Yeshiva University - Masmid Yearbook (New York, NY)

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M A S M I D 19 Mongrel By ' H. A. S. E was just a stray mongrel before Jim took him in. Jim saw him kicked out of a saloon, tail twisted between his legs in cowardly fear. Jim pitied the poor wretch and brought him to his room, fed him and then tried to put him out. But a full stomach and a kindly hand had done wonders for the dog. His tail stood erect and his head was held high and he romped around the room like a colt at pasture, stretching its legs for the first time. After that Jim could not put him out: and he finally had to take him along up-State where in a wild moun- tain forest he owned a sh ack. Jim called him Mongie. Jim had a young son, Robert. Jim was a widower and his son was the light of his father ' s eyes. Jim would often watch Rob- ert and the dog playing together, and the emptiness of the shack would ssem to fill out. Once, while Jim was away, and Robert and Mongie were alone in the cabin, a starved wolf crept in through the open door. Mon- gie was snoozing in a corner and Robert was playing on the floor. The hungry wolf leaped at Robert and bit deep into the boy ' s ar.n. Robert cried out Mongie and fainted. The dog bounded up and bowled the weakened wolf over. Frightened, the wolf slipped out through the door, and loped for the woods. When Jim returned, he found Robert ly- ing on the floor unconscious and Mongie lick- ing the boy ' s punctured arm. Jim saw red. It looked certain that Mongie had bitten the boy; but, Jim reasoned, there was only Mongie who could call a doctor. If you ' re too late, you damned mon- grel, I ' ll shoot you! Off v.-ith you, now, and get Doc. Mongie understood. The way to the doc- tor was through the woods. Mongie was running a blue streak when he came upon the starved wolf. It ' s hard to say what came into the dog ' s mind. Perhaps a vision of Robert dying on the floor danced before his bloodshot eyes and dispelled all his master ' s care to hasten the errand. It was a mongrel ' s vengeance that urged the animal, not the orders of his reasoning master. Mongie fixed his teeth in the wolf ' s throat, and to-gether they rolled through the underbush. The Vv o ' .f was able to take a slice out of Mongie ' s shoulder before Mon- gie reached his jugular. Then the tussle was all over, and Mongie limped off for the doc- tor. The doctor might have come in time if Mongie had been a reasonable creature. As it was Doc hurried into the cabin just as the breath, of life rattled out of Ro- bert ' s throat. Jim ' s lips were a thin line. He took his gun and shot a bullet through Mongie. A low whin; and the dog lay still. Jim threw Mongie outside where the wolves would feast on him. When Jim entered the cabin Doc began explaining the difference between a dog-bite and a wolf-bite. Doc didn ' t understand, at first, why Jim whitened and then clumped over to the water basin to wash his hands clean. Jim felt, he afterwards said, like a darned mongrel. There have come suggestions that more vegetables be put in our vegetable soup. By way of furthering the cause we suggest they put more horse in the horseradish. Now stop that! If you eat another piece of cake you ' ll bust! Well, pass that cake and get out of the way.

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18 M A S M I D was an opportunity to view the schtiebel. The place was small, dark, and ill-ventilated. It was a typical European schtiebel . There were a few tables and benches in the room, a large reading desk in the center, a small one in front of the Ark, and book-closets all along the length of one wall of the room. The atmosphere was European: that is, it was not American. Chassidim are essentially emotional, and soon they started singing again. This time their mood was philosophical, sentimental; not the joyous chassidic tone of the dance. Again tliey sang the Chassal Sidur Pesach , but this time they sang it slowly. They did not look dreary; they still smiled, but now their song was really a prayer. O hasten to lead the established plant to Zion with joyful song. L ' shanah habah b ' yirusha- lyim - lem. ' Next year we shall be in Jerusa- The group song soon ended. Single ren- ditions followed. Chassid after Chassid stepped up to the small bimah and ren- dered his prayer-song . Meditatively the Chassidim hummed along with the singer. I felt far. far away from America. I was in a Polischc schtiebel in Poland... Even Chassidim can not live in the schtie- bel forever. They too have homes and families. At last the service was over. I stepped out of the schtiebel . The street was dark and deserted. The charm of the schtiebel was still upon me. I came to a busy avenue. Automobiles sped by, honking their horns. The spell was broken. I was in America... -J. K. AGED OAK. A broken thing lies dead upon the earth, A thing that breathed of beauty at its birth; For fashioned by the hands of the Divine It towered proudly stretching towards its shrine. Its trunk has seen the countless ages go To dusty death in Mother Earth below. It, too, has felt the trembling knife of youth That struck the heart with Cupid ' s swift-gone truth. But deep in dust it humbly lies forlorn. Of life and beauty now forever shorn. Oh, that it could its gathered wisdom speak And tell the ancient tales I still would seek. While I, wan lover of the forest shade, Forget the glory of the world ' s parade; A kindly friend of every fallen leaf — I walk the silent woods in silent grief. And still 1 turn old foot-worn paths to tread Among the stately memories of the dead. Louis Bacishnikoff

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20 M A S M I D Father and Son By Jacob Agushewitz EB ZEIDEL HALEVY was a man of medium stature and of strong build. His pale face was encircled by a black, thick beard. He was always dressed in a black silken gaberdine, long tsitsos dangling through his vest. The self-possessed look in his eyes, the simple manners, and the frank expression of his face, created an atmosphere of tranquility about him. Indeed! Tranquility and simplicity were the chief traits of his character. Reb Zeidel never regarded himself as a path-finder in any sense of the term. He followed strictly in the long-trodden way of his ancestors. His lumber trade as well as his art of living were transmitted to him by his father. Thus Reb Zeidel led a quiet, simple life, respected by the Russian community in which he lived, and undisturbed by new ideas that gradually filtered into the town and occu- pied the minds of the rising generation. He did not concern himself with attempts to solve the riddle of the Universe or his proper place in it. The purpose of the world and the purpose of his life were both clear to him. No doubts ever arose in his mind con- cerning any of his tenets. His topics of dis- cussion invariably centered around the Tal- mud. His mind was content, his conscience clear, and he hoped that when his day would come his soul would return to heaven in as pure a state as when it was given to him. Often he would sit at dusk and brood over the follies of the new generation that refused to follow in God ' s ways and talked of cos- mopolitanism, self-emancipation, re- form and assimilation. His constant hopes and prayers were that the merciful God would pardon the transgressors, change their heart for the better and hasten the com- ing of the Messiah. Mr. Jacob Levy is a middle-aged man. A short, neatly trimmed Vandyke beard covers his chin. His dreamy eyes and broad fore- head betoken an intelligent man. Indeed, Mr. Levy is a self-examining man. Like many of his generation, he has undergone constant intellectual struggles. Though reared in a strictly Jewish spirit, he was often disturbed by the new ideas from the West. Little by little he discarded his old beliefs and looked for new interests. Cosmopolitanism often absorbed all his energies. Why not have peaceable human beings, quoth he, instead of warring na- tions? Why should the killing of people automatically become just, merely because it is being done on a large scale. ' ' For the reali- zation of these ideals of Peace and Progress, the Jews and Gentiles ought to fight shoulder to shoulder against the common enemy, the Empire of Darkness. The Jews, he felt, were lagging behind in the performance of their duty towards this great ideal: when the world will be full of knowledge like water covering the sea. When he entered a Russian University, however, he realized how little co-operation he could expect from the Russians. He found, to his detriment, that racial hatred was too deep-rooted to be eliminated in one or two generations of shoulder-to-shoulder ideals. Disillusioned, he turned to Zionism. In the building of his own fatherland he found absorption for his energy of the ideal. Zealously he plunged into the work of fur- thering this cause. But often, in the quiet of his study, he would sit down and ponder deeply. He would then evaluate his aspirations and their practicability. Looking out to the infinite Universe with its inexorable, severely me- chanical rules, and considering how little these vast transcending forces seemed to care for the furtherance of his and his nation ' s cause, he would suddenly see his cherished ideals fade like a vain dream. The vision of his venerable father treading calmly in the way of his ancestors, quietly hoping, implic- itly believing, always certain, never disillu- sioned, would then rise before him. in full contrast to his own distracted and standard- less life. Then the tranquility radiating from his father ' s confident eyes would tap a foun- tain of faith within Jacob Levy which, rush- ing up, would flood out his pessimism, and enable him Ui find contentment in renewed zeal for the rebuilding of Zion.