Chapter 6 chapter Five

one Hermann was getting ready to go out again.He lied about going out to sell the Encyclopedia Britannica, and told Jadwija ​​he was going to be in the Midwest for a week.Jadwija ​​had no idea what differentiated one book from another, so this lie was completely unnecessary.However, Herman had developed a habit of lying.Besides, the lies were becoming more and more unbelievable, requiring constant remediation, and lately Jadwiga had been complaining about him.He was not at home on the first day of the new year, and was out for half the day the next day.She prepared carp heads, apples, and honey, and baked bread especially for the New Year, exactly as her neighbors had taught her, but even at New Year Hermann apparently sold books.

The women in the building now convinced Jadwiga that her husband, speaking half in Yiddish, half in Polish, must have a mistress somewhere.An old woman advised her to get a lawyer and divorce Herman for alimony.The other took her to the synagogue to hear the shofar blowing.Standing among the women, she burst into tears when she heard the mournful sound of the shofar.The sound of the shofar reminded her of Lipsk, of the war, of her father's death. Herman had only been with her a few days and was leaving again, this time not to Martha but to Tamara, who had rented a bungalow in the Catskill Mountains.He also lied to Martha.He told her that he was going to Atlantic City with Lamper Rabbi for a two-day rabbinical conference.

This is a flimsy excuse.Even the reformist rabbis do not hold meetings on days of reverence.However, Martha has made Leon.Totschner, who was divorced and expected to marry Hermann as soon as the legal waiting period of ninety days had elapsed, was now free of jealous tantrums.Divorce and pregnancy seemed to change her perspective.She treats Herman as a wife treats her husband.She even seemed to love her mother more than ever.Martha found a rabbi, a refugee, who agreed to officiate them without a marriage certificate. Herman told her that he would be on Yom Kippur [Note: An important festival for the ancient Jews, every year on the tenth day of the seventh month of the Jewish calendar, Israelites and foreigners living among them must fast and are not allowed to work. ] She didn't question him when he came back from Atlantic City a few days ago.He also told her that Lampert Rabbie was going to pay him fifty dollars, and they needed that money.

The whole operation was fraught with danger.He promised to call Martha, knowing that the long-distance operator would probably say where the call was coming from.Martha might decide to call Rabbi Lampert's office and find out that Rabbi is in New York.However, since Martha did not give Lib.Abraham.Neeson.Yaroslav called to check on him, and she probably wouldn't have called Lampert.Adding a danger didn't make much difference, he had two wives and was about to marry a third.Although he was terrified of the consequences of his actions and the humiliation that would come with them, he kind of appreciated the tension of perpetual catastrophe.He planned and improvised his actions.Feng.Hartmann said that the unconscious never makes mistakes.Hermann's words seemed to come out of his mouth, and it was only after the fact that he realized what ploy and subterfuge he had come up with.Behind this crazy hodgepodge of emotions, a calculating gambler grows up in everyday adventures.

Hermann was easily freed from Tamara.She said several times that if he needed a divorce, she could agree to it.But this divorce was of little use to him.There is not much difference in law between bigamy and polygamy.Moreover, divorce procedures cost money, so he had to write articles.But there is one more thing: Hermann saw in Tamara's survival a symbol of his mystical faith.Whenever he was with her, he experienced anew the miracle of resurrection.Sometimes, when she spoke to him, he felt he was in a seance of her apparition.He even joked that Tamara wasn't really living among the living, but that her ghost had returned to him.

Hermann was interested in the occult even before the war.Here in New York, when he had spare time, he went to the Forty-Second Street Public Library and looked up all kinds of spiritual works on mind reading, clairvoyance, possessing ghosts and tricksters.Now that formal religion is as bad as bankruptcy and philosophy has lost all meaning, the occult is an effective discipline for those who are still seeking the truth.However, the soul exists on various levels.Tamara behaved, at least superficially, like a living person.The refugee organization gave her a monthly allowance, and her uncle Lib.Abraham.Neeson also helps her.She rented a bungalow in a Jewish hotel in Mountaindale.She didn't want to be in the main building, she didn't want to eat in the restaurant.The innkeeper, a Polish Jew, agreed to bring two meals a day to her room.Two weeks were almost over, and Hermann had not fulfilled his promise to stay with her for a few days.He had received a letter from her, addressed to his address in Brooklyn, accusing him of breaking his word.She wrote at the end of the letter: Even if I am still a dead person, come and see my grave.

Before leaving, Herman made all the arrangements: gave Jadwija ​​money; paid rent in the Bronx; bought Tamara a present.He also put in his suitcase a manuscript by Lampert Rabbie that he was working on. Hermann arrived at the starting station too early, sat on a bench with his suitcase at his feet, and waited for the announcement of the arrival of the Mountaindale-bound bus.The train couldn't take him directly to Tamara's place, and he had to change trains halfway. He bought a Yiddish newspaper, but read only the headlines.The overall news gist was always the same: Germany was being rebuilt; Nazi crimes were forgiven by the Allies and the Soviet Union.Every time Hermann read such news, fantasies of vengeance welled up in his heart. He imagined that he had found a way to destroy the entire army and destroy industry.He found a way to bring those who had participated in the extermination of the Jews to trial.At the slightest dissatisfaction these fantasies filled his head, and he was ashamed, but they persisted with childish obstinacy.

Hearing Mountdale, he hurried to the entrance of the parking lot.He picked up the suitcase and put it on the luggage rack, feeling momentarily relieved.He paid little attention to the other passengers getting on the bus.They spoke Yiddish and wrapped things in Yiddish newspapers.The car started, and after a while, a breeze blew in through the half-open window, smelling of grass, trees, and gasoline. It used to take five hours to get to Mountaindale, but this time it took almost a full day.The car stopped at the terminal, and they had to wait for another car.It's still summer outside, but the days are getting shorter.After the sun sets, a new moon appears in the sky and disappears in the clouds for a while.It was dark and the sky was full of stars.The driver of the second bus had to turn off the lights in the compartment because they were obscuring his view of the narrow and winding road.The car drove through the jungle, and a brightly lit hotel suddenly appeared in front of us.On the veranda men and women were playing cards.The car flew past the hotel, and the hotel was as ethereal as a mirage.

Other passengers got off at various stations one after another and disappeared into the night.Hermann was left alone in the car.He sat there with his face pressed against the window glass, trying to keep in mind every tree and shrub and every stone along the way, as if America was destined to be destroyed like Poland, and he had to Every detail is imprinted in the mind.Isn't the whole planet bound to collapse sooner or later?Hermann had read that the universe as a whole was gradually expanding, and indeed was tending to explode.The melancholy of the night descends from heaven.The stars twinkled like memorial candles in some cosmic synagogue.

The bus stopped in front of the Palace Hotel, the lights in the car came on, and Hermann was to get off here.This hotel was exactly the same as the one I had just passed: the same verandah, the same chairs and tables, the same men and women, same absorbed in playing cards.Did the bus go in a circle?he wondered.His legs felt stiff after the long drive, but he strode toward the hotel with vigorous strides. Suddenly, Tamara appeared in a white coat, black skirt and white shoes.She looked tanned and younger for her age.Her hair was combed another way.She came running to him, picked up his suitcase, and introduced him to some women at the card table.A woman in a bathing suit with a jacket draped over her shoulders glanced quickly at her cards and said in a husky voice: How could a man leave such a beautiful wife alone for so long?The men circled around her like flies around honey.

Why was there so much delay on the road?Tamara asked, her words, her Polish-Yiddish accent and familiar tones shattering all his mystical fantasies.She is not a ghost from another world.She has gained some weight. are you hungry?she asked, and they left you supper.She took his arm and led him into the dining room where a light was still burning.The table is ready for breakfast tomorrow.There are also people working slowly in the kitchen, and the sound of rushing water can be heard.Tamara went into the kitchen and came out followed by a young man carrying a tray with Herman's supper: half a melon, noodle soup, chicken stewed with carrots, fruit in syrup, a piece of honey cake .Tamara joked with the young man, who responded kindly.Hermann noticed a blue number tattooed on his arm. The male waiter walked away, and Tamara was silent.Her youth seemed to be gone when Hermann first arrived, and even her tanned skin seemed to fade.Dark shadows and looming bags appeared under her eyes. Did you see that boy?She said that before, he had stood at the door of the incinerator, and in a minute he would be a pile of ashes. two Tamara was lying on the bed and Herman was resting on the cot brought to the house for him, but neither could sleep.Hermann dozed off, only to wake up after a while.The cot creaked under him. you are not asleep?Tamara said. Ah, I will fall asleep. I have sleeping pills.I'll give you a slice if you want.I took sleeping pills, but I was still awake.If I do fall asleep, it's not really falling asleep, just falling into a void.I'll give you a slice. No, Tamara, I can sleep without medicine. Then why are you tossing and turning all night? If I sleep with you, I can fall asleep. Tamara was silent for a moment. What's the point?you have a wife.I am a corpse, Hermann, and one does not sleep with corpses. Then what am I? I think you are at least faithful to Jadwiga. I told you all about it. Yes, you did tell me.When someone said something to me in the past, I always knew exactly what he was talking about.Now when other people speak, I can hear them very clearly, but I just can't hear them.The words slipped past my ears like oilcloth.If you are uncomfortable sleeping in your bed, well, come to me. OK Herman stepped out of the cot in the dark.He crawled under the covers of Tamara, feeling her warmth and something he had forgotten after so many years, something that was both maternal and utterly alien.Tamara lay on her back, motionless.Hermann was lying on his side facing her.He didn't touch her, but he noticed that her breasts were full.He lay motionless, as embarrassed as a bridegroom on his wedding night.The years they've been apart have effectively separated them like a partition.The woolen blanket was tucked tightly under the mattress, and Herman tried to ask Tamara to loosen it, but he hesitated. Tamara says: How long has it been since we slept together?I feel like it's been a hundred years. less than ten years. real?It seems like an endless period to me.Only God can cram so many things into such a short amount of time. I guess you don't believe in God. After the deaths of my children, I stopped believing in God.Where was I on Yom Kippur 1940?In Russia, in Minsk.I sewed burlap bags in a factory and tried to earn a living.I live in the suburbs with Pagan, and Yom Kippur came around and I decided I was going to eat anyway.What is the meaning of fasting there?Besides, it's not wise to tell your neighbors that you're religious.But in the evening, I know that the Jews somewhere are reciting the Kornid, and I can't swallow my food. You said little David and Cheweed came to you. Immediately Hermann regretted the words, Tamara did not move, but the bed itself began to creak, as if it had been shaken by Hermann's words.When the screeching from the bed stopped, Tamara said: You won't believe me.I'd better not say anything. I trust you.He who doubts everything can also believe everything. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't tell you.There is only one circumstance that can explain it I'm crazy.But even mental illness has to have a cause. when did they comein your sleep I have no idea.I tell you, I don't sleep but fall into a bottomless pit.I'm falling, falling, I can't fall to the bottom at all.Then, I was suspended in mid-air.This is just an example.I've been through so much that I can neither remember nor tell anyone.During the day I was fine, but at night it was full of terror.Maybe I should see a psychiatrist, but what can he do for me?All he could do was give Latin names to the conditions I was referring to.I went to the doctor just for one thing: a prescription for sleeping pills.The kids Yeah, they come.Sometimes they don't leave until morning. What did they say? Ah, they talk all night, and when I wake up I can't remember a word.Even when I remember a few words, I quickly forget them.But I had the feeling that they were living somewhere and wanted to get in touch with me.Sometimes I walk with them, or fly with them, and I'm not sure whether to walk or fly.I also heard music, oh, it was silent music.We've come to a border that I can't cross.They drifted away from me quickly and drifted across the border.I can't remember whether the border was a hill or a fence.Sometimes, I picture myself seeing stairs, and someone comes to fetch them a saint or a genie.Whatever I say, Hermann, it's impossible to be sure, because no language can describe these things.Of course, if I'm crazy, that's all I'm doing crazy. You're not crazy, Tamara. Well, that sounds good.But does anyone really know what madness is?Now that you're lying here, why don't you come closer?Yes, that's fine.For many years, I lived and believed that you were no longer in the world, and that people and dead people settle accounts differently.By the time I found out you were alive, it was too late, so I couldn't change my attitude. The kids never talked about me? I think they talked about it, but I'm not sure. There was a moment of silence.Even the crickets were quiet.Then Herman heard the sound of running water, like a running brook, or a drainpipe?He heard his stomach growling, but he wasn't sure if it was his own or Tamara's.He felt itchy all over his body and wanted to scratch it, but he resisted it.He wasn't really thinking.Some thoughts, however, were still active in his mind.Suddenly, he said: Tamara, I want to ask you something.Even when he was talking, he didn't know what he was going to ask. What's up? why are you alone Tamara didn't answer.He thought she had fallen asleep, but she spoke, fully conscious and clear.I told you long ago that I don't think love is child's play. What does it mean? I can't live with a man I don't love.It's as simple as that. Does that mean you still love me? I didn't say that. In all those years you never found a man?Herman asked tremblingly.He was ashamed of his question and the excitement it had aroused in him. What if there was such a person?Did you jump out of bed and walk back to New York? No, Tamara.I don't think it's wrong to do that.You may be completely loyal to me. You will scold me later. Will not.As long as you don't know that I'm alive, how can I ask anything of you?The most faithful widows were to remarry. Yeah, you're right. How about you? why are you shakingYou haven't changed at all. answer me! Yes, I had a man. Tamara spoke almost angrily.She turned around to face him, getting closer to him that way.In the dark, he saw her eyes sparkle.As Tamara turned, she touched Herman's knee. when? In Russia, everything happens there. who is he? A man, not a woman. Tamara's answer was tinged with suppressed laughter, mixed with resentment.Hermann's throat tightened.One, or several? Tamara sighed impatiently.You don't have to know that much detail. Now that you've told me so much, you'd better tell me the whole story. Well, a few. How many? Honestly, Hermann, it's not necessary. Tell me how many! There was silence.Tamara seemed to be counting by herself.Grief and desire filled Herman's heart, and he was amazed at this elusive change in his flesh.A part of him mourned the irreparable loss: this infidelity, however small it was compared with the evils of the world, was forever a stain.Another part of him longed to throw himself into this act of betrayal of love, to indulge in this depraved life.He heard Tamara say: Three. three men? I didn't know you were alive.You were so cruel to me in the past.You made me suffer a lot in those years.I know that if you were alive, you would still treat me like that.In fact, you married your mother's maid. You understand why. There is also a reason for my situation. Well, you are a fool! Tamara let out a sound that sounded like a laugh.I didn't tell you. Her arms stretched out toward him. three Hermann was asleep, deeply asleep, and someone was shaking him awake.He opened his eyes in the dark, not knowing where he was.Jadwiga?Martha?I slept with another woman?he wondered.After a few seconds, he woke up.Of course, this is Tamara. What's the matter?he asks. I want you to know the truth, Tamara said in a woman's trembling voice barely holding back tears. What truth? The truth is I haven't found a man, not three, not one, not even half a man.Nobody even touched me with his little finger.This is absolutely true. Tamara sat up, and in the dark he felt her intensity, her determination, that she would not let him sleep until she had finished her sentence. You are lying, he said. I did not lie.I told you the truth the first time you asked me.But you seem disappointed.What's wrong with you psychopath? No. I'm sorry, Hermann, I'm still as pure as the day you and I were married.I say I'm sorry because if I knew you'd feel so cheated, I might have managed not to annoy you.Of course, there are many men who want me. You speak so frivolously about these two aspects that I can never believe your words again. Well, then don't take my word for it.I told you the truth when we met at my uncle's house.Perhaps you would like me to tell you some imaginary lovers to please you.Unfortunately, my imagination is not that rich.You know, Hermann, how sacred the memory of children is to me.I would rather cut out my tongue than desecrate their memory.I swear on David and Cheweed that no other man touched me.Don't think this is an easy thing to do.We slept on the ground, in the barn.Women give themselves to men they barely know.But when someone tried to approach me, I pushed him away.I see our children's faces in front of me all the time.I swear in the name of God, in the name of our children, and in the spirit of my parents, that a man never even kissed me in those years!If you don't believe me now, then I beg you to leave me alone.Not even God himself could compel me to take a stronger vow. I trust you. I told you this is possible, but something doesn't allow it.What is it, I don't know.Although reason tells me that there is not a trace of your body left, I still feel that you are still living somewhere.How can one comprehend such a situation? There is no need to understand it. Hermann, I have something else to tell you. What's up? I beg you not to interrupt me.Before I came, the American doctor at the consulate checked me. He told me that I was in good health and that I had survived all kinds of starvation and infectious diseases.I work as a slave in Russia.I saw logs, I dug trenches, I pulled wheelbarrows full of rocks.At night, I couldn't sleep, and I often had to look after a patient who was lying on a wooden board beside me.I never knew I had so much energy.I'm going to get a job here soon, and no matter how hard it is, it's a lot less work than there.I don't want to continue to accept money from the fellow countrymen's association, and I also want to return the few dollars that my uncle forced on me.I'm telling you this so you can understand that I didn't come here to ask you for help just because I hope it won't happen.I understand your situation when you tell me that you make a living writing for a rabbi, publishing books in his name.That's not the way to live, Hermann, you're ruining yourself! I'm not destroying myself, Tamara.I've been a piece of shit for a long time. What will happen to me in the future?I shouldn't have said it, but I won't be living with anyone else.I understand this as much as I understand that it is night. Hermann didn't answer.He closed his eyes as if trying to sleep again. Hermann, I have nothing more to live for.I've wasted almost two weeks eating, hanging out, bathing, talking to all kinds of people.And in those days, I kept saying to myself: Why am I doing these things?I tried to read, but books didn't appeal to me.Women were always suggesting what I should do, and I was always distracting the subject with jokes and pointless teasing.Hermann, I have no choice but to die. Herman sat up, what do you want to do?hang yourself? If a rope can be tied, God bless the rope maker.I still had some hope there.I actually planned to settle in Israel, but when I found out you were still alive, everything changed.Now I am completely hopeless. Hanging myself is faster than dying from cancer.I've seen this kind of thing a lot.I've also seen the opposite.There was a woman in Yampur, she was lying on a bed, dying.Later she received a letter and a food package from abroad.She sat up and recovered immediately.The doctor wrote a report on her condition and sent it to Moscow. is she still alive She died of dysentery a year later. Tamara, I have no hope either.My only prospect was jail time and deportation. How did you end up in jail?You didn't steal anyone. I have two wives and will soon have a third. Who is that third one?Tamara asked. Martha, I told you about that woman. You say she already has a husband. They are divorced.She is pregnant. Hermann didn't understand why he was telling Tamara this.But he obviously needs to confide in her, maybe he needs to surprise her with his dispute. Ah, congratulations.You are going to be a father again. I'm going crazy, that's the painful truth. Yeah, you can't be sane.Tell me, what does this mean? She was terrified of an abortion.Things have come to this point, and she can't be forced.She did not wish to have an illegitimate child.Her mother was very religious. Well, I must allow myself to never make a fuss again.I will divorce you.We can go to the rabbi tomorrow.That being the case, you shouldn't come to me again; but talking to you about consistency is like talking to a blind man about color.Are you always like this?Or did the war make you like this?I can't remember what type of person you used to be.I told you that there are periods in my life where I have almost forgotten all about them.And you?Are you just frivolous, or do you like to suffer? I have fallen into a state of depravity that I cannot extricate myself from. Soon you will be free from me.You can also get rid of Yadwija.Give her money and send her back to Poland.She lives alone in an apartment.A farmer has to work, give birth, go to the field in the morning, and cannot be caged like an animal.She's going to lose her mind if this goes on, and if, hopefully, you get arrested, what will happen to her? Tamara, she saved my life. So are you going to destroy her? Hermann didn't answer.It was gradually getting brighter.He could make out Tamara's face.From the darkness, her face emerged slowly, piece by piece here, piece there, like a portrait being painted.Her eyes were wide open, staring at him.Suddenly, a spot of sunlight cast a spot of sunlight on the wall opposite the window, like a red mouse.Herman began to feel the cold in the room.Lie down, you will die, he told Tamara. The devil won't take me so soon. She lay down anyway, and Hermann threw the blanket over them both.He put his arms around Tamara, and she didn't refuse.They lay together in silence, both at the mercy of complex disputes and contradictory demands of the flesh. The fiery red mouse on the wall faded, its tail disappeared, and soon it was all gone.After a while, the night returned. Four Hermann spent the day and night before Yom Kippur at Martha's.Shifra.Pue bought two sacrificial chickens, one for herself and one for Martha; she wanted to buy a rooster for Hermann, but he didn't want it, and Hermann had wanted to be a vegetarian for a while. By.Every chance he gets, he points out that people are doing to animals what the Nazis did to the Jews.How can a poultry exonerate a man from the crimes committed?Why would a compassionate God accept such a sacrifice?This time Martha agreed with Hermann.Shifra.Pue swore that if Martha did not complete the ritual of atonement, she would leave the house.Martha reluctantly agreed, turning the hen quickly over her head and saying the prescribed prayers, and when this was done she refused to send the chicken to the sacrificial butcher. Two chickens, one white and one brown, lay on the ground, their feet bound together, looking aside with golden eyes.Shifra.Pue had to take the chickens to the butcher himself.As soon as her mother left the house, Martha burst into tears.Her face was full of tears and contorted.She fell into Hermann's arms, crying: I can't take this anymore!Can't stand it!Can't stand it! Hermann gave her a handkerchief to wipe her nose.Martha went into the bathroom and he could hear her muffled sobs covering her mouth.Then she came into the room with a bottle of whiskey in her hand, from which she had partly drunk.She laughed and cried with mischief like a spoiled child.Herman thought she was becoming disproportionately childish because of her pregnancy.She behaved exactly like a little girl, giggling, and even a little mischievously innocent.He remembered what Schopenhauer said, women will never really fully mature.He who bears a child is himself a child. In this world, there is only one thing left, whiskey.Come, have a drink!Martha said, putting the bottle to Hermann's lips. No, I can't. Martha did not come to his room that evening.After dinner, she took a sleeping pill and went to bed.She was lying on the bed with all her clothes on, drunk and unconscious.Hermann turned off the light in his room.Those two chickens Martha and Shivra.Pue had quarreled over them, soaked them, washed them, and put them in the freezer.A moon that is about to get round shines through the window.Moonlight illuminated the evening sky.Hermann fell asleep and dreamed things that had nothing to do with his state of mind.He's inexplicably sliding down an iceberg using a newly invented contraption that's a mix of skates, sled and snowshoes. After breakfast the next day, Herman said goodbye to Shifra.Pue and Martha, go to Brooklyn.On the way he called Tamara.Sheva.Hades had bought her a ladies' seat in their synagogue so she could go to midnight prayers.Tamara wished Hermann well like a devoted wife, and then said: No matter what happens, there is no one closer to me than you. Yadwija ​​does not perform the hen-turning ceremony, but on the day before Yom Kippur she has prepared bread, honey, fish, small meatballs and chicken.The smell in her kitchen was the same as that of Shivra.It was exactly the same at Puer's house.Yadwija ​​fasts on Yom Kippur.She used the ten yuan she saved from daily expenses to buy a ticket for a seat in the auditorium.She now spouts out her resentment against Hermann, accusing him of hanging out with other women.He tried to defend himself, but couldn't hide his annoyance.In the end he even pushed and kicked her, knowing that in her village in Poland, a husband beats a wife as proof of love.Jadwiga wept: she had saved his life, and he had rewarded her by beating her on the eve of the holiest festival of the year. The day passes and the night falls.Herman and Jadwija ​​eat their last meal before fasting.Jadwija ​​drank eleven sips of water as her neighbors persuaded her, in case she became thirsty during the fast. Hermann fasted, but did not go to the synagogue.He can't make himself like an assimilated Jew who only prays on major holidays.Sometimes, when he was not at war with God, he prayed to ifd; but he could not stand in the synagogue with a festive prayer-book in his hand, praising God according to the prescribed custom.Neighbors knew that Hermann the Jew stayed at home while his pagan wife went to pray.He could picture them spitting at the mention of his name.They excommunicated him in their own way. Jadwija ​​wore a new blouse, a bargain she picked up at a closing sale.She covered her hair with a kerchief and wore a necklace of fake pearls.The wedding ring Hermann had bought her gleamed on her finger, though he had not stood with her under the wedding canopy.She took a holiday prayer book to the synagogue.The book was printed on opposite pages in Hebrew and English, neither of which Jadwija ​​could read. Before going to the synagogue, she kissed Hermann and said like a mother: God bless the New Year. Then she wailed like a real Jewish woman. The neighbors were waiting for Jadwiga to come downstairs, eager for her to join their circle and teach her various Jewish customs passed down from their mothers and grandmothers, which had been watered down and revered over the years in America. distorted. Hermann paced up and down the room.Normally when he found himself alone in Brooklyn he would call Martha right away, but on Yom Kippur Martha didn't talk on the phone or smoke.However, he still tried to call her, because he saw that the three stars in the sky had not yet appeared, but there was no sound on the phone. Alone in the apartment, Herman felt as if he were with three women, Martha, Tamara and Jadwija.Like a mind reader, he could read their thoughts.He knew, or at least he thought he knew, what was going on in each of them.They mingled resentment against God with resentment against him.Several of his women prayed for his health, but they also prayed to Almighty God to set Hermann on the right path.God was so much revered on this day, but Hermann had no intention of revealing his soul to God.He went to the window.The streets were empty.The leaves fluttered down with every gust of wind.The boardwalk on the waterfront is sparsely populated.On Mermaid Avenue, all the shops have their doors on.It was Yom Kippur, and Coney Island was eerily quiet, and he could hear the roar of the waves from home.Perhaps this is also the day of Yom Kippur for the sea, which is also praying to God, but its God seems to be the sea itself, eternally flowing, infinitely wise, infinitely cold, awe-inspiring in its immense power, bound by unchanging laws. Herman stood, trying to deliver telepathic messages to Jadwiga, Martha, and Tamara.他安慰她們三人，祝願她們新年愉快，答應給她們愛情和忠誠。 赫爾曼走進臥室，攤手攤腳地和衣躺在床上。他不想承認，但在一切害怕的事情中他最最害怕的是重新做父親，他害怕有個兒子，更害怕有個女兒，她將更有力地證實他已經摒棄的實證主義，沒有希望擺脫的束縛，不承認盲目的盲目性。 赫爾曼睡著了，雅德維珈把他叫醒，她告訴他，在會堂裡，領唱者唱了科爾︱尼德來，拉比為了給聖地的猶太法典學院和其他猶太事業籌集資金布了道。雅德維珈捐了五元。她侷促地對赫爾曼說，她不希望他在這天晚上碰她。這是禁止的。她俯身凝視赫爾曼，他在她眼睛裡看到了過去在重要節日期間在母親臉上經常看到的一種神情。雅德維珈的嘴唇顫抖著，似乎想說什麼，可是沒有說出來。後來她悄沒聲兒地說：我要成為一個猶太人。我要生個猶太孩子。