The Rabbi Who Tricked Stalin Read online

Time passed, like in a hurry. It was already February 1926. Winter brought a heavy snow. Aaron Hittin and his son suffered from cold. The past year had been difficult for the Kosher Butcher Rabbi. In many houses in Mink - old and weak people were dying, due to the general starvation and bad medical crae since the revolution. Many young and mature people had already neglected their religion. Only the minoriy of the Jewish community still tried to keep the holidays and eat Kosher, many had done that for the sake of their parents good feelings. They had to bring a Doctor’s approval- of being ill in Yom Kipur, as an argument in their missing from their jobs.

  One morning Natalya knocked at Aaron Hittin hut’s front door. She was dressed in her fur-coat, but without gloves - so she could rub her palms and warm them. Vapor emerged from her mouth, while she was shouting toward Blooma - who was seen in the corridor, while opening the door.

  “Good morning, madmoiselle,” said Natalya to her, and she mumbled.

  “Couldn’t you buy some coal- to warm this Siberian hut?” asked Natalya, feeling the deep cold inside… “Aren’t you responsible for Raphael’s health?...Where’s the Rabbi?”

  “I’m here,” Aaron’s voice was heard from the bedroom.

  “Rabbi has been severly chilled,” said Blooma.

  Natalya was standing at his bedroom’s entry door. The light was dim, but even from far she discerned Rabbi lying on his bed. He was covered by a thick blanket, and Natalya said to him ‘good morning,’ and looked at Blooma, who had rushed to stand at the child’s crib, that was set up not far from the Rabbi’s bed. Raf’l was also covered, by a small blanket. Blooma put her palm on the kid’s forehead, “I feel and measure his temperature by my palm,” she told Natalya, “and I swear he’s now well.”

  “Winter has come all of a sudden,” said Natalya to Rabbi Aaron, “I’ve arrived to see- if you are all well; and I am disappointed .”

  “What can we do?” answered the Rabbi, hoarsely, “I have caught the flu, like Raf’l… But now I feel better,” he reckoned.

  Natalya called Blooma to stand at her side in the corridor. She opened her purse and handed her some rubles.

  “Please, go quickly to the market and buy food. Here is your salary for this month. I see, that the Rabbi needs much more than I had thought. So, I’m giving you a special budget ahead for buying food, sufficient for two weeks. Sign here please.”

  Natalya handed Blooma some Form. When Blooma finished to count her currency, she signed it.

  “Very well, thank you,” she said, “At last, you have become aware of our bad financial situation. . . See you later, and please wait for me here; the Rabbi and Raf’l are still weak.” Natalya nodded as Blooma walked out.

  “Please go to the kitchen, and wait there for me,” said Rabbi angrily to Natalya, “I must dress myself, d’you understand?”

  She obeyed him, and he soon joined her. His face seemed to her thinner than two weeks before, in her previous visit. He was wearing his black thick coat, and remained- as usual- with the light round cap on his head. He paid attention to the fact that Natalya had already taken command of the stove, and filled the big metal boiler -”Somovar”- with water.

  “Rabbi, please be seated,” she said, “You claim to feel better, but I’m the cooker now.”

  Rabbi was seated at the table in his “regular pose.”

  Natalya approached him, ‘surveying’ his face.

  “You’ll excuse me,” He said bluntly, “but I do not permit you to look at me in that audacious manner…”

  “Your face has become so meager. If you had no beard, I would have seen more precisely – how sallow your face have become. I can’t restrain myself from blaming you! Look in the mirror. See the gray stains around your eyes.”

  “ No wonder: All the food I could afford- was given to the child... My money has gone.” He said that almost like in a whimper. His eyes became wet, and his fingers trembled. . .

  Natalya was upset. She walked back to the stove, searched in the cupboard – poured water into two cups and brought tea to the table.

  “I understand”, she said, ”that recently you’ve stopped b u y i n g cocoa; and who knows what else. And you have got the flu - due to weakness, caused by starvation and cold. Yes or No?” Rabbi nodded, then added in a weak tone, like talking to himself:

  “Had my wife been alive...t’would have been different. In the utmost difficult times- she knew how to get food.”

  “Please – you should eat what Blooma will bring. O.K.? I must go now. But let me peep again at the boy.”

  She had done that together with Aaron. Both saw that the boy had been asleep, and soon they returned to the kitchen.

  “Last month you’ve told me, that there are still many elders who need your Kosher butchery. No more?”

  “Nowadays- they have no ruble of their own any more. Many have simply died. It seems- I was shy… to tell you all the details. . .”

  “I’ll consult about your situation with your brother-in-law. I’m his fiance.”

  “I know. I hated the idea of knowing that. But I can’t help it.”

  “Elya asked me to tell you, that you should not think him to be cruel to you and to the kid. I am sure we’ll find a solution to your problem. You should find some work...Adieu,” she said suddenly, and waved her hand, walking away.

  In that evening Natalya dined with Elya in his apartment.

  She told him about her visit in his ex-friend’s hut.

  “Something to worry about, that you tell it to me?” he asked.

  “You should do something more for the Rabbi and his son. They are starving there, in Aaron’s home.”

  “A few months ago - you have told me, that he got an income from Kosher butchery. Had stupid Jews stopped coming to him?” he asked.

  “Many had died, and many youths had become free men, like us. They don’t need Kosher. I’m afraid that there are some people - who come with hens or pigeons to him, and he butchers free of charge, because they lack money. He sees his Kosher butchery as God’s errand. He told me that there are two additional Kosher butchers, newly authorized by Chief Rabbi Haneles. They compete with him. ”

  “Are you sure about all that?” he asked.

  “Rabbi Aaron admitted it. He had caught a hard cold, and I saw he had become thin as a stick. The boy is O’key now. The caretaker seems to do her job quite well.”

  “Does the sour Rabbi know …that we are together?” he asked.

  “I had tried to be silent about that – for a long time. . .Now somebody has told him, and he won’t like that. But I’ve persuaded him that starving is worse then hating you, my dear.”

  Elya walked to the window: Its shutters were open, and he was gazing outside. In the street lamps’ light he saw some workers, still in that late evening hour - digging a tunnel, to put there drainage water pipes.

  “I know that Rabbi Aaron must work,” he said, “as every normal citizen. That’s the law, and it will contribute to his well being.”

  “You should find something for him. You’ve connections with the municipality mayor, or through people in the Party.”

  Elya pointed to his sweetheart at the diggers, who were still seen from the window. He asked:

  “You see these men? I know, that they need more manpower. Is Reb Aaron fit for a work like this?”

  “Physical work is really not for him, you know that! But he surely can handle an administrative job. ”

  “His Russian is not perfect, to say the least: I know he has never studied to write properly. So, how?. . .”

  “There is another obstacle,” she said, “He should also be able to meet the invalid child at noon. The boy needs his presence. ..You’re his uncle, man.”

  Elya rose up and walked a few steps forward to the tub and back. He embraced Natalya from her back, touching her breasts delicately.

  “He will preach to his son day and night. He’s terrible. Th
e boy will grow and become more and more nasty in his religious mentality.”

  “Rabbi Aaron will not resign from being his sole educator. The boy is almost three years old. His brain shouldn’t decade! At least he will have some education, by his papa.”

  “Better - if we... hire a teacher for him. At least for the Russian language. It kills me to think he’ll grow ignorant. I wonder if his caretaker hardly knows more than hundred words in our language.”

  “Let the boy still grow up a little!” she reckoned.

  “Rabbi is a real headache!” said Elya. His palm pressed his temple. “But an idea flashed in my mind… I have found something!”

  CHAPTER 10