The East Wind

The East Wind is a rabbi in a darkened shul. He sits pored over the Torah scroll long into the night, his back bent like a cane. People come and go and come again, whispering prayers for the needy, the hungry, the sick. They all want something. They flutter around him like moths to a flame. Rabbi, bless my child! Rabbi, would you come to Shabbos dinner? Rabbi, my grandmother is dying, please join the minyan! They do not all study with him at the old wooden table, groaning under the weight of a whole people, but they are all his students. That’s what his mentor said, at least, when he learned to wear the tallis and lay prostrate on the floor for hours, always left wanting more. He carved the Name into his knees that winter and still cannot speak without shuddering. The men in his congregation pray with their eyes open and wonder outside if their rabbi’s lost his mind. Their wives stay home & braid the challah for supper, kiss their own hands in praise. The synagogue is guarded by no one. The rabbi chants in a murmured fervor, believing he sees angels hovering with eyes of fiery wrath, demons leering at him from the shadows. He screams the sh’ma into the eternal twilight, covers his eyes like a child scared of the thunder outside, stands for the first time in weeks, knocks over his chair. A cavalcade of dust roils at his feet & clears to reveal a silent Gd standing in the corner, lit dimly from below. A voice belonging to no one and everyone he's ever known shakes the rafters.

חמֵֽאֱלֹהֵ֣י הָֽעַמִּ֗ים אֲשֶׁר֙ סְבִיבֹ֣תֵיכֶ֔ם הַקְּרֹבִ֣ים אֵלֶ֔יךָ א֖וֹ הָֽרְחֹקִ֣ים מִמֶּ֑ךָּ מִקְצֵ֥ה הָאָ֖רֶץ וְעַד־קְצֵ֥ה הָאָֽרֶץ:

He knows what this means - gods of the nations around you, from one end of the earth unto the other end of the earth - but he cannot remember what comes after. He spins wildly on his heel, searching for an answer, but there comes none. His yarmulke has come undone and the pins lay scattered on the floor. It is silent again and the silence tears at his soul. Morning sunlight filters through the windows. The scroll on the table waits dutifully for its master.

The East Wind sits back down in his chair.

**

shul - another word for synagogue

minyan - group of ten Jewish adults required for a lot of religious events

tallis - prayer shawl

the Name - the name of Gd

yarmulke - round head covering worn by Jews