Sparks
"I heard you say to my father during Shabbes that there are divine sparks in everything. What does that mean?" Teibl asked, dragging a thin stick in the dirt road alongside her.
"I don't know how to explain it simply, but…" Levi-Yitzhok bit his lower lip. "Well, thousands of years ago, when Hashem created the world, He poured out so much of Himself that the world couldn't contain His light. Can you imagine a place where the infinite meets the finite? And so the world, in a sense, shattered, and the light was scattered and concealed, waiting to be reunited with its Source. The residue of this original light is known as a spark. It's the task of every Jew to raise these sparks through mitsves and other religious acts and thus return the light to the Source – to repair the shattered world, you could say."
They stopped at a crossroads, examining the signpost that showed the direction toward Boiberik. The stillness around them could have fooled them into believing they were the only two people in the world – no wagons passing by, no peasants shouting in the distance, no birds singing or small creatures darting through the underbrush. There was nothing but the sound of their footsteps crunching on the gravel and the melting snow dripping from the trees.
"These divine sparks… are they really everywhere? In everything?" Teibl asked quietly, struck almost breathless by the stark beauty of the winter landscape around her.
"Yes," replied Levi-Yitzhok in the same tone, perhaps moved by the same feelings. "In nature, for instance, or people, or even man-made objects."
In that moment, Teibl was inclined to believe him. "They're even in someone like me? A woman?"
He turned to look at her. "Of course they are! The holy Baal Shem even said once that…" He stopped, embarrassed.
"Said what?"
"Maybe we should keep walking," he said abruptly, setting off once again.
Teibl hurried to keep up with him, tossing aside the stick she had been dragging in her excitement. "Well, what was it? What did he say? There's no reason to be ashamed, if you claim to hold this man's teachings in such high regard."
Levi-Yitzhok sighed. "Don't take this the wrong way, but… what the Baal Shem said was… was that… it's possible to contemplate God in the beauty of a woman."
"That's a very nice sentiment," said Teibl, sensing his bashfulness and deciding not to tease him about it. Suddenly curious, she seized the opportunity to change the subject. "I was wondering, Levi-Yitzhok… you haven't said much about your family. What are they like? Do you have any brothers or sisters?"
"What is there to say? My family's in Lublin, and I'm not."
"Yes, but what's your father like? Or your mother?"
"You really are persistent! My mother and your mother would probably get along well," he replied, chuckling to himself. "My father is a good man, if a little… inattentive. I've got an older brother and sister, and they're both married. That's really all there is to it."
She had other questions, but by now they were approaching her house, the door of which was already slightly open as if anticipating their arrival. She stepped back as her parents greeted the return of their Sabbath guest with eagerness, successfully evading what in other circumstances would have been her mother's stern questions about where she had been. She retreated to the room she shared with Beylke in order to be alone with her thoughts, only half-listening to her father and Levi-Yitzhok trading a string of scriptural quotations as though they were speaking some sort of code that was unintelligible to her.
Teibl stood next to her father at the gate, watching Levi-Yitzhok make his way down the road carrying two bundles instead of one. Despite his protests, Golde had loaded him with extra food for the journey, wrapping it up in an old linen tablecloth, insisting that just because he was a yeshiva bokher didn't mean he had to eat like one.
"You'll waste away before you get there, chas v'sholom!" she had said, scandalized at the very idea. She spat three times to avoid the evil eye, and then made sure Levi-Yitzhok sprinkled salt in his pockets to protect him against bad spirits during his travels.
To Teibl's father, Levi-Yitzhok had given a slim leather-bound volume, still new-looking. "It's a collection of some of the Yiddish sermons of my" – he faltered, Teibl noticed – "my rebbe, Efrayim Mendel Shkolnik of Lublin."
"So! Is that your rebbe? Our own rabbi speaks highly of him. A very learned tsadik, I hear."
"Yes," whispered Levi-Yitzhok in awe. "He is a tsadik. He personally gave that book to me a few years ago, when I first started yeshiva."
"And you're willing to give me this precious gift even though it means so much to you?"
"I can get another one without much trouble. I don't have a lot of money, so this book is the least I can give you to thank you for your hospitality. I hope it's of as much help and comfort to you as it's been to me." He shook Tevye's hand warmly. "You're a good man, Reb Tevye – a good father, and your wife really is an eyshes khayil, just like you said. I know you've suffered much, but I pray that Hashem will reward you in the end." He cast a fleeting glance at Teibl, his cheeks and ears flushing. He continued quickly as if trying to get all the words out in one breath, "Your daughters are gems. Cherish them. Well, I know that you know that, I just thought I should tell you, because… I… I wish them happiness and many blessings from heaven, and good husbands who will honor them as they deserve…."
Tevye placed a hand on his shoulder, his eyes shining. "Thank you, Reb Levi-Yitzhok. In some ways… you are the image of the son I wish I had. I hope you visit us again, next time you pass through on your way back to your rebbe."
"Gladly!" Bowing his head slightly, he removed his cap and held it against his heart. "Will you bless me, Reb Tevye?"
Tevye stroked his beard thoughtfully. "Well, I see no harm in it." Placing his hands on Levi-Yitzhok's head, he intoned the blessing over sons that his father had used on him many years before, and which he himself never had the chance to use on any sons of his own: "Yesimeykho Eloyhim k'Efrayim v'khi-Menashe. Yevorekhekho Adonoy veyishm'rekho. Yoeyr Adonoy ponov eylekho vikhunekho. Yiso Adonoy ponov eylekho v'yoseym lekho sholom."
Mere moments later, with Levi-Yitzhok's black-clad figure gradually diminishing on the horizon, Tevye turned to his daughter. "Well, my child, I told you this Sabbath guest would be better than the last one. He's a fine young man, don't you think?"
Teibl didn't reply and headed back inside. When she went to wipe her face before resuming her chores, she was surprised to find her cheeks wet with tears.
Glossary:
Bokher: Young man or bachelor.
Chas v'sholom: God forbid; literally means "mercy and peace."
Quotations:
Yesimeykho Eloyhim...: The blessing traditionally said over sons on Friday evenings; "May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh. May the Lord bless you and protect you. May the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord turn His face toward you and grant you peace."
