The Rabbi Who Tricked Stalin Page 6

Next day Elya decided to help Aaron in taking care of the child. But he still did not know in which way. There was a danger, that if somebody hears about a special help given to a clerical Jew - he would report about that to Elya’s unknown enemies in the Party; that may cause plenty of problems to him. ‘I have devoted my time and energy’ he said to himself, ‘just to advance in the Party’s ladder. Taking a step of assisting a family member- may hurt my career. So I must be cautious: I’ll ask Borisov to strive for me in getting the needed help for Rabbi Aaron. Borisov has many connections in the Interior ministry office, and also in the POMDAT.’

  POMDAT was a Russian ‘Initials’ Word’ since Lenin’s time- for Ministry of welfare / department of care and education of neglected children, including orphans. Borisov went to that office, and arranged that its representative would soon arrive in Aaron Hittin’s house, and offer him help in raisning his child.

  The representative was a very young woman, about twenty three. She came to Aaron’s hut at the end of his seven mourning days. Her name was Natalya Besarobina, and she was holding a very thick brown cloth handbag, while knocking at the hut’s front door.

  It was a grey morning, and the sunlight hardly came to Aaron’s kitchen window, that its shutter was open. Rabbi Aaron was in the corridor, as he heard Natalya’s knock. He wandered who could she be- as he cautiously opened, hesitating to invite the stranger young woman to come in.

  “I am from POMDAT- the institute for social welfare,” she said, her hand grabbing tightly the door behind him, to hinder his closing it on her face. “I was sent here to solve some problems - pertaining the invalid baby.”

  “Does your visit here come. . . by order of the Law?” he asked.

  Natalya nodded. He permitted her to step in. The two walked into the Rabbi’s kitchen, where he showed her a seat at the square table.

  Rabbi Aaron was not seated beside her, but saw the headline of the paper that she had just pulled out from her brown cloth handbag. He had avoided any touch with her, and after hesitation - took a seat in the opposite, so that the table would separate them. He turned his head from her, as she tried looking straight into his eyes.

  Natalya pulled out a pen and an inkwell, and put them beside the Form of ‘Questionaire’ paper, that she had brought. Before she began to fill it, she told her name to Aaron, and added:

  “We are sorry for the terrible event. But life must go on, that’s our

  slogan. So- let’s begin with the formal documentation. I will ask and you’ll answer”.

  She pulled her chair closer to the table, and pushed the papers towards him, so that he could see clearly the printed details. But Aaron withdrew his chair. Natalya understood his intention of avoiding to be too close to her whatsoever.

  “Well, first – I’ll read the details, that I have already collected about you,” she said, “The Kid’s name: Raphael Hittin. Birthday: seventh of December ’22. Address: we know. . .Now- let’s fill here Box number 10: Description of the house visited”.

  She rose up and asked him to show her the room and a half that had been his property. While he stepped cautiously, moving parallel to her – she was looking at the bare walls and the poor beds - his and surely of his late wife.

  She saw his nice long beard and side-curls and his big silken skull-cap, woven with silver strings that draw a David’s Shield. She paid attention to his attractive wide lips, and to his nice hands and long straight legs. She was young and his tall figure made her attracted, curious and quite excited.

  She approached the baby’s wagon, and asked in a whisper, an uncontrolled smile on her lips:

  “Is the boy asleep? I must see him.”

  Rabbi nodded. She bent to see Raphael sleeping in his baby wagon. She was looking at him for a minute, while Rabbi Aaron closed the room window shutters almost entirely. She understood that it was a result of his fear, that somebody would peep in with a bad intention…

  Natalya returned to the corridor, and Rabbi Aaron followed her back to the kitchen. She was seated at the table as before, and he rushed to the metal high boiler at the corner.

  “I’ll boil some water,” he said, “Will you drink cocoa with me? . . . I am sure you’d like it. You should be thirsty. . . considering the long way you have to walk in your job.”

  Natalya nodded, and wrote something. Rabbi Aaron was waiting for a while. After the water had been boiled, he took two cups that he filled with cocoa powder, and poured out the water into them. He put one sugar spoon in each and brought the cups to the table.

  “I am sorry, that I don’t have milk,” he said.

  Natalya was mixing the suger, saying:

  “We understand, that you need much help, Rabbi. “

  “God will help the kid and me.. .I don’t like this Regime.” he said sarcastically, “You can understand that. So, if you could help me- to go out of Russia…that would be wonderful!” First time he looked straight into her eyes, a faint smile on his face, and he took his seat.

  “That’s politics, Rabbi Aaron! I insist to be of help to you in the name of the regime. I have to follow up the baby’s development. And perhaps my ministry will let you have some financial help.”

  Rabbi Aaron did not drink, but looked at her cup while she was sipping slowly. He said:

  “I look forward to the day, that this invalid boy will be able to walk.”

  “Does the baby speak?” asked Natalya.

  “No. He understands some... twenty words, maybe. I try to teach him, in our ‘mama language’, you can write that,” He mentioned ironically. Then his head was down, and looked worried.

  “You can’t bind yourself to him for a whole day, right?” she asked.

  “I have my religion tasks. Though my duties to the congregation have become less...Now I use my back courtyard for Kosher butchering.’

  “We should find a permanent caretaker for the invalid boy. She should be fit for training him how to move. He should not remain a ‘total loss’ invalid.”

  “I know a woman, who can do this: Blooma, our neighbor. She had been from time to time with the baby, when my wife was alive. I don’t know how I can pay her now. I don’t have much.”

  “I hope that the State will really pay you an amount,” she said “We have some monthly budget for such a case. But I still cannot promise anything.”

  Rabbi Aaron nodded, saying “thanks“ with a smile. He mumbled a prayer and sipped the cocoa, looking at her swift writing.

  “If this baby had gotten wings!” he said suddenly, in distress, as to himself, “instead of his lacking hands. But God avoids miracles.”

  Natalya rose from her seat. She approached his seat and tapped his sleeve in affection, a smile on her face. He was scared by her free behavior and nice talk with him. So, he rose and retreated a step.

  “As a religious man,” she said, “you shouldn’t talk desperately, dear comrade Rabbi Aaron.”

  “I pray, that God will atone me,” his eyes became wet, “for leaving my wife alone, for long hours a day, with the helpless baby. She was dragged by wandering thoughts, as we can imagine.”

  “Yes, these are hard times,” said Natalya and turned to the corridor..

  “Employing that woman, our neighbor,” he addeed, “raises a difficulty for me, if she is hired for a permanent job. She will stay longly with me; and people will gossip – you know. She is quite young, about thirty.”

  Natalya turned back to the table, and handed him the documents to sign. Then she rebuked him:

  “What is your fear? That this caretaker is going to seduce you? . . .”

  “My religion forbids me to meet a relatively young woman– quite intimately. Even for minutes.. .Even she’s not pretty. . . She would be present in this house almost everyday, if your help is realized. …No young male would agree too take such a job. “

  “You are grown up, comrade.
You’ll take that woman for the child’s sake. . . Of course, you will keep yourself - not to be tempted.” Natalya said ironically. Her lips refrained from showing even a short smile.

  “Well...For the sake of teaching Torah to our few people, who still like to learn - I should take this caretaker. I should not and cannot remain with the boy for whole days.“

  “Well, I’ll do everything possible, Rabbi.”

  She walked to the entry door, but soon turned back and said:

  “Even being now a Communist, I have once learned some of our Jewish saying: God is merciful!” She left abruptly.

  Aaron remained at the open door, looking after her. From the beginning he had quite understood she was Jewish, but very very unreligious, so he told himself. But he would not hate her for that. ‘She is just a lost lamb’- he reckoned to himself.

  CHAPTER 7