Page 140 - Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen

"What about the rabbi?" asked a woman with a hare-
lip. "What about Rabbi Boruch?"
Gitl did not answer.
Fayge knelt down in front of her, putting her hands
on Gitl's skirt. "We are sisters, Gitl," she said. "I am
your brbther's wife. You must tell me about my father."
Gitl closed her eyes and pursed her lips. For a long
moment she did not speak, but her mouth opened and
shut as if there were words trying to come out. At last
she said, "Chosen. Yesterday. Boruch dayan ernes."
Fayge opened her mouth to scream. The woman in
the green dress clapped her hand over Fayge's mouth,
stifling the scream, pulling her onto the sandy floor.
Three other women wrapped their arms around her as
well, rocking back and forth with her silent sobs.
"Chosen," Gitl said explosively, her eyes still closed.
"Along with Zadek the tailor, the badchan, the butcher
from Viosk, and two dozen others. And the rendar."
"Why?" asked Hannah.
"The rabbi was in the hospital. His heart was broken.
Zadek, too. He had been beaten almost to death. The
badchan because he chose to go. They say he said, 'This
is not a place for a fool, where there are idiots in charge.'
And the others whose names I do not remember for
crimes I do not know. And the rendar . . "
.
"With all his money he could not buy his way out?"
asked Esther's mother.
"In this place he is just a Jew, like the rest of us,"
said Gitl. "Like the least of us."
"He's a shmatte now," said Hannah, remembering
Rivka's word.

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