Simon Eichelkatz; The Patriarch. Two Stories of Jewish LifeFrank, Ulrich
Religion
Simon Eichelkatz; The Patriarch. Two Stories of Jewish Life
Frank, Ulrich
Jewish fiction; Jews -- Fiction
"I'll come again to-morrow to find out how Herr Eichelkatz is doing," I
said, "and I hope it won't be necessary to let Herr Professor Eichelkatz
know--"
At that moment it occurred to me I had never heard of a university
professor of that name.
"He isn't called Eichelkatz at all," Feiwel whispered with spite in his
voice. "If a man can have himself baptized, he can throw his father's
name away, too. Why not? What should a man be named Eichelkatz for if
he's a professor? If he's a professor, it's better for him _evadde_ to
be named Eichner--such a name!"
Eichner! Professor Friedrich Eichner, the most powerful of modern
thinkers, the philosopher of world-wide renown, a son of Simon
Eichelkatz!
SEPTEMBER 22.
I see the New Synagogue now every day. It was dedicated over forty years
ago, but it is still called "New." They had a rabbi come from Berlin to
dedicate it, and that after their own rabbi had worked for ten long
years to make the building possible, after he had gone to great pains to
scrape the money together, after his ardent appeals had succeeded in
warming his people up to the undertaking, after he had removed all the
difficulties presented by the authorities--after he had brought things
so far, his congregation found it in their hearts to humiliate him at
the crowning point of his achievement, they found it in their hearts to
set him aside at the dedication in favor of another.
Have honor and justice come back to you? Have the years left their
traces upon you, O ye, whom I love, my brethren in faith? Forty years!
New generations have blossomed since those days when pride and false
ambition brought sorrow to a noble spirit, and sought to deprive him of
the fruits of his labor, blessed and pleasing to the Lord. Another was
permitted to take his place and consecrate the work he had called into
being. On the day of his greatest glory they poured gall into his soul,
filled his heart with bitterness. But he forgave!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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