Satan in Goray

a famine had not been known for many years. People were found frozen on the roads; the mills stood motionless, for there was no grain to mill. The people of Goray were debilitated. Heavy per-sons turned saffron-yellow, began to limp, and a white film like perspiration covered their eyeballs. Slender persons developed the shiny, puffed faces associated with toothache. Chatterboxes became silent, pranksters ceased their jokes. Even the children forgot to be mischievous, and anxiety stared from their eyes as from those of the old. From early morning till late at night the men sat in the study house, warming themselves before the broad clay oven. In the beginning they still disputed. The Faithful said that Sabbatai Zevi reigned in Stamboul and that he had sent messengers to the Ten Tribes urging them to join him and to disregard what he had done, for his deeds had been decreed in Heaven. The first fifty ships loaded with mighty warriors, chariots, and arms had already embarked, in preparation for battle. But the Opponents were certain that Sabbatai Zevi, who had changed his name to Muhammed Bashi, had become a caliph and a Jew-hater, and had been responsible for an expulsion of pious Jews. Often the disputants came to blows, tore letters and pamphlets to shreds, wielded belts and drew blood.
    But now, as though nothing more could be said, there was silence. Despair gripped the town. The old men publicly deloused themselves and snored without restraint on the study house tables and benches. Boys played at Goat and Wolf and never looked into books, since no one cared what they did. There was no longer even sinning; the Evil Spirit himself seemed to have dozed off; every man went his solitary way. The occasional itinerant who found himself in Goray walked the streets disconsolately for a while, and then, with empty bag and a curse on his lips, departed.
    Alas for Goray--every visitation fell upon it! De-spite the winter, fires were frequent. Houses seemed to catch fire by themselves, and burned to the ground. Only pot shards and bare chimneys remained. More than ever, this year, people slipped, breaking arms and legs. Because the barns were empty, field mice entered the houses. Polecats strangled chickens, and even bit children. Thieves broke into the homes of those who lived on the environs of town; bears and boars lurked on the roads. The destroyer demons had been reveling freely in the streets of Goray. Every night they beat on the windowpanes of Reb Godel Chasid's house. When a candle was lit, the shadow of a bony hand with five outspread fingers could be distinguished on the wall opposite. Groaning, as of a woman in labor, issued from the chimney of Levi's house. On Thursday imps overturned the dough troughs, spilling the dough for the white Sabbath bread; they threw handfuls of salt into the pots where dinner was being cooked, ripped the mezuzot from door posts, and held weddings in desolate places. Imps would hang on to the wheelspokes of a wagon, dragging the wagon back and blinding the horse. Disguising themselves as he-goats, they danced to meet the women returning from the bathhouse. Late one afternoon when Chinkele was on her way to prayers in the women's section, she saw a black- skinned beast crawling at her in the light of the rising moon. She tried to run, but the monstrosity reared up on its hind legs, like a man, and pursued her until she fell into a ditch. The next evening the same creature scared some children in the street. One of the boys heard the beast shout something in a gentile tongue. Everyone immediately understood that this was a werewolf. Some whispered that it was the mad lord Zamoyski, for once the werewolf fired a pistol and threw down some gold ducats. They ran off to tell Reb Gedaliya and Rechele the Prophetess about this--but there, also, evil reigned.
    Rechele had been impregnated by Satan. She confessed this herself to her husband: Samael had come to her at night, and had violated her. A destroyer demon grew in her womb. She bade Reb Gedaliya probe her belly, and he discovered that, indeed, it was tight as a drum. Rechele also told Reb Gedaliya that she no longer menstruated, and she showed him where the demons had made seven braids in her hair. At first Reb Gedaliya would not believe Rechele, and maintained that she imagined it all. At night he would kindle many lights in her room, place amulets everywhere, and recite various adjurations, for he wished to remain with Rechele. But the