Two Scholars Who Were in Our Town and Other Novellas by S. Y. Agnon Page B

the town elders asked him, ‘Our rabbi, whom shall we put in your place and who is worthy to sit in your chair?’ He said to them, ‘If you want to bestow joy on our hallowed Torah, select Rabbi Moshe Pinchas as your rabbi, for he is a genuine scholar among the true scions of the Torah.’ And inasmuch as our great rabbi was much beloved by us, we hastened to do his bidding.” Reb Moshe Pinchas’s expression began to undergo a transformation. After a short while, he said to the coachman, “Stop!” They assumed that he had to attend to a call of nature and stopped the carriage. He stepped down and took his bags. They asked him, “What’s this?” He said to them, “Any kindness that comes to me from that man – I don’t want it!” They said to him, “Rabbi, please relent and don’t embarrass a leading Jewish town.” He waved them away and said to them, “Go safely and in peace.”
    What more can we add and what more is there to tell? There is nothing more to add and nothing further to tell, except that once he had parted from them he did an about-face and began walking towards his hometown. The dignitaries chased him after him and called out, “Rabbi, Rabbi!” Since they saw that he was not listening to them they said, “Please come back into the carriage and we’ll bring you home.” He shooed them away with his hand and did not return. They stood there unable to decide whether to pursue him or to go on their way. And while they were standing there, he had covered so much distance that they could no longer see him. They lost their resolve and re-boarded the carriage. They returned to their town, and he to his.
    Reb Moshe Pinchas returned to his town and entered the study house. His wife and all her father’s household got word and rushed over, and with them his sons and daughters. They asked him, “Why did you come back?” He responded to them in the same words he had used with the two dignitaries. Shaindel wept and cried out, “Oy, what have you done to us?” He sat there in silence. And when his father-in-law reminded him of the expense he had gone to for the clothing, etc., he stood up, removed his top coat, and said to him, “Take it and leave me be.”
    And what took place after that? There was no difference between before and after, none at all. Reb Moshe Pinchas would sit and study, his sons and daughters grew up, and his father-in-law fell ill and passed on. When he died, Reb Moshe Pinchas was deprived of his means of support and forced once again to take on students for a fee. And since he was burdened with sons and daughters he was not afforded the ability to be selective and say, “This pupil suits me and this one does not.” And from to time, he even had to take on an unworthy student.
    23.
    And now we shall lament the fickleness of time. Three or four generations back nothing had been more beloved than Torah, but two to three generations ago Torah began a gradual decline. (God forbid that Torah should decline, rather despisers of Israel should decline!) The study houses remained full, but the students studied for their own gain, in order to be called “Rabbi” and be seated in places of honor. Albeit, the decline was not like that in our own generation, but the beginning of a decline is still a decline. Not many days had passed before Reb Moshe Pinchas had grown to detest his students and his students to detest him, for they sought wit without substance and he had studied for the sake of true Torah. They say that he did not find even one worthy student, and if he did find a worthy student he was one of the poor ones who were unable to pay tuition. The elders of that generation, who would act according to their custom and vie with one another in matters of law, might have mistakenly assumed that all was as it should be. And yet in truth the world was not the same and norms were not normal. And as the number of dedicated hearts dwindled, the number of books proliferated, and anyone who