"And--and you will never scold me?" "_Never._" "Never make me unhappy?" "Unhappy? I? You? What do you mean? Why?" "_I_ don't know, Freude says...." "_Wa_--the witch!" He draws nearer to her. She pushes him back. "Yössele?" "What is it?" "Tell me--what is my name?" "Treine!" "_Phê!_" the small mouth makes a motion of disgust. "Treinishe," he corrects himself. She is not pleased yet. "Treininyu!" "No!" "Well then--Treine my life, Treine my crown, Treine my heart--will that do?" "Yes," she answers happily, "only--" "What now, my life, my delight?" "Only--listen, Yössele,--and--" she stammers. "And what?" "And when--if you should be out of work any time--and when I am not earning much--then perhaps, perhaps--you will scold." The tears come into her eyes. "God forbid! God forbid!" He forces his head out of her hands, and flings himself upon her parted lips. * * * * * "Plague take you altogether, head and hands and feet!" a voice comes from beneath the partition. "Honey-mooning, as I'm alive! There's no closing an eye--" It is the husky, acidly-spiteful voice of Freude, the tatterdemalion. XXV BETWEEN TWO MOUNTAINS (Between the Rabbi of Brisk and the Rebbe of Byàle) A Simchas Torah Tale TOLD BY AN OLD TEACHER I Of course you have heard of the Brisk Rabbi and the Byàle Rebbe, but it is not everyone who knows that the holy man of Byàle, Reb Nòach'ke, was at one time the Brisk Rabbi's pupil, that he studied a good couple of years with him, then disappeared for another two, and finally emerged from his voluntary exile as a distinguished man in Byàle. And he left for this reason: They studied Torah, with the Brisk Rabbi, only the Rebbe felt that it was _dry_ Torah. For instance, one learns about questions regarding women, or about "meat in milk," or else about a money matter--very well. Reuben and Simon come with a dispute, or there comes a maid-servant or a woman with a question of ritual, and that very moment the study becomes a delight, it is all alive and is there for a purpose. But like this, without them, the Rebbe felt the Torah, that is, the body of the Torah, the explanation, what lies on the surface, is dry. That, he felt, is not the Law of life. Torah must live! The study of Kabbalah books was not allowed in Brisk. The Brisk Rabbi was a Misnagid, and by nature "revengeful and relentless as a serpent;" if anyone ventured to open a Zohar, a Pardes, he would scold and put him under a ban. Somebody was caught reading a Kabbalah-book, and the Rabbi had his beard shaven by Gentiles! What do you think? The man became distraught, fell into a melancholy, and, what is more wonderful, no "good Jew" was able to help him. The Brisk Rabbi was no trifle, I can tell you! And how was anyone just to get up and go away from his academy? Reb Nòach'ke couldn't make up his mind what to do for a long time.