much meaning as the sound of pebbles dropping into a fast-moving river, and she wished that she could simply open the Good Book and read the passages aloud for herself and for others. But even if they let her come forward and sully its illuminated pages with her dish maid’s hands, she would find that it was written in that same archaic and inaccessible cipher as always.
Anya watched the fragrant wisps of smoke curling lazily around the pedestal supporting the closed book, and she thought back to the gentle way that Yankev had instructed her in the ways of the Bible.
But the dove found no rest, he had said, his voice warm and penetrating as he indulged her desires and patiently showed her how to sound out the phrases in the Noah story of the Book of Genesis. Then he explained that this passage also meant that Israel will dwell among the nations, but her people will find no rest among them.
And she relived the moment he first read to her from the Prophets: But the Lord said to Samuel, Pay no attention to his appearance or his stature, he said, the holy words resonating around their makeshift study table next to Mrs. Meisel’s pantry, and he prompted her to read the rest. And as she slowly put the sounds together into words, it felt like she was absorbing the greatest magical power ever invented right through her skin. She could feel it suffusing throughout her body and coursing freely through her veins, and she still remembered every word of that passage: For things are not as man sees them; a person sees only what is visible, but the Lord sees into the heart.
And when Yankev saw her eyes glistening with emotion, he told her one of his Midrash stories about a princess who married a kind but simple man from a remote village. But the princess was always sad, even though the man always gave her the best bowl of porridge in the village. Nu? What did he expect? She was a princess! She had tasted delicacies from all over the world, and she would never be satisfied with the “best” porridge his tiny village could offer. In this same way, Yankev explained, man’s eternal soul will never be satisfied with material wealth, because the best this world has to offer can’t compare with the sublime and everlasting beauty of the World-to-Come. And so all those deluded souls who seek to satisfy their earthly appetites with riches and comforts are like that foolish man who could never figure out why the best bowl of porridge he could provide would never satisfy his princess.
The curtain parted and the confessional awaited, dark and beckoning, like the mouth of a subterranean passage to another realm, a portal to another world.
She needed to reach out to that world, and she couldn’t do it by just sitting there feeling sorry for herself.
So Anya got up and left the church. She ran down the steps, sweeping past the beggar as she raced homeward.
She couldn’t do what she needed to do without first letting her parents know where she was going.
But as she turned down the lane where her parents lived, she saw Janoshik standing with the sullen priest he had threatened to denounce her to the day before. Janoshik pointed her out, and when the two men started toward her, a small cry escaped from her lips, and she turned right around and ran straight to the ghetto without looking back.
Smoke was rising in the distance, but it seemed as if the fires had already been extinguished.
She was panting for breath when she reached the East Gate and announced to the stunned guards that she wanted to be allowed inside.
“Huh?”
“You’re sure about this?” they said.
“I am.”
“Because this is a one-way gate, sweetheart.”
“Just let me in.”
They opened the small door a crack, and let her squeeze through the narrow gap and slip inside the ghetto.
She ran through the streets as if guided by some instinctual force until she found Benyamin the shammes. His face was scratched and his muddy clothing smelled of smoke.
“What happened?” she said. “Where’s Yankev? Have you seen him?”
“I’m sorry to have to tell you this,” he said evenly. “He’s been arrested.”
CHAPTER 26
I SMOOTHED OUT THE NOTE as flat as I could on the rabbi’s table, hoping that a couple of missing letters might be revealed in the paper’s creases and bring some sense to the matter. But it didn’t help any. Aside