Satan in Goray

Satan dance in the streets.
    And the deeds of the Faithful were truly an abomination. It was reported that the sect assembled at a secret meeting place every night; extinguishing the candles, they would lie with each other's wives. Reb Gedaliya was said to have secreted a whore sent him by the sect in Zamose somewhere in his house without the knowledge of his wife, Rechele. A copper cross hung on his breast, under the fringed vest, and an image lay in his breast pocket. At night Lilith and her attendants Namah and Machlot visited him, and they consorted together. Sabbath eve, dressing in scarlet garments and a fez, like a Muslim, he ac-companied his disciples to the ruins of the old castle near Goray. There Samael presented himself to them, and they all prostrated themselves together be¬fore a clay image. Then they danced in a ring with torches in their hands. Rabbi Joseph de la Reina, the traitor, descended from Mount Seir to join them in the shape of a black dog. Afterward, as the legend went, they would enter the castle vaults and feast on flesh from the living--rending live fowl with their hands, and devouring the meat with the blood. When they had finished feasting, fathers would know their daughters, brothers their sisters, sons their mothers. Nechele, Levi's wife, strolled about unclothed, con¬sorted with a coachman before the eyes of all the company--and of her own husband too....
    Goray became a den of robbers, an accursed town. The old residents were afraid to leave their homes, for children, who were also numbered among the Faithful, threw stones at the rival group. The chil¬dren were particularly spiteful. They placed nails on the prayer-house seats of the old residents, causing them to tear their clothing; they cut the fringes of their prayer shawls, and molested their goats. Some boys even poured a bucket of slop down the chimney of a house and contaminated the vessels and food. The Faithful went so far as to write the government, charging their opponents with disloyalty, and they spilled oil on their goods; they even avenged them-selves on small children. A woman who was returning from the bathhouse was ambushed in a back street by some hoodlums who attempted to rape her. She screamed and they ran away.
    God's name was everywhere desecrated. In the villages the peasants already complained that the Jews had betrayed their faith and were behaving ex-actly like gypsies and outlaws. The priests were incit¬ing the masses to a holy war. They foresaw all devout Christians gathering together, sword and spear in hand, to exterminate the Jews, man, woman, and child, so that not a trace should be left of the people of Israel (God save us!).

    11

    The Sacred and the Profane

    Ever since Rechele had heard that Sabbatai Zevi had donned the fez, the holy angels had ceased appearing before her. She lay in her canopy bed long hours every night, reciting holy names and awaiting a vision. She invoked cherubim and seraphim, meditated on Metatron, the Lord of the Face, and petitioned him until her lips grew weary and her strength lapsed. But there was no reply. Just recently Bathsheba and Abigail would visit her and they would study the mysteries together. When she was half- asleep, Joseph the Righteous would appear in all his beauty and grace and lead her through the heavenly mansions. He showed her the Garden of Eden and the Gates of Gehenna, the Treasures of Snow, and the Three Hundred and Ten Worlds to be inherited by the pious. When she awoke her legs would ache from so much climbing about in the celestial spheres. But now her thoughts were barren. In her sorrow she could not touch the morsels of honey cake that Chinkele set before her, or taste the sweet wine or other delicacies. She did not wash her hands, or recite the blessing over food, or pray, though she yearned for prayer. Her body, which had long ago lost its heat, would break out intermittently in perspiration. The hair sprouting on her shaven head pricked and hurt, her cheeks were hollow, her eyes dilated and her eyelids puffed. For the last few days her palate had been constantly dry, her tongue felt odd--it seemed entirely to fill her mouth; her teeth were set on edge as though she had eaten something sour; her legs were stiff and cumbersome. As though blown up with wind, her belly was distended.
    At the beginning Reb Gedaliya tried to reason with Rechele and solace her. He explained that she had fallen from a high rung only to climb above it; he