The Fremont weekly journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1867-1877, 1868-11-06
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IFrom the Atlantic for OctOber.l
THE TWO RABBIS.
~ JOHN q. WHITTIER.

BY JOHN q. WHITTIER.
The Rabbi Nathan, two-seore years and ten, !,
Walked blameless through the evil world,
aud then,
Just as the almond blOssomed in his hair,
Net temptation all too strong to bear,
And miseIsbly sinned. So, adding not
TO guilt, he let his seat, and taught
No more among the elders, but went out,
From tho great congregation girt about
With sackcloth, and with ashes on his head,
Making his gray l:cks grayer. Long he
prayed,
Shifting his breast; then as the Book he laid
Open before him for ths Bath Coils choice,
Pausing to hear that Daughter of Voice,
Behold the royal preacher words: "a friend
Loveth at all times, yea, unto the sad;
And for the evil day thy brother lives"
Marveliug he said: at is the Lord who gives
Counsel in need. At Ecbatana dwells
Rabbi Ben Isaac, who all men excels
In righteousness and wisdom, as the trees
OF Lebanon the small weeds that the bees
Bow with their weight. Twill arise, and lay
Ny sins before him"
- And he went his way
Barefooted, fasting long, with many prayers;
But even as one who, followed unawares,
Suddenly in the darkness feels hand
Thrill with its touch his own, and his cheek
famed
By odOrs sub1y sweet and whispers near
Ofwords he loathes, yet cannot choose but
hear,
So, while the Rabbi journeyed, chanting low
The wall Of David's penitential woe,
Before him still the old temptation came,
And mcoked him with the motion and the
shame
Of such desires that, shuddering, he ab-
horred &
HIMSELF and, crying nightly to the Lord
To free his soul and cast the demon out,
SmOte with his staff the blackness round
about.
At length, in the low light Of spent day,
The towers of Ecbgtaua far away
Rose on the deserts rim; and Nathan faint
And footsore, pausing where for some dead
saiut
The faith of Islam reared dOmed tomb,
Saw some one kneeling in the shadow, whom
He greeted kindly; ''May the Holy One
Answer thy prayers, 0 strAugerP' Where
upon
The shape stood up, with loud cry, and
then,
Clasped il each others arms, the two gray
men
lwept, praising Him whose gracious prOvi-
dence
Made their paths one. But straightway as
tie sense
OF his transgressiOns smOte him, Nathan tore
Himself away; Goa friend beloved, no
more
Worthy am to touch thee, for came,
Foul from my sins, to tell thee all my shame,
Hsply thy prayers, since nOught availeth
mine,
May purge my soul, and make it white like
thine,
Pity me, o Ben Isaac, have sinned,
Awestruck Ben Isaac stood. The desert
wind
Blew his long mantle backward, laying bare
The mournlul secret of his shirt of hair.
Il too, 0 friend, if not in act, }" he said,
'Iu thought have verify sinned. HIST thou
not read,
Better the eye should see than that desire
Should wander2' Burning with hidden
For pity and for help as thau to me.
Pray for me, 0 my frisndl" Bat Nathan
cried,
q" Pray thou for me, Ben Isaacl"
Side by side
In the low sunshine by the turban stone
They knelt; each made his brothers woe his
own,
Forgetting, in the agony and stress
Of plying love, his claim of selfshness;
Peace for hi, friend besouyht, his own be-
came;
His prayers were answered iu another's
name;
And, when at last they rose up to embrace,
Each saw Gods pardon in his brothers faceI
Long after, when the heldstone gathered
moss,
Traced on the targum mlrge of OnkelOs,
In Rabbi Nathan's hand these words were
read:
"HOpe not the cure of sin till Self is dead;
Forget it in loves service and the debt
Thou canst not pay the angel shall forget;
Heavens gate is shut to him who comes
alone;
Save thou soul, and itshallsave thy ownI"