Saturday The Rabbi Went Hungry [antikvár]

I DJ On the tenth day of this seventh month is the day of atonement, a holy convocation shall it be unto you, and ye shall fast . . . and no manner of work shall ye do on this day . . . it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. A sabbath of rest it shall be unto you, and ye shall fast: on the ninth day of the month at evening shall ye begin, from evening unto evening shall ye celebrate your sabbath. This year the Day of Atonement coincided with the weekly Sabbath, so that the ninth day of the month in the Hebrew calendar fell on a Friday and the tenth on Saturday. It did fr' not make the day any holier—that was impossible—but it v enabled most Jews to observe the holiday without interrupting jj their normal work week. Late Friday afternoon the Jewish community of Barnard's Crossing, like Jews everywhere, was making ready for this most holy day of the year. The women were preparing the evening meal, which traditionally was « more elaborate than usual not only to set off more sharply 1 the twenty-four-hour fast that followed but to give the sus- | tenance needed to endure it. The men had left work early f to give them time to bathe, change into holiday clothes, t dine, and still get to the synagogue before sundown when | the chanting of Kol Nidre ushered in the Holy Day. f David Small, the young rabbi of the community, had fin- | !shed dressing and now stood for inspection in front of the I critical eye of his wife, Miriam. He was of medium height, \ but although in excellent health he was thin and pale, and r behind his glasses his eyes were dark, deep-set, and brood- fe ing. He carried his head slightly forward as though peer- | ing at a book; his shoulders had a scholarly stoop. X His wife was tiny and vivacious with a mass of blonde hair that seemed to overbalance her. She had wide blue eyes and an open, trusting countenance that would have seemed | ingenuous were it not offset by a determined little chin. There was a certain childlike quality about her that not 5