One
Mother took me to the lepers’ cave for the first time on the fifteenth day of the eighth month. I remember the date because of the Festival of Rain, which turned me into the most famous boy in Zeredah. The story spread quickly throughout the entire land of Ephraim. Everyone wanted to hear about the little boy who had managed to fool the king’s soldiers and save his townspeople.
It began with the first rainfall, which brought crowds of revelers out into the streets and scuttled our plan to sneak out of Zeredah at dawn, before people wake up. Mother didn’t want anyone to see us in the wagon together for fear that if they realized I was going with her to the cave, they would try to scare me with horror stories about healthy people who only glimpsed the lepers from afar and instantly lost their hair and nails, holes gaping in the middle of their faces where their noses used to be. Mother is the only person in Zeredah who isn’t afraid of lepers. Every month, when the moon is full, she heads to the cave with food and medicines for them, and she speaks with them intimately, the way one speaks with friends. She believes that the God of Israel loves the lepers and favors those who help them. And indeed, our house is truly blessed. Many other families in Zeredah barely survive under the weight of the taxes. Their little children must go out to work in the fields and vineyards, while I get to stay home with my tutors, who teach me arithmetic, reading, writing, and even Egyptian. My parents will also hire tutors for my sister, Elisheba, when she grows up, even though she’s a girl.
* * *
I sat on the wagon and tried to hide my trembling hands under my knees. I’d been begging Father a long time before he agreed to let me join Mother at the cave. That’s the way wishes are. You pine for them and look forward, but when they finally do come true, you’d rather be somewhere else.
Suddenly, it started to rain. Mother hesitated. She didn’t want to delay, but the rain grew harder, and we were drenched from head to toe. There was no choice but to go back home and install the wagon cover. It was still early, and we thought we’d be able to get everything done quickly and be on our way again before anyone noticed us, but before we even knew what was happening, we were surrounded.
Mother dropped the reins and gripped my shoulder.
I peeked out of the wagon and saw dozens of people skipping and dancing in the rain. They were raising their hands to the sky and calling out, “Happy holiday! Happy holiday!”
Crowds always make me uneasy. Our house is at the edge of town, concealed by a dense thicket, and I am used to having only my sister and parents for company. I grabbed Mother’s leg and buried my head in her lap. Her fingers gripped my shoulder harder.
Hazy figures began mounting the wagon from behind. I could hear their words but couldn’t decipher their meaning.
“The first rainfall waited for the day of our festival.”
“It’s an omen for a blessed winter for Ephraim.”
“It’s an omen for a blessed winter for all of Israel.”
I don’t know why, but this meaningless chatter filled me with terror. I burst into tears. All the air left my lungs. I felt like I was suffocating.
All of a sudden, I heard Mother laughing. I looked at her, stunned. Her face was beaming.
“Happy holiday, Shelomoam.” She stood up and held out her hands. “Come, let’s join the festivities. The lepers’ cave isn’t going anywhere.”
* * *
Father stepped outside with Elisheba, whom Mother took into her arms, jumping around with her to the sounds of the drums and the harps. Elisheba caught raindrops in her little fingers and licked them voraciously. Father tried to persuade me to return home with him. I generally obey him, but these festivities were interesting, so I told him angrily that this time I wasn’t willing to miss out.
Mother took my side, reminding him that the king’s soldiers had already been to Zeredah that month and there was no chance they would come back again. He finally agreed, on the condition that I stayed by his side at all times. But I ventured off on purpose, mixing in with a group of children. I thought I’d gotten away from him when I felt his strong hands seize my waist and raise me up onto his shoulders.
I felt strong and confident, a head taller than anyone else. The children watched me from below, barely able to contain their envy. I waved at them as if I were the king. No child in Zeredah has a father as young as mine. Some kids’ fathers are practically old men, older than even Grandfather, who is so old that sometimes when Father comes to see him, he doesn’t remember who Father is. Mother says that’s what happens when an elderly man decides to take a second or third wife—he has children the same age as his grandchildren or even his great-grandchildren, and instead of him caring for them, they have to care for him. Six months ago I went out to the fields with my family for the Festival of Harvest, and someone told Father he looked like my older brother. I thought it was funny, but he didn’t. His eyes were panicked. As if the king’s soldiers would care how old he was when he had me!
* * *
I recalled the strange things the people on the wagon had said and wanted to ask Father why we didn’t celebrate like this last year or the year before, why it was that this year the first rainfall signified a blessed winter in Ephraim and possibly all of Israel. But I knew he didn’t like it when I asked about our tribe’s special customs, so I decided I’d ask Mother on the way to the cave. Then I realized that we might not make it out that day, for the celebrations would probably go on until the evening. I saw women bringing out wine and food and spreading green cloths over long tables. Green is also the color of the dancing girls. They raise the hems of their green dresses up above their ankles and twist like snakes in front of the boys, who stop dancing and watch.
Father also stops bouncing around with me in the rain and turns to look at them. I can’t blame him. If I were his age, I would also watch the pretty girls. But it angers me to see Mother notice him looking and glumly join the women setting the table. I know that she worries Father might take another wife who would threaten her position in the family, the way Grandfather did, taking no fewer than four wives, each one younger than the one before. With each new decade in his life, he took a new wife to rekindle his youth, neglecting his previous wives, turning them bitter. Father once told me, in a rare moment of candor, that he would never forgive his father for the way he’d wronged his mother, which was the only reason she had died brokenhearted and young.
Father keeps promising Mother that he will never bring home a rival wife. He only watches the young girls from afar, but he goes to bed with Mother every night. “You are my Rebecca,” he told her just a week ago, having returned from the wedding of an old miller who had taken a third wife.
“Mother’s name is Bilhah, not Rebecca,” I corrected him.
Father laughed and said he meant that Mother would be his only wife forever, just like Rebecca of old. “A son mustn’t always follow in his father’s footsteps, just as Isaac didn’t follow in the footsteps of Abraham. Abraham had three wives—Sarah, Hagar, and Keturah—while Isaac remained faithful to the love of his youth.”
I lingered over Father’s words and finally told him that, in that case, I would have to follow in Grandfather’s footsteps, just as Jacob followed in Abraham’s, by taking several women.
Father went quiet. I could tell I had surprised him. But Mother answered instantly, without even pausing to think, that the case of Jacob proves that sometimes a son ought to follow in his father’s footsteps rather than his grandfather’s. “Had Jacob done as Isaac did and spent his entire life only with his beloved Rachel, his sons wouldn’t have hated each other, and all of us—the three tribes of Rachel—would have lived peacefully together in the land of our fathers.” She paused and then whispered, “And the king would have been one of our own, a son of Rachel, just like Joseph, the father of Ephraim, the great ruler of Egypt, or like Joshua the Conqueror, Deborah the Judge, or Samuel the Priest—all children of Ephraim. Or perhaps our king would have been a son of Benjamin, like Ehud the Hero and S—”
Mother couldn’t finish because Father slapped her back hard. She looked at him, shocked. He had never raised a hand to her before. She hissed angrily that the king’s soldiers weren’t in Zeredah that day and that she was allowed to express her longing for the mighty leaders of the line of Rachel.
Father walked to the window, pale-faced, and looked outside in all directions. Then he told me to go out and play in the thicket. I preferred to stay home and talk some more about our ancestors, but his tone and expression told me I’d best not argue.
* * *
The rain dances lasted for hours, and we only paused to eat around noon. I was impressed with the tables heaped with delicacies that the women had prepared for us without prior notice. Just last night the sky had been copper, and the earth had been iron, and no one could have foreseen the coming of the first rainfall. I pounced on the food, stuffing myself. Father signaled for me to mind my manners, but I pretended not to notice. I tasted everything. My favorites were the crispy honey pastry and the raisin and fig cake.
Though I was busy eating, I didn’t take my eyes off my sister. I could see that Mother was busy serving and that Father was in the middle of a conversation, and neither of them noticed her on her tiptoes, trying to reach the sweet oat porridge. I pulled the pit out of a ripe date and put the fruit in her mouth, but she spat it out disgustedly and demanded porridge.
Suddenly I felt the table jiggling and the ground shaking beneath us. Mother and Father had told me that the earth was angry at human beings for conquering and enslaving it. Most days it submitted, granting us its fruits, but once every generation or two it fought back and destroyed our homes. It must have been especially angry this day over our festivities celebrating the first rainfall. Instead of thanking the earth for its yield, we were giving thanks to the sky. The earth was trying to knock us down to our knees so that we would have to crawl, bent and submissive, and beg for its mercy.
I fell to the ground and laid my head in the moist dirt. I was sure that everyone else was doing as I had done, but the silence had a strange tinge to it. I looked up and saw them all standing, frozen, their eyes fixed on a point behind me. I didn’t dare get up and went on lying in the mud until I could feel that the tables were no longer shaking.
Only then did I see them. It was the biggest group of soldiers I had ever witnessed in my life. No wonder the hooves of their horses had made the tables shake. There were at least a hundred soldiers out there.
I wondered why they had sent so many. Ever since the Rebellion of the Temples, we have all been paying our taxes without resistance. Mother told me that the rebellion had started after the king took the throne and announced a new tax to fund the construction of a great temple in Jerusalem, the most fabulous edifice in all the world. The Judeans had been eager for a new temple that could attract visitors from every land and make their capital an important, central destination. But the other tribes resented it, asking why they should be forced to invest their money in a Judean temple and not their own. In spite of their rage, the taxes were nonetheless paid in full. No one wanted trouble with the authorities. But the Decree of the Temples shattered that peace. At first, people refused to believe that the king would order the destruction of their temples and the dismissal of their priests. How is it possible to live without temples? How can we pray to God? Make requests of Him? Offer sacrifices?
Emergency delegations headed for Jerusalem to determine whether the rumors were true, and the king replied that sacrifices would now be permitted only in Jerusalem, at the Tabernacle for the time being. Later, when the temple was ready, the Tabernacle would be destroyed, as well, and all of Israel would make pilgrimage only to his magnificent temple, which would be the only one in the land.
The stunned messengers tried to explain to the king that Jerusalem was far away and that the Israelites wanted God by their side, but the king wouldn’t relent, and the new decree was written in the Book of Laws. The first rebels were of course from the tribe of Benjamin, the wolves of Israel, and the people of Ephraim and Manasseh soon followed. But the rebellion was not limited to the tribes of Rachel. “We have no share in Judah, no part in Jerusalem. Every man to his temple, Israel!”—this was the rallying cry of the rebellion, and warriors of every tribe stopped paying their taxes and went out to defend their temples.
“So much blood was shed,” Mother sighs whenever she recalls those days, “especially in the lands of Benjamin and Ephraim.”
Ever since, for seven consecutive years, all the tribes of Israel have paid their taxes. Delegations from every corner of the land arrived at the inauguration of the new temple in Jerusalem six months ago. Each month, a convoy of soldiers enters Zeredah, riding confidently on horseback and waving to us in greeting. The adults hurry to the house of administration with their taxes, while the children run after the soldiers, trying to keep up. The soldiers don’t get mad. On the contrary, they smile warmly, sometimes even tossing raisins and almonds to the kids.
One time, I left the house without permission and crossed the thicket alone. When I arrived on the main road, I saw the children running after the horses and decided to join in. The commander, riding in front, pulled up and invited me to hop on. He must have noticed that it was my first time running after them. All the other children gathered around, watching me with envy.
Father seethed when he heard about this and warned me never to leave the thicket alone or go near any soldier.
“But why?” I tried to protest.
“They are not our friends,” Mother answered for him.
* * *
I watched the large company quietly, unmoving, just like everyone else. The only thing I could think of was that a war had started and that the soldiers were drafting all the young men of Zeredah. I was afraid they would draft Father, but then I recalled that there were no more wars. The previous king had conquered the entire land, and no other nation dares threaten us now.
Suddenly, I recognized the commander who had let me ride with him. I wanted to ask him why they had decided to come with so many soldiers today. We were paying our taxes as required. But I knew that if I tried to approach him, Father would panic and get angry, so I continued to watch the commander from afar, hoping he would eventually recognize me and give me a wave and that everyone would calm down and realize that nothing bad was going to happen. Perhaps the soldiers had only come to taste of our delicacies. Let them feast! Why not? Our tables are full. There is enough for everybody.
But the soldiers didn’t move toward the tables. Instead, they remained on their horses, watching their commander intently, waiting for a go-ahead. The commander looked over us through narrowed eyes, though the sun wasn’t even bright. Then, slowly, with a long, accentuated motion, he turned to face the soldiers and gave a nod. I could see his expression. It was so menacing that I squeezed my eyes shut in fear. I opened them only when I heard the horses galloping. I grabbed Elisheba and jumped aside at the very last moment. My leg must have twisted, because rather than continuing with the others, I found myself on the muddy ground again, my sister in my arms. She wasn’t crying. The shock was too great. I stood up slowly with her, careful not to slip, and I saw the green tablecloths strewn about on the ground and the tasty food trampled by the horses’ hooves.
“What is this holiday to you?” the commander shouted.
People tried to run away, but the soldiers surrounded them. The commander repeated his question. I felt relieved when I heard my mother behind me:
“We are celebrating the first rainfall, my lord.”
I was so proud of her courage. Among all the people of Zeredah, she was the only one who dared to speak to the commander. But he wasn’t satisfied. Mother’s explanation must have angered him further, and he raised his whip in her direction.
One of the soldiers rode forward and pulled up at the commander’s side. I recognized him. He was the only soldier Mother liked. With my own eyes, I once saw her smiling and nodding at him in greeting when he rode past our thicket. I had asked her why she was allowed to greet soldiers while I wasn’t, and she had answered firmly that she hadn’t given him any sort of greeting, that I was only imagining it. I didn’t believe her.
“This is Bilhah, the wife of Benaiah the vine grower,” the soldier introduced Mother with exaggerated formality. “They own many vineyards in Zeredah, and their taxes are always paid in full.”
The commander lowered his eyes to examine Mother. “Where is your husband?” he finally spat mockingly. “Why does he hide behind your back rather than talk to me himself? Is this the famous heroism of Ephraim?”
Father shuffled meekly out of the crowd and stood before the commander. I could tell that he was trying to hide his nervousness, but his sweat dripped for all to see. I was ashamed of him.
The commander shot him a quick look. “Are you Benaiah the vine grower?”
Father nodded with tight lips.
“Your wife tells me you are celebrating the first rainfall. Why does it make you so happy this year in particular?”
Father said nothing. I gritted my teeth and held back my tears.
“Because of the drought,” Mother answered for him. “Last year it hardly rained at all, and our crops were meager.”
The commander furrowed his brow with scorn. “Is your man a mute?”
I balled my hands into fists when I heard the soldiers laughing.
Father opened his mouth, but instead of speaking, he just exhaled heavily. I walked over and took his hand. I wanted him to feel ashamed that his little boy was braver than he was. Maybe then he’d stop burbling like a frightened baby and start speaking like a man.
The commander stared at me intently, trying to remember how he knew me. Then he smiled. “Shelomoam,” he said my name affectionately, or so I thought.
I smiled back at him, hoping it would relieve the tense atmosphere and make Father stand up straight.
“Tell me, Shelomoam, which holiday did you celebrate this year before the Festival of Booths?” he asked, his voice soft, almost beseeching.
I wondered why he was asking me such a simple question. The Festival of Harvest is my favorite holiday, the only time Father allows me to go out to the fields with everyone else. We wear white clothes, adorn our heads with green wreaths, and celebrate the first wheat stalks of the season. The priests sacrifice the gift of the first fruits in the fields and thank God for His abundance. Mother told me that, before the Decree of the Temples, the priests used to sacrifice the harvest in our beautiful temple, whose remnants can still be found in the center of Zeredah. Its walls were made of wood and lined with a velvet curtain. What she missed most of all was the stone bull in front, the symbol of our patriarch Joseph. The soldiers had shattered it, leaving nothing behind.
“The Festival of Ingathering,” Mother whispered.
“Silence, woman!” The commander resumed his frightful expression.
I suddenly remembered that I had heard of such a holiday before. Mother had once muttered angrily that the king forced us to celebrate Judah’s Festival of Ingathering and commanded us to forget our own holiday. I had asked her how our holiday was observed, but Father cut her off and wouldn’t let her answer me.
“The last holiday we celebrated in Zeredah this year before the Festival of Booths was the Festival of Ingathering.” I said this confidently, and a sigh of relief sounded behind me, as if everyone had just exhaled at the same time.
The commander ordered me to come closer and describe exactly how we celebrated it. Without thinking, I told him about dancing in the fields around large piles of gathered harvest, and about the wonderful feast we had. I don’t know where these descriptions came from, but the commander’s expression told me that I sounded convincing.
“And how did you thank our God?” he asked slowly. “Did you offer animal sacrifices, or did you make do with a sacrifice of the gathering?”
I was confused and unsure what to say. I glanced at Mother and saw her turning pale. Then I looked back up at the man and said, “Sacrifices? In Zeredah? God forbid! We only offer sacrifices at the new temple in Jerusalem!”
* * *
The people of Ephraim would recount this story for a long time, marveling at the little boy who had managed to trick armed soldiers and save the people of Zeredah.
Mother was also impressed. She waited for the military convoy to disappear into the mountains, then called me back up to the wagon to accompany her to the lepers’ cave. But I had had enough for one day and suggested we wait till morning.
“Don’t be lazy,” she urged me. “I can’t wait to tell the lepers what happened to us today. I want them to know what a clever son I’ve got.”
“It’s my story,” I said proudly. “I want to tell it.”
“You?” She chuckled. “You’d better not. The story is interesting enough without your embellishments.”
Copyright © 2008 by Yochi Brandes
