The Maccabaean

ON Sabbath afternoons the exiles gather in the synagogue awaiting the twilight. They sit in the shadows at peace with the world, and confer on public affairs.

The Rav paces the floor up in front, plucking at his beard. His contributions to the discussions are rare. Leaning against the railing of the altar are Yankel Barden and Avrom Lab, the Dayin. Men gravitate toward them from other groups, remaining a few minutes, and pass on. Here and there a few persons sing psalms, and occasionally a leader steps forth and leads the singing or chanting. In one corner of the room, bending over massive volumes, are a number of old men studying the Mishna.

Aleck and Joey are there, darting in and out among the groups, playing tag. Soon Joey gasps, “Let’s hear them talk.”

On Saturday there is no Cheder, but the Rebi compels the boys to be on duty, as he says, "On Sabbath you might as well be in shul."

In the idiom of Yiddish, the Jewish mind is flink. Above the circles of the disputants, worshippers by rote, drowsy idlers, great problems, by some mysterious law of association, present themselves to the Jewish intellect for solution. Into the Jewish mind are gathered complex, intricate, metaphysical ideas. The Jew seems to be a victim of the persecution of intellect. He must think; he must consider all the objections to a given problem. He must become, as it were, a clearing house for the world's thinking. An

inner compulsion drives him on and his mind is never at rest. Occasionally, however, the conversation comes down to personal matters, but it does not remain there long.

"If Weisman wants to chant the morning service, he must ask the president," says the Dayin. "He can't make believe he doesn't want it, and yet expect that we are going to give it to him."

Weisman is an amateur chazan, the plague of the congregation. He never got anv further than chantinz the Shachris.

"If he would only go away somewheres," they say, "and become a chazan, we wouldn't care; at least we should be rid of him. A chazan, indeed! Why, he will be exhausted ten minutes after he has begun Mussaf. Do you suppose he is as strong as he looks, with his big stomach and monster of a head?"

"If Chayim Suwalker were here, Weisman would have no trouble to davin even on the Yom Noroyim," says the Shammes, who has quite a reputation as an intriguant.

"Ah —Chayim Suwalker—there was a man for you! A singer!————. The first time I heard him," said Yankel Bar- den, "was in the old country, in the old Suwalker Shul. It was beautiful! Why, he could go from the bass's declamation to a child's treble, from joy to sorrow, with such ease, and yet his melodies were always as sweet as the ones your mother used to sing."

Yankel, it may be said, is not a singer, nor does he pretend to have expert knowl-