The Rabbi Who Was Turned Into A Werewolf PDF
The Rabbi Who Was Turned Into A Werewolf PDF
The Rabbi Who Was Turned Into A Werewolf PDF
1 This an allusion to the book of Job in the Hebrew Bible, as the title character,
Job, was said to be from the land of Uz. In the biblical story, Job is a just man
who suffers a series of catastrophic misfortunes. The actual location of Uz was
probably in the kingdom of Edom, in what is today the southern part of Israel, but
it’s clear from details in the story that it takes place in Eastern Europe and
that the rabbi lives in a shtetl (a predominately Jewish village such as used to
exist throughout Eastern Europe before the Holocaust).
2 a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional
religious texts
“Well, what’s the use of
complaining? There are people who
gloat over other people’s
misfortunes. I’ll do something
about it. I’ll leave town
secretly so that no one will know
what’s become of me.”
He called together his fine
students in the yeshiva and said:
“Dear students, you know how
devoted I’ve been to you all this
time. I’ve provided you with food
and clothing, and studied with
you. But now I have to tell you a
secret, and I hope that you will
do toward me as I have always
done toward you.”
The students answered
together:
“Dear Rabbi, tell us your
secret. And we promise that we
will be true to you as long as God
gives us life.”
The rabbi told them he had to leave town, he couldn’t understand why
he had become a pauper. And he asked them to come away with him. “I still
have a few ducats3 in my pocket, and we can live on them together. Who can
tell? Perhaps some day the Good Lord will make me rich again, and then you
can board with me for the rest of your lives.”
The students answered:
“Dear Rabbi, we will gladly do everything you ask of us. And whatever
we own, whether money or clothes, we will share with you.”
And so the rabbi went away with fifty of his yeshiva students, and no
one in the community knew about it. When the poor people found that the
rabbi was gone they were deeply frightened, just like the boys he had
raised at his own expense, and the other students, who remained in his
house with his wife.
But the rabbi was off with his students. And because he was famous,
he was greatly honored wherever he went, as befits such a great man. No one
was surprised that he had left home, people assumed that he and his
students were traveling to a yeshiva to study the Torah.4
After they roamed about for a year or two, their clothes became
tattered, and they ran out of money. Now they had to go begging. And there
were fifty of them. Wherever they came, people shut the doors in their
faces and refused to let them in. No one could tell whether they were
yeshiva students or ne’er-do-wells.
At last, they became tired of their life of wandering, and they said
to the rabbi:
3 a type of coin used widely in Europe from the late Middle Ages
4 the first five books of the Hebrew Bible
“Dear Rabbi, what’s going to become of us? How much longer can we
roam like this? We have no money and no clothes. There’s nothing we can do
about it. Wherever we come, people close their doors and take us for ne’er-
do-wells. Perhaps we ought to go home to our parents. We’re growing older,
we want to get married. But we won’t tell anyone what you’re doing, or
where you are.”
Upon hearing this from his students, the good rabbi pondered for a
while, and then he said: “My dear students, what greater praise can I speak
of you than your loyalty, which you have been showing me all this time. I
therefore want to ask you: Stay with me another four or five days, until
after Sabbath. Then, with God’s help, I’ll let you go. Perhaps the Good
Lord will grant us some luck, and we’ll be able to go home together.”
The students answered:
“Fine, dear Rabbi, we’ve been with you so long, we’ll stay together
for a few more days.”
And so they wandered on until they came to a clump of saplings. Here
the rabbi said to his students,
“Go on ahead, I have to relieve myself.”
The students walked on, discussing and disputing.
After relieving himself, the rabbi wanted to wash his hands. He
caught sight of a spring not too far away. He took some water and washed
his hands. Just as he was about to go farther, he sighted a little weasel
dashing past, with a lovely golden ring in its mouth. The rabbi began to
chase the weasel, until the beast dropped the ring. The rabbi picked it up.
He saw it was worthless. But then he noticed an ancient writing on the
inside, which he was able to read. It said: “Though I look ugly, I am
invaluable.”
The rabbi was very wise and he realized there was something special
about this ring, and he pondered and pondered. “What kind of virtue does
the ring have. What makes it so invaluable? Perhaps it has the magic power
to grant any wish that a man might desire. I’ll try it.”
And he wished: “May God let me find a moneybelt before me.” Scarcely
had he uttered his wish when he saw lying before him a belt full of gold.
Be was overjoyed again. And upon returning to his students, he said:
“Dear students, you can make merry. We will soon arrive in a place
where a friend of mine lives. He is a wealthy man, and I’m sure he will
lend me money, he doesn’t yet realize that I’m poor. With the money, I’ll
be able to buy you all new clothes and send you home.”
He didn’t want to tell his students about the ring. He feared they
might take it away, or else report him, and he would lose it. So he didn’t
say a word.
When the students heard they would soon be getting new clothes, they
were overjoyed, and they asked no further questions. They believed
everything he told them.
And so, they arrived in the next town.
On the very first day, the rabbi began dressing his students in the
finest velvet and silk. And he bought himself the same kind of clothing he
had worn before. He remained in this town for a week or ten days, studying
hard with his students. The citizens paid him a good deal of respect, as
was proper, for he was a great Torah scholar and very learned.
He went into the city and bought a beautiful
coach, fit for a prince, and he told his students:
“Dear students, come here, and I will pay you
back for everything you did for me while we
were roaming about, and then we shall go home.”
The students merely thought that the wealthy
relative in the town had lent him a thousand
ducats, just as the rabbi said to them, so that
he might return home in honor. And they
started back. And the people who had once
closed their doors to them, now opened them
wide and welcomed the travelers warmly.
However, while the rabbi and his students
were away from their home town, the people
were miserable. But then they found out that
the rabbi and his students were coming back,
and there were shouts of joy. And who was as
glad as the poor people in town?
When the rabbi arrived, everyone gave him
a warm welcome, for nobody realized he had gone
out into the world because he had been poverty-
stricken. People thought he had gone away to
study. And the rabbi acted as he had always
acted before. He gave charity, opened his
yeshiva and brought up little boys to study.
On Sabbath afternoons, following his nap, he
would interpret the hard critical glosses of
the Talmud5 for his students.
One Saturday afternoon, he went to sleep with his wife. Some time
later, his wife started nagging him:
“Dear husband, how come you have so much money all at once? We were
so poor earlier that you left town.”
Her husband answered:
“The Good Lord sent me some luck during my travels.”
But his wife didn’t believe him. She kept tormenting him, as women
do, until he gave in and told her the secret. That was very foolish of him.
King Solomon6 once warned that a man should never tell a secret to his
wife, for she will betray him. This happened to the good rabbi, as you
shall hear. If the rabbi had refused to tell her the secret, he would have
spared himself a lot of trouble. But because he told the secret of the
ring, which made all wishes come true, he soon had to suffer terribly.
The moment that shrew of a rebbetsin7 heard about the ring, she
thought to herself:
“If only I can get the ring out of him, he’ll never see it again.”
She was simply dying to get the ring, but she knew she couldn’t get
it without his consent. So she said to him:
9 Psalms 7:15