of the memory, lurking at the dawn and dogging the footsteps of night.
They are everywhere!
The unbidden gloom at the wedding feast; the resurrection chant at the burial. They wait at the gate of joy....and are with the sorrow too. They are the fears of our Ancestors: the chains, the checks, the burdens of the Age. They darken the hopes and spread confusion over the page that is yet to be written.
They are in every thing and everywhere!
Not even the fiat of God Almighty can disperse them, for they are the echoes of His voice!
L.
Rabbi Jonathan Prague was once expected to hold a discourse at a public gathering. Before he could open his lips somebody of comparative insignificance rose from a corner and essayed to anticipate the great man. "Let him go on, let him go on," cried Rabbi Jonathan, waving his arms to the angry audience who were loud in their resentment. "It is quite proper," he continued to explain, "that our friend over there should speak first. The Talmud tells us that the mind of the vulgar and ignorant grows more and more confounded with age, so if he kept over his discourse much longer you would not be able to understand a word."
The following anecdote is also related of Rabbi Prague. On a chilly day in June, as such will happen sometimes even in countries other than Great Britain, he was seen in the street wrapped in his fur coat. “Now,” said to him a certain wag, “I can see how true is the saying of the Talmud, that the ass will shiver in Tamuz (June).” “Precisely,” returned Rabbi
Jonathan, "the wise man knows how to meet all sorts of exigencies, and cares nothing for appearances, even when it comes to wearing a fur-lined coat in Tamuz; but the ass had rather shiver."
Hirsche was a cobbler blind of one eye, and he was engaged to be married to Hinde, who was lame of one leg. One day they casually met in the street. "Well, my pretty," says he, "how goes it?" "Just as you see," says she.
"Rabbi," said the scoffer, thinking he might have a fling at the pious man, "I have committed every sin in the Torah, except one, and that is self-destruction." "But that would be impossible with you," was the reply "for it would be a mitzvah. It is written: 'And thou shalt extirpate the evil from amongst thee.'"
The Maggid of Dubno was once requested to say a word of admonition to the leaders of the local Chevra Kadisha, who were given to frequent sprees, to meet which they would charge exorbitant fees for their good offices. This is what he said in the course of his next Drosha: "Last night I had a very strange dream. I dreamt that the Malach Hamoveth and the Chevra Kadisha were having a Din Torah before me. Said the Malach Hamoveth: 'Rabbi, I have a grievance against these people. I am the Shochet and they take the Shechita money.' 'Well, my good friend,' said I to him, 'there is an excellent remedy for you. Wait till their turn comes round. When you will kill them off, in due time you can take their money.' 'Ah,' protested he, 'that would be all very well if they kept it, but they drink it.'"