Herman Heijermans

“ He'll die of joy if he gets eight thousand guilders with his daughter-in-law. And then it will be all yours—yours and Rafael's; yours to hug and wrap your soul around, my girl; [71] all—all, from the last atom of diamond dust in the cases there, to the rust on the nail in the latch on the door that keeps away the moans of the starving!"
Rebecca.
But do you think——?
Rafael.
But you won't be betrayed by an old man's lust for gold. No! You'll say: "Father, I have a heart; I will not give myself to one I do not love, to soothe your itching palm!" You'll look well saying that, Rebecca! ”

“ Rafael.
You are speaking to a Jew who claims to-day and to-morrow as his own—not yesterday! A Jew who believes that it shall not be asked if a man worship in a synagogue or in a cathedral, in a chapel or in a mosque, or in silence and solitude under God's own dome! And the falsehood you have brought me up by; our hatred and our bigotry which keeps us away from them, our cursed earthiness which keeps them away from us—I loathe it all—I hate it—I will fight it as long as I live! I am a Jew—a Jew of to-day and to-morrow; and every man whom God created in his image is my brother!
The Rabbi. ”

“ The love of the way that is easiest, the love of the son of honest Sachel—the love of a Jew!
Rafael.
[Slowly, sorrowfully.] And now you say "Jew!" "Jew!" as they say it in the streets, among the mob, when I go beyond the Ghetto. It sounds strange from lips that I thought loved me; it sounds strange from the daughter of your father! Such a man he was! When you and I had our first long talks together, and you told me of the noble deeds your father had done in behalf of the Jews, I couldn't help [61] loving you for his sake; and now you call me Jew! I am a Jew. Never forget that I am a Jew. ”

“ Rosa.
[Rushing to Rafael.] Rafael! Rafael! Tell me the truth. Am I not your wife? Don't you love me? Do you love some one else? Do you love Aaron's daughter? They are planning to marry her to you. [45] What does it mean? [He motions her to be silent.] Does it mean that you wish it? No—no, it can't be that: you have said you were going away; but you didn't tell them of me. Why? Why do you not tell them of me?—soon enough you'll have to; and then—then you will have to choose—choose between the rage of your father—between disinheritance—poverty—the wrath of all the Ghetto, and me—only me! ”

“ Rafael.
Rosa! Rosa! Are you not my wife?
Rosa.
Your wife—here in the Ghetto—here among your people? No, to them I am a Christian—to them I cannot be your wife—to them I am a sacrilege—an insult in their teeth! Oh! as one who enters hell I entered here—a steaming hell of avarice; not life—but a sickly poisoned dream of gain, gain—always gain. ”

“ I am going to tell him that you and I were married by the Civil Authority beyond the Ghetto, that we are one and indivisible. Poor old man! I am not without love for my father, you know. He will think that I am lost for ever; he will turn me away from his door with a curse on his lips; and then, when we are gone, he'll sink down in his chair and weep; a broken life, an old age come to nothing! And he may die at any moment—it may kill him—and he might have died and never have known it.
Rosa. [73]
Rafael, I can't be the cause of his death! Don't tell him, Rafael! ”

“ You bore yourself with such calm—such fortitude—as if, when God had touched your eyes, He had whispered into your ears some portion of the everlasting truth. No one saw me—I was back in the shadow. And I started forward; I wanted to say, "Father—go in; father, never labour again! Sit in your chair—rest always—while I do your bidding—while I do everything!" But I did not say it. No! I stopped; I slunk back into the deepest shadow like a criminal. I had uttered a cry, but you and Jacob did not hear me. ”

“ Aaron, Levy, Isaac, would they not have done the same? Is there any one who would not take advantage of my eyes? No; business is business.
Rafael.
Business,—Aaron, Levy, Isaac! God, how I have despised them all my life!
Esther.
Oh, he would give overweight!
Rafael. [43]
I will quarrel no more with you. When I am gone——
Sachel.
You are not going—you shall not go! [Trembling.] I have nothing in the world but you. Didn't I do it all for you? When I am dead the money will be yours, and the blame sewed up in my shroud with me. Can't you be content? ”

“ Rosa.
The very hour that he went away, and seven days are gone! Seven days—and he stood here and took me in his arms! Oh!— [turning] —you who cry after me that Rafael has deserted his Christian mistress; it is because you never knew the love of anything but money! You look down—always down! But the same clear sky was over our heads when he kissed me here, and we looked up to it and thanked God, who made us dare to lead our life in open truth before the world! Let God punish us for loving each other, if that be a crime! Oh, does He punish us? ”

“ Have some coffee, Rosa!
Aaron.
You think it is not good. You don't know! That wool was bought by my daughter, Rebecca, and I'll back her judgment against any man's in the Ghetto! [Gives a little to Sachel.] Feel that!
Sachel.
[Breaking the fibres, and listening to the sound they make.] His daughter! Cotton! More cotton! His daughter!
Aaron.
I will match her with your son, any day!
Sachel. [21]
My son is in no hurry to marry.
Aaron.
Marry? I meant as a judge of wool. You are the only one that's thinking of marrying him. What's the matter—doesn't any girl's father want him? ”

“ Rafael.
The wind must have been Aaron, disputing the value of his wool!
The Rabbi.
Good! Good! Ha, ha, ha! He has a mind; he will not let his heart run away with his head!
Rafael.
And so Rebecca——H'm! But I shall not let [101] my heart run away with my purse. I should hold my hot young blood in bounds!
Sachel.
Not always! Not always! A young man must have his day!
Rafael.
But is she well? Is she sound? One cannot be too cautious. I knew of a girl who seemed as strong as a green peach on a tree; and she had not been two days married when, what do you think? Why, she died! ”

“ The Rabbi.
[To Sachel.] You had better drink in silence, and go home. You are deceiving yourself: you know not where you stand!
Rafael.
What! What does he mean, father? Am I deceiving myself? Are you not planning to marry me to Rebecca? Do you fear, then, that I have fallen in love with her? Is she not an honest girl—a shrinking girl—a girl as good as Father Aaron?
Sachel.
Yes, and better!
Rafael.
Will she not bring me a dozen of everything, and ten thousand guilders? Could man ask more? What's wrong here? Why do they not raise their glasses? ”

“ Could you not have fastened on someone [50] else than Rafael? Who sent you here to find him? Did your Christian God send you here?
Rosa.
[Thinking of Rafael.] Yes, yes, my God did send me here— [checks herself] —or else I should have starved.
Sachel.
Starve! Does a demon ever starve? Not while young men have hot blood! Hah! It is well that I have found you out before this thing has gone too far. Don't I know your damned tricks; you wouldn't be satisfied with a passing touch of his lips. You've got a brain—a lying, scheming, devilish brain! You want his heart—you want his soul! By God! ”

“ Sachel. [25]
Marry whom? No girl who does not bring twelve thousand guilders shall marry my son!
[Exit Esther.
[Rebecca pauses at the bridge unobserved and interested.
Rebecca.
[Aside.] They are getting on!
Aaron.
[Swelling with indignation.] Twelve thousand guilders! Twelve thousand guilders! A snap of the finger! And is your son a prince? You talk like an imbecile. Suppose some one was fool enough to give his daughter such a dowry, what would you give your son?
Sachel.
Nothing! He has his share in the business—or will have.
Aaron.
Oh, you're enough to make a man jump into the sea! ”

“ What could Sachel do, even if he could reach the boy? After seven days, at the very moment Sachel has been persuaded to accept all this—to treat you as his daughter—here slinks Rafael along the canal and up through the warehouse and whispers that he has given you up! Then he wheedles his father out of more money than I would give ten sons, and then boards a ship for England! [To Sachel.] Do you think I'll see my daughter marry such a man? If he wants to return next year on the hope of marrying Rebecca, you tell him to remain in England! ”

“ Why, if he finds her gone and she left no word, let him draw his own conclusions; that she was afraid to stand by him; afraid to share his poverty. You say "to-morrow"? He may be back to-night! It's your one chance. If it succeeds, the girl goes, with two hundred guilders in her pocket; Rafael stays home—in due time marries Rebecca—becomes a successful Jew. If it fails—then this Christian robs you of him anyway! [Sachel ponders; then suddenly touches him; they listen; Aaron whispers.] ”

“ Rafael.
H'm!
Rebecca.
And, moreover, I think that young men should be more careful as to how they let themselves be talked about—more careful than you are. They call you an infidel, Rafael, and they say disagreeable things about you and this impertinent servant of yours.
Rafael.
They do! [A pause.] Of course, if we were to contemplate matrimony—you and I—such a matter would be very serious.
Rebecca.
It certainly would.
Rafael. [70]
And so it's very fortunate, Rebecca, that we have been talking in a kind of irony—you and I—over a matter which was never even remotely possible! Isn't it? ”

“ Rosa.
Rafael!
[She jumps into the canal.
Sachel.
Stop! O—O God! It isn't true! Rosa! Rosa! [At the wall.] A stick! A stick! I cannot find one! Where are you? For God's sake, answer! Don't you hear? O God! O God! [Turns to the house, where music is being played.] Daniel! Samson! Open the door! [The music drowns his voice.] Help! help! [He rushes back.] Rosa! Reach out your hand! Where are you—where are you? Answer me— [the music ceases abruptly] —answer. [A silence. He slinks away from the wall. A pause.] What will Rafael do? What will God do? ”

“ They go up: The Rabbi stops at the bridge.
The Rabbi.
Very well; but you will treat the young girl tenderly, my friends? Look here; you and Esther and Rafael bring her to my house some night when there will be no one else there. We'll let her feel the warmth of our hearts, as if she were already a Jewess. We will show her what the inner life of the Jews is; the life that the Christians have no conception of. And so we will work upon her better nature; but—yes, yes, I see you are busy. You are not worrying about Rafael, then?
Aaron. ”

“ Sachel.
Ha, ha! [Pokes The Rabbi.] You don't laugh enough!
The Rabbi.
As I was about to say, when I was interrupted, you have said that Rafael wants to go away. Then let [94] him go! When he comes back he'll have a different view of his people. Do you fear he won't come back; not come back to his home—to his blind old father? You are foolish, Sachel! Drive him away, and he'll find that there is no home in the world like a Jewish home—that a clock ticks nowhere in the world as it does by one's own hearth. Ah, the Christians don't know what family life is; they have nothing to compare with ours. ”

“ The boy found that he could rid himself of his burden; the discovery came when he had been looking about for a week, and finding nothing but poverty, privation and despair on every side; no one would lend him money; none of his former friends would speak to him; there was only the choice between an absolutely hopeless struggle and running away. He ran! And I say a young man who has thus been tried and found wanting is no man to be my daughter's husband!
Sachel.
O! Because Rafael has had one mistress is he not good enough to be your daughter's husband?
Rosa. ”

“ Jewess light your fire on Sabbath—would a Jewess open your letters for you? Shall I send her away?
Sachel.
Not yet.
Esther.
No. Because on Sabbath your feet would be cold and your letters would lie unopened, even if you were not blind. I pity the girl; I have heard that her father was a gentleman and died poor and in exile, because he had given succour to the persecuted Jews.
Enter Rosa.
Sachel.
Who can prove it? It is a good story to work upon our sympathies. They cannot deceive me. I will have no sympathies.
Esther.
[To Rosa.] Isn't it warm. ”

“ Samson.
[Whispering.] To-morrow, when you are alone——
[He pauses, hearing Sachel in the shop.
Sachel.
No, no!
Mordecai.
But——
Sachel.
No, no, no!
Enter Mordecai, followed by Sachel.
Mordecai.
Half a guilder! Half a guilder! Oh! if it isn't worth four guilders, it is worth nothing.
[He begins to roll up his lace.
Sachel. [7]
If it is worth four guilders to you, keep it. H'm! Because I am blind, cannot I feel with my fingers? No, it is tatters.
Mordecai.
It's beautiful. I leave it to any one.
Sachel.
So do I. I leave it to Rosa; she's a Christian, she knows nothing about trade. Rosa!
Rosa. ”

“ Rafael.
That's your shrinking nature, Rebecca, your extreme sensitiveness! H'm! How should a man's heart know which way to beat? On the one side the daughter, with her delicacy, her shrinking nature; on the other side the father, who sticks at eight thousand [69] guilders! No; at eight thousand I will not love you. ”

“ You'll stand and face him in the dignity of truth! You'll be defending the next generation against the crawling viper of greed! I'd like to be there! I'd like to see the flash in your eyes; even now you cannot think of it without fire in your look! I see the anger of righteousness ”

“ Enter Rosa, by the bridge; she drops her hands, hopelessly, and stays near the bridge, turned away from them.
Aaron.
[Without looking about, whispers.] Was that her step? [Sachel nods; a pause; Aaron begins in a moderate tone.] Yes; but a man who gives his word to one girl and then deserts her, would desert another girl. Shall I let my daughter risk that? No!
Sachel.
But I tell you it is not a parallel case! A marriage solemnised in a synagogue is one thing; but a marriage such as this—which we all know is not a marriage, either inside or outside the Ghetto—I tell you it's totally different! ”

“ You think Rebecca is——
The Rabbi.
She's as honest as her father!
Rafael. [102]
Ah! Two of them, as honest as each other! [The Rabbi has growing appreciation of the irony.] H'm! But a good housewife? A good needlewoman? Sharp over the counter? My father has not slaved to feed the idleness of another man's daughter!
Esther.
I'll answer for that. I thought I could bake cakes, but she's coming to-morrow to teach me how! You never tasted such cakes!
The Rabbi.
Indeed, I believe I have heard them spoken of.
Sachel.
[Who has been musing.] Eh—cakes? You cannot expect a girl to know everything. ”

“ Hush! [Exit Rosa. Rafael goes to the window; sees Rebecca.] Rebecca! She knows that the old people will be at the synagogue at this hour. What does she want here? A true daughter of her father, and yet she has many virtues, I suppose! I wish she would take her virtues and go home! I want to get at my music. ”