The History of a Lie Part 4

"Mysterious silence reigned in that terrible place.

"The gates creaked softly; the rustling of long coats was heard, touching the stones and shrubbery; finally a vague white figure appeared and slipped by like a shadow along the pathways.

"This figure knelt before one of the tombstones; three times it touched the stone with its forehead and softly whispered a prayer.

"Along the path leading from the gates came an old man, bent, limping, sighing and coughing. He came over to the ancient tombstone, and lowered himself on his knees near the white figure that had entered before him, and he, too, whispered a prayer.

"Then heavy footsteps were heard, and a tall, impressive figure appeared on the road, clad in a white mantle, and he, too, fell down on his knees, as though unwillingly, in front of the tombstone.

"Thirteen times this was repeated. Thirteen old men came over to the tombstone. The doctor counted them, but he could not understand whether they were alive or dead. A s.h.i.+ver crept down his back, his heart began to beat faster from fright. He involuntarily recalled the terrible legend of the Day of Atonement in the tenth month, Tishri, in the synagogue of Posen when, during the prayer of Kol Nidrei, the congregation kept growing larger and larger; unknown people, pus.h.i.+ng one another, wrapped in prayer shawls, came in, one hundred after another, until the terrified Rabbi lifted his hand as if to curse and exclaimed: 'He who has flesh in his cheeks, let him throw off the prayer shawl!' Hundreds remained covered, and when the prayer shawls were torn away from them, all saw the skulls of the dead who had come out of the graves to celebrate the Day of Atonement with the rest of the congregation.

"As there, it seemed to him that the prayer shawls had fallen off the heads of the praying old men, and a row of dead skulls appeared. At that moment the clock struck twelve. A sharp metallic sound rang out on the grave, after which a blue flame appeared and illumined the thirteen kneeling figures.

"'I greet you, Roshe beth Aboth (heads) of the twelve tribes of Israel,' announced a dull voice.

"'We greet you, son of the accursed.'

"'A hundred years have already pa.s.sed. Where have the Nesiyim (princes of the tribes) come from?'

"'From the lands where the nation of Adonai has been scattered by the orders of our forefathers.'

"'Are you ready to fulfil the promise during the coming century?'

"'We are ready!'

"'Then say, whose representatives are you, and where do you come from? Tribe of Judah?'

"'From Amsterdam,' replied a strong, loud voice.

"'Tribe of Benjamin?'

"'Toledo!' came the dull answer.

"'Tribe of Levi?'

"'Worms!'

"'Tribe of Mana.s.seh?'

"'Budapest!'

"'Tribe of Gad?'

"'Cracow!'

"'Tribe of Simeon?'

"'Rome!'

"'Tribe of Zebulun?'

"'Paris!'

"'Tribe of Dan?'

"'Constantinople!'

"'Tribe of Asher?'

"'London!'

"'Tribe of Issachar?'

"The answer came in a faint voice and could not be heard distinctly.

"'Tribe of Naphtali?'

"'Prague!'

"'And I am the representative of the unfortunate and exiles,' said the man who asked the questions in a dull voice. 'I am myself wandering about all over the world in order that I may unite you for the sake of the cause of redemption which has been promised to the seed of Abraham and which was taken from them by the sons of him who was crucified! Who is here of the house of Aaron, let him rise, scrutinize the heads of the tribes and gather the council.'

"The man who was the first to arrive rose and then seated himself upon the tombstone. One by one the others came over to him and whispered in his ear a seven-syllabled word, and each time he nodded in approval. After that all returned to their former places. 'Brethren,' said the Levite, 'our fathers formed a union which compels all those chosen as representatives of the tribes to gather every hundred years at the grave of the great teacher of Caballah whose doctrines give the chosen ones power on earth and supremacy over all the descendants of Ishmael. Eighteen hundred years the struggle has been conducted by the nation of Israel for supremacy which was promised to Abraham and which was taken away from us by the Cross. Trampled under foot by our enemies, under the terror of death and all kinds of humiliation and violence, the nation of Israel, nevertheless, has not abandoned this struggle, and as they are scattered all over the earth, the whole earth must belong to them! Our learned men are conducting this struggle for hundreds of years; the nation is gradually rising from its fall; its power is growing and spreading. To us belongs the earthly G.o.d, which was made for us with such sorrow by Aaron in the desert ...

the Golden Calf which the backsliders are wors.h.i.+pping!'

"'We hear!' they whispered on all sides.

"'When all the gold on earth will be ours, the power will go over to us. Then will be fulfilled the promise made to Abraham. Gold is the ruler of the earth. Gold is power, reward, pleasure ... all that human beings fear and desire. This is the mystery of the Caballa ... the teachings concerning the spirit which rules the world, and about the future! Eighteen centuries we have belonged to our enemies. The future belongs to us. For the fifth time in the course of the thousand-year-old struggle to which we have consecrated ourselves, those who know of the existence of the secret union have gathered here to take counsel as to the means which are afforded us by the sins of our enemies, and each time, for five hundreds years, a new Sanhedrim, ordered the fiercest struggle. But, excepting Russia, not a single century has been crowned with such success as this one. Therefore we may think that the time for which we are striving is near, and we may say, "The Future is ours!"'

"'Yes, if persecutions against the Jews will not take place in the meantime!' pointed out one of the men with a bitter smile.

"'The dark days of such a danger are pa.s.sed. The success of so-called civilization among the Christian nations may serve as the best protection for our endeavors. Before listening to the individual opinions, let us examine the material means, the pure capital possessed by the nation of Israel....'

"'But against the three and a half million Jews with their money there are 265 million enemies in Europe, or rather 500 million fists,' remarked one of these present.

"'The head will protect us against the fists, as in the past. Labor is the slave of speculation, and violence is the slave of wisdom.

Who will deny that cunning is the distinctive trait of our nation?

"'Our nation is ostentatious and greedy, arrogant and pleasure-loving.

"'Where there is light there is also shadow. It is not in vain that Adonai our G.o.d gave his chosen people the tenacity of a snake, the cunning of a fox, the look of a falcon, the memory of a dog, the diligence of an ant, and the sociability of a beaver. We were in captivity on the rivers of Babylon, and have become powerful! Our temple was destroyed, but we have built a thousand new temples! For eighteen hundreds years we were slaves; now we have grown head and shoulders above all other nations.'

"All the twelve p.r.o.nounced the concluding words-

"'Brethren,' said the Levite, 'the time has come when, in accordance with the laws of the founder of our union, we must determine ways and means by which the Jews shall attain their goal as soon as possible; our experience of a hundred years will help us in this. We who know must direct and guide the ma.s.ses which are blind. We, the builders, will combine the dead stones into a pillar which must reach the sky.'

"'The Tower of Babel was destroyed by the hand of Him whose name I dare not p.r.o.nounce,' said the sceptic.

"'Our structure rests upon the foundation of the promise made to Abraham. It is your turn to speak, representative of the tribe of Reuben! By what means will the Jewish nation achieve power and supremacy over all other nations on earth?'