vera

With all the help you are doing for me this is the least I can do.

vera

Today I have a few minutes again to post another story from the table of Ovsei Driz about our Wise Men from Helem. Sorry I am not doing it regularly anymore.

Pedro - enjoy.

Perhaps, yes, and perhaps, no (Loosely translated from Ovsey Driz)

Has Reb-Nukhem gone
To the thickest woods?
Has there ever been
A similar incident in Helem?
What can I tell you
To answer that?
Perhaps, yes,
And perhaps, no.

But everyone heard and the whole Helem swears,
That between the villages Black and White,
Not quite reaching the Sparrow crossing,
In the thickest woods nearby the swamp,
Where in the summer a kitten has almost drowned,
Reb-Nukhem has seen a huge snow-drift.
And out of it steam is rising,
As if a samovar boils under the snow.

Are these Helem rumors
To be believed?
Has Reb-Nukhem
Seen this miracle?
What can I tell you
To answer that?
Perhaps, yes,
And perhaps, no.

But it has come to be known to the town of Helem,
That Nukhem has told of this to Reb-Sholom
(It should be noted, that Sholom's mind is as diamond).
The old Wise Man has opened a volume,
Leafed through, scratching behind his ear,
And declared: - O, Wise Reb-Nukhem,
Listen, about this unheard of miracle
There is not a word, not a letter in the Talmud.
But thank god, in town there is a Rabbi,
Wisest of all on earth and in the sky.

The old Rabbi's mind is as a star,
And each word shines as a gem.
Having heard Nukhem, the Wise Rabbi
Has been long silent. And then at last said:
- It is, of course, a great miracle.
But what it is, isn't seen from here.
Immediately we shall go to the thickest woods ourselves,
To make sure of everything with our own eyes.

Have they gone to
The thickest woods?
Have they found
This snow-drift?
What can I tell you
To answer that?
Perhaps, yes,
And perhaps, no.

But everyone heard and the whole Helem swears,
That between the villages Black and White,
Not quite reaching the Sparrow crossing,
In the thickest woods nearby the swamp,
Where in the summer a kitten has almost drowned,
They have seen the huge snow-drift.
Form the black hole steam is rising,
As if a samovar boils under the snow.

And the Rabbi has said: - A great miracle,
But what it is, isn't seen from here.
I shall climb in - and see. - And the Rabbi has climbed
Head first under the snow heap.
And by the den the two Wise Men
Have stood, holding the Wise Man by the legs.

Has the Rabbi climbed under
The snow heap?
Was there even a wood
Nearby Helem?
What can I tell you
To answer that?
Perhaps, yes,
And perhaps, no.

But the people have heard, heard, heard,
That the two Wise Men, pondering the miracle,
Have stood there long. Both have grown weary,
But the Rabbi doesn't come back out from the snow-drift.
And when they have pulled him out, alas! -
He has been discovered without his head.

Reb-Nukhem has said: - There was a head. -
And the Wise Reb-Sholom has first thought a bit,
Then objected: - I think not,
I know our Rabbi for a hundred years now. -
And their dispute would have continued without end.
But, luckily, the two Wise men remembered:
Rabbi has a wife! and she is such,
That would remember, whether or not there was a head.

The two old men have gone to Helem. And soon
They have come and said to the clever Sorah:
- You are a Wise woman, all around it is known.
Tell us, has your spouse had a head?
Placing her finger on her forehead first,
The Wise woman has answered thus:

When he ate ztimes,
Potatoes with salted fish,
I recall he has shaken
A grey little beard.
But whether or not he had a head...
I cannot remember! -
The widow has said.

What can I tell you
To answer that?
Perhaps, yes,
And perhaps, no.

vera

OK, one more, or my brain is in serious danger of melting tonight.

Here is where the dog is buried (Loosely translated from Ovsey Driz)

All of Helem has once known
Gersh - a poor blind man.
He has wandered all the roads
With a very thick oak stick.
Under windows it would knock:
"Help me, for the love of God".
Some would give a dry bread-crust,
Some would yesterday's pancakes.
And it happened that the poorest
Shared what they could with the beggar.
Meanwhile, the blind man's sack
Little by little has worn down.

And the chickens followed Gersh,
Picking up crumbs in his wake.
Greedy geese they followed after
Turned to walk this path with chickens,
Catching bits as they were falling!
And from all the streets around
The goats, the goats ran...
Following the geese and chickens.
And from everywhere came flying
A hundred robbers - a hundred crows.
And there came to be such racket!
The goats: "Bah!"; the crows: "Croak!"
The people heard,
All ran, as if to a fire.
And all is white with goats!
And all is black with crows!
Finally, with water they downed them
And broke the fight apart.

And the next day in the morning
To the old and wise gray men
All in tears
There came Freidl the bird-woman:
- From the cock and from the chickens
The crows had picked all feathers clean! -
Shoemaker Nokhem has come running,
Throwing dirt upon his hair,
Saying that after the fight
His goat has gone blind.
- Oy, - said aunt Brokha, -
What has become of my Rosa!
Our goat has lost her milk from fright!
May the one who did this evil
Be exactly just as lucky!
- Do not shout, do not cry,
We shall hold judgment on this thing
And the guilty will be punished, -
The Wise men told the people.

And they sat, discussed, debated
Seven nights and days not stopping.
Deciding finally: the beggar
Is to be blamed for this fight.
Blind Gersh has been brought in.
He stands before the court.
The wisest of the Wise
Rises with difficulty:
- Why have you spread the crumbs? -
He asks the beggar.
- I am blind, and people see, -
Gersh has calmly then replied.
- I am blind, and people see.
If my sack has worn down,
Why has noone taken the trouble
To tell me about it?

- He is blind, and people see! -
All has said, in sing-song voice.
The Wisest of the wise men
Has judged, putting on his glasses:
- Gersh is, clearly, not to blame,
And we cannot blame the people.
The torn sack is guilty -
Here it is, is the real culprit! -
But then Itzik-Ber the shaggy
Said: - It is wrong.
How can you judge the sack,
When it is the hole that's guilty? -
All have sang: - The hole is guilty! -
But Reb-Volf has cried: - Quiet!
The hole is not to blame.
It was eaten by the mice! -
All have sang: - The mice, the mice! -
But the Wise Reb-Yoshke said:
- How are the mice to blame,
If the cats do not catch them? -
All have sang: - The cats, the cats! -
But Reb-Leib has said: "However,
It is the local dog who
Gives the cats no peace and rest. -
The wisest of the Wise
Has concluded at that: - Let us
stop here! Guilty. Get the dog.
Bring it before the court.

They have looked everywhere. No dog.
And in town people tell them:
- It seems, the dog has died
About two days ago.
And the wisest has in anger
Bumped his stick: - Find
The place where the dog is buried!
Dig it out and punish it.

The people walk around with shovels,
They have dug up every yard.
The place where the dog is buried
Is not known to this day.

Pedro

Ah the wise men are back. Gracias a Dios. That was a great story. The dog one could have been written about the justice system in my neighborhood.

vera

Thank you, Pedro. It is gratifying for any storyteller (or re-teller) to have an appreciative audience.

vera

Hi everybody. I have stumbled on some more tales of the Helem Wise men, and decided to take this thread out for airing. This one is translated from Hebrew, in prose, so it will not be as the previous ones, still, it is in the same line.

Pedro, I hope you find it to your liking.

The horse in the synagogue

There was an epidemic in Helem town. The old and the young were sick and dying, and the town was in deep sorrow. The Helem people have gathered in the town square, before the great Wise Men council, to decide what to do to end this terrible plague that has befallen them.

The Wise Men have thought, and considered; they have argued and debated and thus they finally decided: the townspeople were to rise early each morning and hurry to the synagogue to say Psalms.

But the Helem people were late sleepers. They would lie in their beds until late in the morning, and rose not early to hurry to the synagogue, and read not the psalms, and the plague was not over. The town was in dire trouble.

And so the people have gathered again in the town square, before the great Wise Men council, to discuss what to do to end this plague which has befallen them.

It was the Wise Men decision the people rise early to say the Psalms. But the people were late sleepers, and rose not early. What to do?

They should, decided the Wise Men, hire the shamash (the person serving and maintaining the synagogue) to go to all people and wake them at dawn.

And so they did. They hired the shamash to go and wake all at dawn, so they could go say Psalms. But then the shamash went to the Rabbi and complained that he is very cold walking around the streets at night, and he feared he would catch his death of cold.

So the people gathered again at the town square: what to do to stop the plague? It was the Wise Men decision the people rise early to say the Psalms. But the people were late sleepers, and rose not early. So they hired the shamash to wake them at dawn. But the shamash was cold to walk at night. What to do? The town was in dire trouble.

The council Wise Men thought and considered, argued and debated, and decided: the people were to buy a fur coat for the shamash to wear, so he could walk the streets at night and not catch his death of cold.

The people were happy. They got a fur coat for the shamash, and thought now their worry was over. But the old gabai (the person in charge of the collecting the money at the synagogue) then went to the Rabbi, and complained. To this day he was the only one in town who owned a fur coat. And now the shamash also had a fur coat. How would the people differentiate between them and give the gabai proper respect?

Again the council of the Wise Men was called to decide. It was the decision the people rise early to say the Psalms. But the people were late sleepers, and rose not early. So they hired the shamash to wake them at dawn. But the shamash was cold to walk at night. Now the shamash had a fur coat to keep from cold, so how would the people know him from the gabai? What to do? The town was in dire trouble.

After much debate and discussion the answer was found! The shamash should wear his fur coat inside out, fur outside, skin inside. That way the people would know him from the gabai. All was well!

Only the next day the shamash came to the Rabbi with a new complaint: because he has worn the fur coat inside out, fur outside, in the night the dogs thought he was a wolf and attacked him.

The town was distraught, and went to the council of Wise Men again. It was the decision the people rise early to say the Psalms. But the people were late sleepers, and rose not early. So they hired the shamash to wake them at dawn. But the shamash was cold to walk at night. Now the shamash had a fur coat to keep from cold, and he wore it inside out so the people would know him from the gabai, but the dogs attacked him. What to do? The town was in dire trouble.

Again the council much thought and considered, debated and discussed, and the answer was once again found: the shamash was to ride a horse, to keep from the dogs attacking him.

But then the people asked: at night will the shamash ride the horse, but when in the morning and during the day where would the horse stand?

The council thought and considered, debated and discussed, and so they have decreed: during the morning and the day the horse will stand at the women's partition in the synagogue. And so it was.

But the next day came the women to the synagogue, and found the horse there, and started to shout and complain that they cannot pray with the horse at the women's partition, for fear it will kick them. The town was in dire trouble.

Again the people all gathered in the square, and the council met and thought and debated - and a most wise solution was found: the horse would stand in the men's partition. The men are not afraid the horse would kick them during the prayer. And so it was done.

But when the men came to pray, they found there was no place for them to stand, and each was pushing the horse to move away and make space.

The people gathered once again: asked and questioned, thought and discussed, where should the horse be standing?

And the Wise Men in their wisdom decided: the horse will stand before the column. But as that was the place of the hazzan (cantor), he would be leading the prayer sitting on the horse.

So a new question was raised: when they reach "the maker of peace in high places" (a Jewish prayer for peace), how will the hazzan make a step backwards?

And the people gathered before the council, who have much debated and discussed, thought and considered and so was decreed at last most wisely:

The people were to rise early to say the Psalms. But the people were late sleepers, and rose not early. And so they hired the shamash to wake them at dawn. But the shamash was cold to walk at night. Now the shamash had a fur coat to keep from cold, and he wore it inside out so the people would know him from the gabai, and he rode a horse so the dogs would not attack him. And the horse served the shamash in the night, but during the day it would stand in the synagogue before the column, and the hazzan would sit on him and lead the prayer. But the hazzan had to take a step backward when they reached "the maker of peace in high places". So the gabai was to pull the horse by its tail to make it step backward...

and so the town could finally be saved from the terrible plague which has befallen them.

And since then to this day it has remained a rule in Helem: when the gabai is seen to pull a horse by its tail, all know they have reached "the maker of peace in high places".

Pedro

Another good one. Thanks Vera.

vera

My pleasure. Love these tales.

I seem to have seen a book at my son's school, but can never remember to check it out when I am there. Got to find it and bring home for more.

Black Dog

These tales are wonderful! They remind me of the old English tales of the "Wise men of Gotham", who tended to do things......differently. But those tales are not as sophisticated as Vera's.