to be said on that day so as to remind God that our numbers today are diminished; others hold that he wanted it said because of what had happened to him on Yom Kippur. On Yom Kippur, during the recitation of a piyyut by Meshullam ben Kalonymus, our Master was overcome by weakness and fell asleep, and he wanted to make up for that now on the fast of the twentieth of Sivan with another piyyut by Meshullam. I am inclined to think that he did it for the honor of Rabbi Meshullam