Station Baranovich (a story)
Aleichem, Sholom
STATION AT BARANOVICH A STORY BY SHOLOM ALEICHEM A new translation by Reuben Bercovitch In third class our handful of Jews sat closely packed—you might say, grafted together. Actually, not all...
...the day came...
...Picture this...
...Immediately, a feast was patched together, in my grandfather's house, of course, and runners were sent for the prison guard, the constable, the doctor, and other notables...
...Funds were collected (my grandfather, I don't have to spell out, gave most), and the village—don't be offended— forgot there ever existed a Jew named Kivke...
...Cross-examination—how and what and when—would only upset him...
...Most of all, my grandfather's, may he rest in peace, who was left—don't be offended— with the hot coal in his hand...
...To help, means to help with money...
...What then...
...Jostled and driven by the crush of passengers, he held tight to his bag, sweating, nosing into one face after another and asking: "Baranovich...
...Again, you're in the dark...
...No one wanted to send another groshen to the rascal, but it isn't easy to turn your back on Reb Nisei Shapiro...
...At the meeting in his house, he heard only grumbling: " 'Enough...
...These last words flew up the community's nose—don't be offended—like pepper, and the cackling stopped...
...For what?' " 'For nonsense, for a loose tongue.' " 'A frame-up.' " 'Who framed him...
...You never heard of striping...
...He owned a tavern, and by reputation was not a rock of reliability, which may explain why at his age he was still a bachelor...
...Kivke brooded two or three weeks, and then my grandfather—don't be offended—heard from him again: here and there...
...Striping means—you could be striped...
...This Jew had been up to his elbows in heresy...
...Each in turn tossed out something lively, or shocking, to hold his audience...
...The prisoner would retire for the night, fit and fine, and in the morning he would wake up dead...
...The passengers of our compartment (I among them) swarmed after the Kominker, clinging to his sleeve: "That's not fair...
...Do I have to tell you how this soured the holiday...
...Two rows of cavalry wielding horsewhips, and you strut along between, obliged to complete— don't be offended—twenty-odd laps, as naked—forgive the expression—as you were born...
...Well, you can imagine the commotion in Komink...
...exhaling pleasurably, ignoring his audience, which waited expectantly for the story's end...
...Stop working yourselves up...
...A peasant isn't a Jew, he doesn't take someone else's suffering to heart...
...The Jews of Komink sizzled all day...
...Reb Nisei, why haven't you raised your voice...
...Naturally, as you'd expect, Kivke was terrorized...
...We're begging, with pleasure...
...Kivke, however, did not forget Komink...
...Before the cock crowed, our cadaver—don't be offended—was on the far side of Rogatke...
...No one in Komink has ever, thank God, been whipped, and, with God's help, we'll see to it no one ever is...
...Please...
...Actually, not all sat, only those who had pounced on the few seats...
...Baranovich...
...Well, dear Jews, don't rush to conclusions...
...Don't smile— ask...
...We'll snug up a bit...
...who's Azhev...
...My partner has many offers, ten for one...
...Don't cheer, yet...
...Like a terrorist, someone lobbed the name and blew out the compartment...
...Voices exploded from all sides: "Azev's a Czarist spy...
...Nobody descended from Nobodies...
...This is all preamble...
...where...
...Have I made striping clear...
...I considered filing charges, but I'd lay eyes on more, holding a candle to the sun than suing a German...
...Kivke's end...
...Baranovich...
...Take your hands off...
...Well, how do you like that for regards...
...A double agent on both sides...
...Well...
...The chronicles, they say, were delightful, much more engaging than the stories printed today in books and magazines...
...See...
...If the corpse—our Kivke—fell into their hands at the border and was brought back alive and beaming, the village would be exiled, to the far side of Siberia...
...The very same day, at nightfall, the beadles of the Burial Society washed and prepared the body...
...He brought out a sack of tobacco and rolled a cigarette, choosing among several eagerly struck matches...
...Few—don't be offended—found charity in their hearts...
...And who stood the expense...
...Good...
...Kivke, dead...
...by the price of wheat, which somehow led to the Revolution...
...My grandfather, bless his saintly memory, arrived, after careful deliberation, at a simple solution...
...The music was loud, the drinking heavy, and soon the prison guard— don't be offended—was kissing my grandfather and his family, and the constable was discovered, at dawn, waltzing on my grandfather's roof, without—forgive the expression— his pants...
...I tell you, the loss deprives us all...
...You want me to miss my train...
...You're wondering, why did they besiege my grandfather...
...This is not a parable and not a fantasy from the Thousand and One Nights...
...Before the next holiday, the righteous one wrote from Brod again...
...He thinks he's tapping a mine.' " 'There's an end to everything.' " 'If I can get tired of eating kreplach, I can get tired of Kivke.' " 'Your Kivke will make beggars of us all.' "My grandfather asked, 'Why is he my Kivke?' " 'When he was in prison, whose idea was it...
...Then I can go on...
...To make a long story short, the constable collared Kivke and led him to the local bastille, to wait for absolution under twenty-five lashes...
...I can tell you a story about someone from my village of Komink who makes Azhev—don't be offended—look like a saint...
...Someone recalled a similar episode in his village...
...The devil—they should understand—could call down not only prayers, but curses too...
...Are you in pain because my grandfather, God forbid, poisoned Kivke...
...I beg your pardon, but all of you—don't be offended—are fools...
...My bride was sent to me by the Almighty, may all Jewish husbands know such contentment...
...Not Kivke...
...Too short...
...Eh...
...no one is perfect...
...As soon as he heard "Baranovich," the Jew from Komink jumped up and wrestled loose his bag, a pack sack crammed with odd bulges...
...Otherwise, I must either throw myself into the river, or return to Komink to face the whip...
...Again an envelope arrived, again addressed to my grandfather, again, / wish to report, and once again without help but this time, thank God, with a mazel tov: Since I am soon to be married, with a jewel for a bride, the daughter of a fine family, and since, without help, I will be forced to break my word please send the two hundred in gold I pledged toward the dowry...
...Only this without help was bitter: What do you want from me...
...Here...
...For Kivke, they wouldn't give up even a glass of kvass...
...Now, is it going down, or can't you swallow without a finger in your mouth...
...I envy breeziness in a Jew, and I was attracted to his openness, to his calling us "fools...
...The growing brawl was cut short by the entrance of the Jew from Komink...
...I should have accepted my punishment...
...So my grandfather, may he rest in peace, wrote to Kivke—and in a clear, strong hand he signed: Nisei Shapiro...
...flogging...
...I turned and looked up at a large head squeezed into a silk hat, a face the color of glue setting, a grin shy two front teeth...
...Anything could happen...
...You understand, of course, that Komink waited impatiently for Simon to return from Rodevil...
...And a lively forum it was...
...As usual, having slept well, prayed, eaten breakfast, more or less, and topped it off with a smoke—we were on the morning train, fresh and chirpy as April...
...In closing, Kivke served notice that if they didn't send four hundred fifty in gold, it would end up costing them more, since they would have to reimburse his expenses from Brod to Komink, and from Komink back to Brod...
...Mention anything...
...according to my father—may he rest in peace: for my grandfather to think, he had to measure...
...Go home...
...A clever blind, will you agree...
...The cavalry inflict on you what your rebbe inflicted when you got lost in the text...
...I must get off at this station to ask the dispatcher how far is Baranovich...
...Why start a riot...
...He drove us into the street, but not before he bled us of the two hundred in gold...
...Six months passed, or a year, the time isn't important, and a letter from Kivke arrived addressed to my grandfather: First, I wish to report that I am well, thank God, and look forward to hearing the same from you...
...This time, my grandfather— may he rest in peace—called the community together: 'We have to send him something....' And when Reb Nisei Shapiro opened his hand, you couldn't have a cramp in yours...
...The story itself hasn't even begun...
...Remember, this wasn't just another Jew who'd died...
...He lies, cheats, swindles—a fox with two legs...
...So my grandfather sent the cutthroat—may his name be erased—a number of zhlotys and some plain words (my grandfather, bless his memory, knew how, when he wanted to...
...Uses them well...
...To begin, it was in the time of Nicholas the First, when striping was still common...
...We won't let you go until you tell us the end...
...Finish the story...
...They had no choice, but don't run out of sympathy yet for Komink...
...Refreshed, he continued: "Now pay attention to how a manager manages...
...Led by an honor guard of soldiers, followed by the entire community, the corpse was escorted from the prison to the cemetery...
...Six months went by, maybe a year—the months aren't important...
...he picked me clean and threw me out...
...Yes . .. you would agree...
...Therefore, please send another two hundred, immediately...
...But why are you standing...
...The old story...
...The village knew, on him they could rely...
...It was just the beginning...
...Least of all, my grandfather, may he rest in peace...
...The Kominker Jew sat with a flourish, as if he were the godfather at a circumcision, waiting for the infant to be handed over and cradled in his arms...
...Where...
...The bier was carried into the court for burial, and there, with his droshky and span of fired-up stallions, waited Simon the leather-puller (so my father, may he rest in peace, called him when he told me the story...
...A half year went by, or a year, and a letter arrived—don't be offended— from the swindler, with this news: First, I wish to report that my partner the German—may he be driven mad by nightmares—is a thief...
...Kivke's reward would be happiness in marriage and prosperity in business...
...I understand that the story was recorded in one of our village chronicles, since destroyed in a fire...
...You can't let them get away with this, flogging a Jew, one of our own, a Kominker...
...Not even a lick...
...Kivke has a mouth like a gate.' " 'A mouth like two gates, but flogging?' " 'Who flogs Jews...
...So on this day there arrived from the commissioner—Vasilchi-kov was then commissioner—an order to stripe a Jew named Kivke...
...We're not assassins...
...Seeing that everyone in the compartment was spellbound—straining to hear—the Jew from Komink put a bridle on his tongue...
...He worked everything out, you understand, with finesse and ingenuity, square and round, tucked and stitched...
...And for God's sake, don't dillydally...
...Everyone had something to say...
...One morning a notice arrived from the prison, addressed to my grandfather: since a Jew named Kivke passed away in his cell during the night, and since Reb Nisei Shapiro is head of the community and administrator of the Burial Society, he is directed to assume responsibility for the corpse, and arrange for its removal to the Jewish cemetery...
...Jabbering about what...
...Packed tightly, they squirmed and jockeyed, and somehow pried open a patch of chair...
...Didn't you hear, can't you see...
...The passengers waited, exchanging appraisals of the Kominker and his Kominker chronicle: "How do you fancy our friend...
...She has a father—before you deal with him, pray for redemption...
...Tipping back his silk hat, he left...
...After he puffed the cigarette into smoke and ash, he coughed, blew his nose, rolled up his sleeves and continued: "Don't think that my grandfather's letter made the scoundrel lose his courage...
...Over Azhev...
...The conductor called out, "Baranovich .. . Station Baranovich ...," and rushed past the window of our car...
...As soon as my grandfather, may he rest in peace, finished reading Kivke's sweet message, he felt—don't be offended— dizzy, and fainted...
...When the uproar wore itself out...
...And he closed the letter with a together let us say amen...
...The others stood, jammed against the compartment walls, freely butting into the deliberations of the sitters...
...On Saturday morning the synagogue seethed: " 'Flogging?' " 'Kivke...
...Secondly, I don't understand the Germans, and they don't understand me...
...With the Almighty's help I'll bury him, and with both hands, feed him dirt...
...The village had its laugh, tore the letter—don't be offended—into little pieces, and forgot Kivke...
...This is Station Baranovich...
...The Kominker struggled to free his sleeve...
...What can I tell you, the letter went from hand to hand, and the village held its sides laughing...
...May Station Baranovich burn to the ground...
...In less than six months, certainly less than a year—I don't remember exactly—my grandfather heard from him again...
...Azev's for Azev...
...A freak, a sneak, a squealer, a flea, a Mr...
...Before we could blink, he was gone...
...The village was convinced the normal complications and disappointments ' of marriage would overwhelm : Kivke and he would forget that j Komink ever existed...
...Where are we...
...He would wait another ten days, and if the money hadn't come, Komink would soon, God willing, have a guest...
...No one slept much...
...A trifle...
...He's pleasant enough...
...What was there to think about...
...Reuben Bercovitch is a Los Angeles—based screenwriter...
...Bartender, set up a round of drinks, and the whiskey will wash away the heresy...
...We flitted from subject to subject...
...He'll never have to beg for words...
...That seemed greedy...
...My grandfather, may he rest in peace...
...my grandfather measured the room, pacing off the length, then the width (a habit of his...
...In less than three weeks, a new letter was delivered, again from our corpse, again addressed to my grandfather, again / wish to report, and again without help...
...To begin with, my grandfather had to avoid an autopsy...
...My grandfather did— what he said he would do...
...Among his other qualities he counted a loose tongue, and in his bar he started to bandy words with the peasants—he had to go and pick a Sunday!—about theology...
...The two began to talk at once, and others took sides about who interrupted whom...
...Where were we...
...Unresolved, the dispute collapsed...
...So he turned to the authorities, to the constable, to the prison guard...
...For a moment the passengers were dumbfounded by this unexpected appraisal, but they rallied quickly, traded shrugs, and took turns urging him: "You want us to beg...
...I'm reporting to you an incident that took place—don't be offended—in my own Komink, told to me by my father, who heard it from his father...
...A little gabble-gibble here, a bit of my God-your God there, and the peasants called in the constable and filed—don't be offended—a complaint...
...Now what...
...but who...
...Komink belched fire and fury...
...There I change trains...
...As it turned out—when...
...What end...
...Not exactly similar, but a similar circumstance...
...He called Kivke a fraud, a boor, a sinner, a leech, Satan, spiteful and degenerate and a few other things—warned him, for the last time, not to write again, and reminded him that the Almighty saw everything and punished severely...
...I have to explain...
...Our village went wild...
...A light fine and a good day...
...At the same time...
...My grandfather (his was still a Jewish heart...
...After that, what could he expect...
...He inhaled contentedly, drawing the ash slowly to his lips, then snuffed out the stub...
...But wait...
...A Jew of substance, who carries weight with the authorities—a thinker, too—such a citizen is entitled to good manners...
...What happened next...
...Then I'll start, even before the beginning...
...Who exactly this Kivke was, I cannot tell you...
...Instead, I rented a shop—right next to his— and opened my own business, also crockery...
...You can't leave us like this...
...Why the looks of alarm...
...say, have we stopped...
...Through this gap his z's whistled, and "Azev" came out "Azhev...
...Thirdly, I'm without a groshen and without a job, and without help, I can only lift up my heels, stretch out, and wait for the angel of death...
...Instead, he trumpets, 'No...
...By now, the wounds would have healed, I'd be keeping body and soul together, not roaming around idle, surrounded by Germans, swollen with hunger...
...Komink took turns snickering: 'That's a mazel tov?' 'Did you hear, two hundred in gold for a dowry?' 'A jewel of a family....' 'Cheh-cheh-cheh....' "The 'cheh-cheh-cheh' was good for two weeks, until a new envelope was delivered, again from Kivke, again addressed to my grandfather...
...On top of that, there was the cost to the community—1 wish everyone in this compartment earned as much in a month...
...Kivke had never looked forward to such a funeral...
...Two dowries...
...With the two hundred in gold they sent their best wishes, and their hope that Kivke and his bride would grow old together, in health and prosperity, honored by their children and grandchildren...
...And when was the sentence handed down...
...if I don't receive my thousand in gold in eight days, I'll mail your last letter, which you signed in your own hand 'Reb Nisei Shapiro' to Vasilchikov the commissioner, and tell him everything, from A to Z . . . how I suffered my stroke, how I rose from the dead how Simon the leather-puller smuggled me into Brod, and how you've been sending me money to keep me quiet...
...This letter left out the / wish to report, but not the without help: I am puzzled by your failure to forward the two hundred in gold that I pledged Unless the funds are received promptly, the wedding will be called off, and out of shame I will face two choices: either to drown myself in the river, or to return to Komink to face the whip...
...I'm in Brod...
...None succeeded...
...Rest easy...
...why hadn't they sent the two hundred...
...What's a stripe...
...With luck and our blessings, Kivke was slipped into Rodevil, and from there—good-bye forever—over the border into Brod...
...Still, he had to agree to one condition: this was the last collection...
...The paralysis, may it never happen to us...
...However, there's one loose end—/ need a thousand in gold Therefore, please send . . . "There and here...
...If you're interested, please bear with me...
...Like a wall, the passengers, open-eyed and open-eared, closed around the Kominker...
...His novel Hazen was published last year by Alfred Knopf...
...At the gate to holy ground, the soldiers were dismissed with a few tumblers—don't be offended—of fine brandy...
...He persuaded the constable that his prisoner, Kivke that is, should—don't be offended—give up the ghost...
...But again, the leaders of the community met in my grandfather's house, and again, a delegation, led by my grandfather, went through the village...
...My grandfather wrote to him— Kivke, that is—letting him know, whatever the circumstances—without exception—not to dream of appealing to them again...
...On the other hand, who would suspect that for a few foolish words he would be flogged...
...After the Revolution we bore into the Constitution until we struck the pogroms—the outrages, the martyrs, the new anti-Jewish decrees, the expulsions from the villages, the stampede to America—with detours into other afflictions and evils of this gracious age: bankruptcy, expropriation, war, hangings, hunger, cholera, the anti-Semite Purishkevich...
...Our problem...
...They left with my grandfather's assurance, and in the village they understood, for Reb Nisei Shapiro, may he rest in peace, a word is a deed...
...twice...
...Then, an affidavit was required, signed and sealed, certifying that a doctor had examined the cadaver immediately after death, and that death had been caused by a heart attack—it should never happen to us—a kind of apoplexy...
...and he— Kivke, that is—closed his letter...
...But the story...
...The devil—you understand—asking for their prayers...
...Komink ignored the letter...
...A Jew delivered from striping...
...This was said by one of the passengers leaning against the compartment wall...
...Straining, he dragged it behind him toward the door, toppled the bag to the platform, and plunged after it...
...Do I have to tell you...
...If you're interested, pay attention...
...A folly you'll agree, if you listen carefully—don't be offended—to what happened next...
...Colorful...
...Entertaining...
...That night my grandfather assembled the pillars of the village, who concluded that a delegation, led by my grandfather, would pass among the Jews of Komink, to raise Kivke's dowry...
...Here the Kominker paused, drew out his sack of tobacco, and painstakingly rolled a cigarette...
...He worked it out—with finesse...
...He inhaled deeply, once...
...A-z-e-v...
...Since I have come across a German, respected and honest, and have become his partner in crockery, a business without risk, and since from this business I expect to support my new bride, therefore, please send four hundred fifty in gold...
...A life redeemed...
...In the evening, after blessing the havdoleh candle, they descended on my grandfather...
...My grandfather (may he enjoy sunny days in Paradise) was—not that I want to brag—the most sympathetic, substantial, prominent, influential citizen of our community, respected by the authorities, and somewhat of a thinker, too...
...Which stirred another passenger's memory...
...Splendid, no...
...But God lent a hand, and Simon the leather-puller rolled in from Rodevil behind his fired-up stallions, bringing a handwritten note from Kivke: / wish to report...
...Eventually, my grandfather beat his way to a stop, and announced: 'Children...
...Tell us what happened in Komink...
...Naturally—at night, and just as naturally—Friday night...
...Azev's on our side...
...And why not...
...Then, my dear friends, you would be mistaken...
...He appealed to me...
...The drift to war was resolved (talk of mixing Scripture...
...Everything, with God's help, will be straightened out...
...Kivke never eats his words!' as if being headstrong is balm for burned fingers...
...Words have it easier than deeds...
...The village was not amused...
...closed by begging Kivke to spare the village further pain and to have pity on him as he approached his midnight years...
...Are you following this prodigy...
...Without crockery, God forbid, I have nothing to turn to, and with nothing to turn to, I can only throw myself into the river or go home to face the whip...
...Raking his silk hat over one eye and cuffing his sleeves, he took the floor...
...Who sent him apoplexy?' "My grandfather saw (he was no fool) that he was wasting words, the community had closed its purse...
...Finished, thank God, with a Jew named Kivke...
...But what is it that he did...
...Kivke's wedding plans...
Vol. 4 • January 1979 • No. 3
