Page 71 - Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen

"The men down there," she cried out desperately,
"they're not wedding guests. They're Nazis. Nazis! Do
you understand? They kill people. They killed—kill—
will kill Jews. Hundreds of them. Thousands of them.
Six million of them! I know. Don't ask me how I know,
I just do. We have to turn the wagons around. We have
to run!"
Reb Boruch shook his head. "There are not six mil-
lion Jews in all of Poland, my child."
"No, Rabbi, six million in Poland and Germany and
.
Holland and France and . . "
"My child, such a number." He shook his head and
smiled, but the eorners of his mouth turned down in-
stead of up. "And as for running—where would we run
to? God is everywhere. There will always be Nazis among
us. No, my child, do not tremble before mere men. It
is God before whom we must tremble. Only God. We
will go ahead, just as we have planned. After all, this
is our shtetl, not theirs, and there is still a wedding to
be made." He lifted his hand. On his signal, the wagons
started up again across the last few yards to the market.
As they moved closer, more men in dark uniforms got
out of the cars and truck cabs. They made a perfect
half circle in front of the synagogue doors, like a steel
trap with gaping jaws ready to be sprung.

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