Cohen

“ This is Joseph Cohen, the one other child of Aaron and Rachel.
A tall, ungainly woman of thirty, working like a willing slave from morning to night, taking pride and pleasure in the home, and metaphorically prostrating herself before every one who lives beneath its roof. Esteemed and valued by her master and mistress, for whom she is ready to sacrifice herself and to undergo any privation; especially watchful of her mistress, and tender towards her; jealous of the good name of those whom she serves with devotion. Of Aaron Cohen she stands somewhat in awe, he is so far above her in wisdom. ”

“ She paused abruptly, struck by Cohen’s quietude of manner, where she had expected a storm. Gazing up wonderingly into his face she cried:—
“Abraham, why are you thus quiet? Why have you not cursed me for a Meshumed, dear? Can it be that you, too, know aught of these glorious truths?”
There was sadness and kindness in his eyes as he returned her pleading glance. But there was no trace of anger.
“I wonder why, little sister,” he began, “I am not angry, as the men of Israel’s faith usually are with a Meshumed, even though the defaulter should be as beautiful as Zillah Robart?” ”

“ Speak low, or Rachel may overhear us."
"You do not see many papers, Cohen?"
"Not many."
"I hardly like to tell you," said Mr. Moss, "but you will be sure to hear of it to-morrow. They never spare a man who is down, For God's sake, Cohen, don't blame me! I've never opened my lips--I'd have cut my tongue out first."
"Let me know the worst," said Aaron. "It relates to me, I see. As for blaming you, set your mind at ease. You have been too good a friend to me to do anything to distress me. Come, shake hands. Whatever it is, I can bear it like a man, I hope. ”

“ Aaron Cohen had earned by his unremitting acts of benevolence and by the worthiness of his career. Such a man deserved the good fortune which had attended him, and such a man's career could not fail to be an incentive to worthy endeavor. Rachel, seated by her husband, and turning her sightless eyes upon the audience, who were only spiritually visible to her, listened to the speaker in gratitude and delight. ”

“ This is Aaron Cohen, now close upon his fiftieth year.
A woman whose tranquil eyes never see the light of day, but in which, nevertheless, there is no sign of repining or regret. Purity and sweetness dwell in her face, and as she stands motionless in a listening attitude, her white hand resting on the table, no more exquisite representation of peace and universal love and sympathy could be found in living form or marble statue. ”

“ Can a thief preach honesty? Can a liar lift his voice in praise of truth?"
"These are strange utterances, Cohen, from your lips."
"There is a sad foundation for them. To know yourself--that is the height of human wisdom; and I have learned too late. Pray do not continue the subject; you stand in the dark, I in the light."
"Well, well," said Mr. Moss, with a sigh, "we will speak of this another time. But I do not see what you can have to reproach yourself with."
"Let every man search his own heart," replied Aaron, and his voice was very mournful. ”

“ It is a pity to see a seat vacant, when so many must stand. But I bade him not be hasty, for perhaps you had been ill of late."
"Why play the innocent, Simon Rabofsky," broke in Cohen, "when you know as well as we that he has been consorting with the gentiles?"
"It is because I am loath to believe it," answered Rabofsky, in a sorrowful tone, as if rebuking Cohen. "I am loath to believe one of Isaac Aronson's household would turn away to bow before the idols of Babylon."
"Is it forbidden to search for wisdom?" said Aronson. ”

“ Cohen, Esther, baptized at Constantinople in 1873, was a deaconess at Mildmay, and was sent in 1885 to Jaffa as a missionary.
Cohen, Rev. James, was all his life an ardent supporter of missions to the Jews, and for many years a member of the L.J.S. Committee. As far back as 1849 he delivered an address to the students in the Hebrew College. He was for many years Rector of Whitechapel, where he eloquently preached both by word and pen. Later he was Vicar of Heston. ”

“ Moss, perceiving that Aaron was wavering, "I should not hesitate; I should thank God that such a chance fell in my way. Even as it is, if I did not have eleven children, and expecting the twelfth, I would take this lamb into my fold--I would indeed, Cohen. But my hands are full. Cohen, let me imagine a case. It is a cold and bitter night, and the world is filled with poor struggling creatures, with little children who are being brought up the wrong way. Rachel is asleep upstairs. You are here alone. Suddenly you fancy you hear a cry in the street, the cry of a babe. ”

“ The influence of such a man in removing--no, not in removing, but obliterating, the prejudices of caste was lasting and all-powerful. He regarded it as a privilege that he had been deputed to express the general sentiment with respect to Mr. Aaron Cohen. This sentiment, he begged to add, was not confined to Mr. Cohen, but included his wife, whose charities and benevolence were perhaps even more widely known and recognized than those of the partner of her joys and sorrows. ”

“ In the wise and reverent interpretation of Aaron Cohen, their loss became a source of consolation to them. "Let us not rebel," he said to his wife, "against the inevitable and Divine will. Give praise unto the Lord, who has ordained that we shall have a child in heaven waiting to receive us." Fraught with tenderness and wisdom were his words, and his counsel instilled comfort into Rachel's heart. Benjamin was waiting for them, and would meet them at the gates. Beautiful was the thought, radiant the hope it raised, never, never to fade, nay, to grow brighter even to her dying hour. ”

“ Cohen. We will say a hundred and twenty."
Aaron turned to Rachel and asked, "Is this the bribe you spoke of?"
"It is not," she replied. "Mr. Poynter will explain it to you in his own words."
"I haven't the smallest objection," said Mr. Poynter. "You see, Mr. Cohen, it is sometimes necessary to put the screw on. Who knows that better than you? There is a material screw, and a moral screw, in this particular case. The material screw is money; the moral screw is an iron safe, of which, as yet, no mention has been made in the newspapers." ”

“ The religion is life, it seems to me, sir; theology is only the science of that life.”
Both men were so utterly absorbed in their talk that they did not hear a touch on the handle of the door. It was only as it opened that they turned round. Zillah stood framed in the doorway. Cohen, who saw her every day, realized that she had never looked so radiantly beautiful before. She had almost burst into the room, but paused as she saw that a stranger was present.
“Excuse me,” she began; “I had no idea you had a friend with you, Abraham.” ”

“ A quarter of an hour later he drove up to the house of Cohen. He found him, with his wife and Zillah, on the point of starting for their synagogue.
“One may live a life-time, as a Jew, in this country,” Cohen explained, “and never see the ceremony that is about to take place in our synagogue. It is what is known in our religion as ‘Chalitza.’ Will you go with us, Mr. Hammond?”
[147]
Tom Hammond’s eyes met Zillah’s. Then he promptly said—
“Yes” to the Jew’s question.
“Right, then! We can explain about the ceremony as we go!” Cohen said, and the quartette left the house. ”

“ There was a Jewish trader called Cohen, who had come by one of Strickland's pictures in a singular way. He was a little old Frenchman, with soft kind eyes and a pleasant smile, half trader and half seaman, who owned a cutter in which he wandered boldly among the Paumotus and the Marquesas, taking out trade goods and bringing back copra, shell, and pearls. ”

“ Reb Shemuel?"
"You are a Cohen. Hannah cannot marry a Cohen."
"Not marry a Cohen? Why, I thought they were Israel's aristocracy."
"That is why. A Cohen cannot marry a divorced woman."
The fit of trembling passed from the old Reb to the young man. His heart pulsed as with the stroke of a mighty piston. Without comprehending, Hannah's prior misadventure gave him a horrible foreboding of critical complications.
"Do you mean to say I can't marry Hannah?" he asked almost in a whisper.
"Such is the law. A woman who has had Gett may not marry a Cohen." ”

“ A beadle! Was there ever a higher position in life?
"Isaac," his uncle suddenly cut in on his dreams, "if Mr. Rosen, the President, asks you how much you want, you should answer that you will be satisfied with the same amount as the former beadle received." And before Cohen had time to say a word the uncle continued—"and here we are—second floor front. Let's hope for the best."
"Amen," said Cohen.
Mr. Rosen, the President of the Odessa Synagogue, was a very fine old gentleman. He had come to New York twenty years before Cohen, and prospered in the insurance business. ”

“ All the Cohen household was there. Zillah, radiant with the glow of the new life in Christ that had come to her.
Rachel, her sister, was red-eyed and sullen. Zillah had been pleading with her to open her mind, and her heart to the Christian teaching of the Messiah who had come, and who had atoned for all the race, Jew and Gentile alike.
Angry and sullen, the wife had said hard things of Zillah. Her frivolous, irresponsible nature was more than satisfied with the barest form of the faith of her race. ”

“ Cohen were a rich man he would be one of the heads of our people.' She is right; she always is. But there are times when a man cannot exercise his judgment, when he is so upset that his mind gets off its balance. It has happened to me, and I have said afterwards, 'Moss, you are a fool': it happens to all of us. ”

“ He was not a great advocate, in the popular sense, and in a court of first instance might be outmanœuvred by a man of much less ability. But for the argument of a question of law before an appellate tribunal he has had few equals. In all probability no advocate has so often addressed the House of Lords and the Judicial Committee.
Cohen was tall and handsome, with a mass of dark hair, brown eyes, and a fresh complexion. ”

“ Cohen calmly persisted in his denial that he had ever enjoyed the honor of the architect's acquaintance, and after two prosecutions, in each of which the jury hopelessly disagreed, the indictments against him were dismissed. From this it may easily be inferred that no fact is too patent to be denied. Frequently the more heroic the denial the greater its verisimilitude to truth. The jury feel that no prisoner would deny a fact that it would be much easier to explain away—and believe him. ”

“ Cohen's a clever fellow," they said. He grew to be respected by them, and as the weeks passed by and it was seen that he was not only a fair-dealing but a kindly-hearted man the innuendos which Mr. Whimpole continued to circulate about him produced a very small effect. Mr. Whimpole was not pleased; where is the man who would have been in his position? Talking one night with Rachel over the animosity the
corn-chandler bore toward the Jews, Aaron said:
"I have no doubt, my dear, that he is quite conscientious, and that he considers his prejudices to be the outcome of a just conviction. ”

“ For a long time he stood in silence, musing upon the sin he had committed, the full measure of which had not yet come home to him. He held a high place among men; his name was honoured; he had been spoken of as Aaron Cohen the upright Jew; he had made himself a leader, and had but to speak to be obeyed; he had brought back strayed sheep to the fold. The Chief Rabbi had said to him, "The example of such a man as yourself is invaluable. Inroads are being made in our ancient faith, and you stand like a valiant soldier in the breach. You exercise an influence for incalculable good." ”

“ Had Aaron Cohen argued with M. Levi upon this neglect it is likely he would have contributed to the defeat of the object he had in view; but he was far too astute to argue with a man who, being in the wrong, would have obstinately defended himself when thus attacked. He knew the value of the lesson the Levis had received, and he was content to wait for the result. He would have been greatly gratified had he heard the whispered words addressed to her husband by Madame Levi.
"Cannot we do the same? Cannot we live as they do?" ”

“ Cohen, you have the reputation of being an earnest and sincere Jew."
"I follow the precepts and the obligations of my faith," said Aaron, with a searching glance at his visitor.
"In this backsliding and time-serving age orthodoxy--especially, I should say, in the Jewish religion--has a hard time of it. The customs and duties of an enlightened civilization must clash severely with the precepts and obligations you speak of. ”

“ No one interrupted. Cohen could not, for the thrall of some strange, new power was upon him. His wife was furious—but kept her fury bottled up. The children were delighted, they loved to hear their aunt sing, and to the amaze of their father and mother—they joined in the singing, for, with other children, they had often of late been to the evening meeting for Jewish children. And Zillah, who had talked with them, believed that they loved the Christ.
Without a break, the three voices sang on:
“But Christ the Heavenly Lamb,
Takes all our sins away ”