Two Scholars Who Were in Our Town and Other Novellas by S. Y. Agnon Page A

us from the righteous one were his holy remains, which were laid out on the ground. Until it was time to give him over to the earth, they stood over him and recited verses, hymns and entreaties. Suddenly a frail, bird-like voice was heard and Reb Pinchas the Elder was seen leaning over the deceased reciting the Song of Songs. Immediately everyone present began to chant the Song of Songs, verse by verse, the same way they had when the sage Reb Pinchas Ba’al Mofet had been laid out on the ground before being brought over to his resting place. It has been the legend in our town from the time of our ancestors, who rest in Eden, that when our rabbi’s forefather, the sage Reb Pinchas Ba’al Mofet, had been laid to rest, the whole town had stood before the deceased and recited the Song of Songs. All that night not a soul went to bed and from the edges of town came the sound of old men and women lamenting for the righteous one. The snow came down and a pure light illuminated the night. The snow by its very nature is pure, and that night it was purer than pure. We heard from reliable sources that snow like that had not been seen before, or since. And yet, every heart was filled with darkness and gloom.
    When daylight dawned the entire town came out, the young and the elderly, children and women, to escort our rabbi to his eternal resting place. No man kindled his furnace, no woman cooked her meals, not an infant remained in its crib, no sick person stayed in his bed. Rather, all came out to follow the coffin with eyes overflowing with tears, the tears freezing then melting then freezing once again. And not a person complained, “I’m cold,” and not a sound was uttered, except by the beadle who was walking and reciting, “Righteousness shall walk before him.” And so they walked on behind the bier of the righteous one until they arrived at the great synagogue. And when they got there, they set the bier on the ground and circled it seven times according to custom, and all those who had been involved in the purification of the body and in the circling of the coffin immersed themselves in a pure ritual bath. Afterwards, they proceeded to the cemetery and buried him in the grave that they had dug for him. When the snows had melted and the esteemed wife of the great sage, may his memory be blessed, came to weep over his grave and a few prayer quorums of ten men accompanied her, they observed that he had been laid next to his ancestor Reb Pinchas. Perhaps you are thinking that the gravediggers had erred, but in reality the elder sage had claimed the younger for himself. How great righteous ones are even in their death, inasmuch as on the our rabbi was buried a hundred years and one day had passed since the death of his righteous ancestor, who had stipulated with the town that no one be buried next to him until after the passage of one hundred years and that the deceased be of his own seed. And verily Reb Moshe Pinchas had also had a hand in this, because he had never made peace with Reb Shlomo and had not wanted him as a neighbor. And just as our Reb Shlomo had been a lover of peace and had always given in during his lifetime, so too did he acquiesce in death.
    In recounting all of this, I did not intend to give an example of an exemplary man or to tell about the zeal of Reb Moshe Pinchas. Rather, I have merely told the tales of two scholars who were in our town two or three generations ago, at a time when Torah was the glory of Israel and all of Israel walked in the paths of Torah, which is the delight of the Lord our Fortress until the coming of the Redeemer at the end of days. At which time we will be privileged to hear God’s Torah directly from the lips of our righteous Messiah, who will sit and study Torah with all those of Israel who have studied Torah with love.
    Translated by Paul Pinchas Bashan & Rhonna Weber Rogol
Annotated by the Translators with Jeffrey Saks
     

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