Yeshiva University High School For Boys - Elchanite Yearbook (New York, NY)

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eaaiflazavwzwvissweesifvizzf W y -::':f::':f:s:::v:z:::':-zszarvinewsfcsasf' TH E EL CHA NITE :ISYS IWIZF THE TELLTALE RAINDROPS by Harold STeinbaum, '37 I TN a small Tlourishing Town of CenTral Rus- sia, There lived a prosperous Jewish merchanT by The name OT Reb Shloime. T-le was well known Tor his kind and chariTable naTure and his inTelligenT and honesT manner OT carrying on his business. Even his compeTiTors and ri- vals in Trade had The uTmosT respecT and admiraTion Tor him. BUT among Those who loved him mosT were The people who came inTo closer conTacT wiTh him Than The resT oT The communiTy: his Tam- ily and his servanTs. A kinder masTer Than Reb Shloime was noT To be Tound Tor miles around. l-le Took pains To keep secreTs Trom his servanTs, buT TreaTed Them as his equals and gave Them TrusTy Tasks To perTorm wiTh only Their own word To vouch Tor Their honesTy. As The saying goes, Tell a ThieT he is an hon- esT man and he will very likely believe iT. So iT was wiTh The servanTs oT Reb Shloime. OT course, we did noT mean To say ThaT his servanTs were Thieves-by no means! BUT in a large esTablishmenT oT The sorT ThaT our merchanT carried on, one will probably Tincl one or Two characTers noT quiTe so sTerling in qualiTy as The maioriTy oT The oThers. OT such doubTTul characTer lbeTore coming To his e-sTaTe as a servanTl had been lvan, a Tair-haired Pole, Reb Shloime's righT-hand man. lvan had only recenTly been promoTed To The oTTice of Toreman and general body- guard To his masTer, One mighT quesTion The good sense and shrewdness oT The masTer in enTrusTing a man oT This sorT To a posiTion oT such imporTanceg however, The reason Tor This rash acT was The very TacT ThaT Shloime sus- pecTed a looseness in characTer, which he soughT To correcT by deliberaTely enTrusTing him wiTh valuable goods and missions oT prime imporTance. So calmly and in a man- ner so maTTer-of-course did The masTer Take Tor granTed his servanT's honesTy ThaT lvan's beTTer naTure almosT always conquered Temp- TaTion. ln his own hearT, Reb Shloime Took pride in The knowledge ThaT he had broughT To The surTace The man's honor and inTegriTy. Such was The relaTionship beTween maSTer and servanT when our sTory opens. BuT iT seems ThaT Reb Shloime's TrusTing naTure car- ried circumsTances a biT Too Tar and creaTed Tragedy and misery where peace had reigned. ll lT was The cusTom oT Reb Shloime To make 5 very long and perilous Trip To several .com- mercial cenTers locaTed many miles disTanT Trom his naTive ciTy. The purpose OT This 'our- ney was To buy up large quanTiTies oT mer- chandise in These markeTs Tor cash, Thus pay- ing much less Than his compeTiTors who boughT on crediT. l-lowever, a greaT many dangers accompa- nied a Trip oT This sorT and, ThereTore, iT was Taken only Twice a year. lvlosT oT The Travel- ing was Through a dense wilderness widely in- TesTed wiTh Thieves and cuTThroaTs. One can readily see, ThereTore, ThaT a well-known wealThy business man on a buying Tour wiTh Thousands OT dollars in cash on his person. would have been Tine baiT Tor any enTerpris- ing and ambiTious young highwayman. However, The danger oT unknown ThieveS was, as They say in Jewish, only a halbe ture. The real and everpresenT peril was The TempTaTion creaTed in The hearT OT whosoever happened To accompany him. lT was neces- sary To Take aT leasT one man along To help bring back The goods and drive The Teams. IT was equally essenTial ThaT This man be The cream oT The loT and wholly TrusTworThy. 3i

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FUNNY Nolses by MiITon Shapiro, '35 ICAIVIE home The oTher riigh+ and I saT down and IisTened To The radio and The noises iT makes. I Turned The dial back 'and TorTh and all The numbers passed before me. The Thing made a Tunny noise when I Turned The diaI back and TorTh and I heard all The Tunny noises. And I Iiked To IisTen To Theiradio and siT There in my chair because I Iiked The Tunny noises. I heard a iazz orchesTra Ied by a TeI- Iow called Happy HoTcha and he made a IoTTa noise wiTh The band-more Than The IiTTIe kid nexT door. The IiTTIe kid nexT door makes a IoTTa noise. The music made by This band made me cIose my ears and shuT my eyes and I Turned To anoTher number. The number was playing a sIeepy meIody or some sorT oT a waI+z and I Iiked iT because iT aImosT puT me To sIeep. WeII. The music played by This sTring ensembIe was very nice aIThough some oTher peopIe probably Think This music Iousy-buT I didn'T care abouT whaT oTher peopIe cared abouT The music I IisTened To Then. And Then came The end oT The music and iTs wonderTuI Tunes and I was sorT oT sorry because I couIdn'+ hear The nice music ThaT I IisTened To up To Then. And Then a guy sTarTed To TaIk abouT some IaxaTive and some sTuTT oT ThaT sorT and iT made me sick and Tunny in The' sTomach. I Turned The numbers around and iT was Tunny how all The sTaTions were TuII 'oT guys who TaIked abouT some Thing or anoTher. IT's aITogeTher Tunny how The radio is The onIy Thing over which a guy can TaIk' and noT be abIe To see his IisTeners make Tunny Taces aT him. And aT ThaT Time I was making Tunny Taces aT all The guys who were sorT of Talking Tor noThing. IT's Tunnier sTiII how all The guys ThaT TaIked didn'T have any- Thing To TaIk abouT and They didn'T say any- Thing eiTher. WeII, anyway all The sTaTions were TuII oT guys ThaT TaIked and I didn'T Iike TeIIows who TaIked, so I shuT The damn radio. My moTher Iooked aT me and saw The biTTer faces I was making because whaT The guys said over The radio wasn'T whaT I wouId Iike To hear said over The radio when I'd be IisTen- ing To iT. A Ii++Ie IaTer I Turned The Thing on again and sTiII The guys were Taiking and They kepT on Talking, so I shuT The radio. And Then I said To myseIT aTTer The guys over The radio couIdn'T be heard any more ThaT, when There wasn'T any sweeT music over The radio, The radio was a nuisance. So I wenT To bed and I said To myseIT The Thing was a nuisance because There was no sweeT music over The radio. I was under The cooI covers and I Iiked iT because The cooI covers made me Teel warm. The window was open and The soTT cooI air TiIIed The room I was sleeping in and I Iiked iT 'cause iT made me warm. I was geTTing To TeeI good and Tor- geT abouT The radio over which some guys were Talking abouT noThing when Trom my nexT door I heard a guy TaIking Ioud. The voice sounded Iike coming Trom a guy Talking over a radio and I didn'T Iike iT 'cause I didn'T Iike guys which TaIk over a radio abouT noTh- ing. So I didn'T Teel warm any more 'cause I had To cIose The window so's noT To hear a guy who TaIked over a radio abouT noThing. And I Turned over and I said The radio was a damn nuisance. 50

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As The Time Tor sTarTing drew near, we Tound Reb Shloime in an uncerTain Trame OT mind. All abouT him, preparaTions were go- ing Torward Tor The coming journey. All The servanTs were busy running To and Tro, geT- Ting ready Tor a Team oT horses Tor The ex- pecTed loT oT merchandise, sToring away Tood Tor The animals: also a sTock oT provisions Tor The Travelers, Tor They would be Tar Trom civi- lizaTion during mosT oT The Trip, which was To lasT abouT Tive days. l-le had leTT The choice oT a companion un- Til The lasT day. Usually, he had no need Tor deliberaTing very seriously on The choice oT his Tellow-Traveler, Tor he had several TaiThTul and TrusTy men who had accompanied him beTore. This Time, however, his mind was in a sTaTe oT doubTTulness: noT because he could noT Tind The proper man, buT because OT a desire To leT his Toreman, lvan, in whose changed characTer he Toolc so much pride, TurTher prove his meTTle in so greaT an under- Talcing. IT was a very greaT rislc he would have To Talce, prudence Told him: yeT, so conTidenT was he oT The ouTcome oT his experimenT ThaT his doubTs were overcome by The vision oT his uI+ima+e success in The moulding oT a man's characTer. The resulT oT his deliberaTions was The decision To Talce lvan, and To prevenT any reTracTion Trom This plan, he senT a servanT aT once To Tincl his Toreman, and Telling him To prepare Tor The long iourney, wiThouT any Tur- Ther explanaTions leTT him To compleTe The preparaTions. AT lasT all was in readiness and, aTTer Talc- ing leave oT his Tamily and servanTs, Reb Shloime mounTed To The seaT beside lvan who was already holding The reins, ready To sTarT. BoTh men were in The besT oT spiriTs and amused each oTher wiTh sTories To pass The Time. The TirsT Two days oT Traveling was across The open counTry plains and The Travel- ers were guiTe comTorTable. They had broughT wiTh Them plenTy oT Tood and wine, and in The baclc OT The waqeon had Tixed up a bed oT maTTresses and blanlceTs. AnoTher TacTor which added To Their comTorT and peace oT mind was ThaT They had noT been molesTed by sTrangers on The road. All in all, Traveling on The plains seemed To agree wiTh boTh Their disposiTions. However, on The morning oT The Third day, They enTered a dense ToresT and had To Tol- low a very TainT Trail. Speed was impossible, and The aTmosphere was Tull oT an oppressive silence which could almosT be TelT. Gradually, The iolly mood oT The men wore oTT and neiTher said hardly a word all ThaT day. By sundown, lvan had a sullen expression on his Tace and in his eyes lurlced a dangerous glinT. T-le looked as iT, on The leasT provocaTion, he would commiT murder. Reb Shloime noTiced This and his own Tace became overcasT wiTh graveness. T-Te began To doubT his own good sense in leTTing lvan come wiTh him. They unsaddled The horses and prepared To camp Tor The nighT, Tor even in The early eve- ning iT was so darlc in The woods Thar iT was impossible To progress TurTher wiThouT geH'ing losT. During The evening meal, Shloime Tried To disTracT lvan's moodiness by Triendly con- versaTion buT The only replies he goT were sullen grunTs or obsTinaTe silence. l-le Tinally gave up in despair and rolled himselT in his blanlceTs Tor The nighT. l-le lay wiTh his eyes wide open, his hearT Tilled wiTh a sense OT impending disasTer, waTching his companion who was siTTing by The dying Tire, his Tace clouded by a brooding Trown. ThoughTs oT a Troubling naTure seemed To prey upon his mind, Tor, occasionally his lips moved as if he were speaking To himselT and he shoolc his head as iT To say No, I will noT do iT. PresenTly, however, he seemed To change his aTTiTude Tor his expression changed Trom a brooding one To one oT Tierceness and There seemed an air oT TinaliTy abouT him as if he had iusT made a posiTive decision. l-le Turned his head and sTole a sTeal'Thy glance aT his masTer, who insTanTly closed his eyes as if he were asleep. When nexT he opened Them, he saw, wiTh a sinking hearT, ThaT lvan had risen Trom The ground and was noiselessly coming Towards him, a gleaming blade OT sTeel grasped in his righT hand! 32