180
PARTISAN REVIEW
thing mean?" His voice shook. "What can it mean? ... Under ordel">,
under orders to stay in Exile until in
Heaven
they decide to redeem
them. Not by their own will or their own acts, but from Heaven;
not in the way of nature, but by wonders and miracles . . . you
understand?"
His eyes passed down the seated line, and he stood there marvel–
ing and struck dumb.
"Do you understand?" he repeated, out of wonder and op–
pression of mind, "They do nothing, not an effort, nothing at all,
just sit and wait.... They invented a Messiah in Heaven, but not
as a legend out of the past, as a promise for their future. That's very
important, terribly important- and they trust in him to come and
bring their redemption, while they themselves are obliged to do noth–
ing at all and there you have it.... How can they believe in such
a thing! And so to believe! To believe for two thousand years! Two
thousand years! ... How, how can men who are by no means simple,
who are no fools at all, on the contrary, very shrewd men, men with
more than a touch of skepticism, men who are practical, and maybe
even a bit too practical, how can they believe something like that,
a kind of thing like that- and
not just believe, but trust in it, pin
their whole life upon it, the whole substance of their life and survival,
their national, historic fate? ... And quite seriously, in full earnest!
For truly they believe with perfect faith ... the whole thing is that
they really believe! And yet, and yet, in the secrecy of their hearts,
you know, deep down, in some hidden fold, some geometric point
down there in their
hearts-somewhat
they don't believe, just the
faintest hint; at any rate, that he will come now, at this very mo–
ment, that he will come during their own lives, in their day, and
this, of course, is the core of the matter. ... It would not be possible
for them not to
not
believe, even though, generally speaking, they
believe with perfect faith! See? ... This is a Jewish trait too, a very
Jewish trait: to believe with perfect faith, with the mad and burning
faith of all the heart and all the soul, and yet
somewhat
not to
believe, the least little bit and to let this tiny bit be decisive . . . I
can't explain it well. But that's how it is. I am not mistaken! How
complicated it all is! ... Redemption is the chief of all their desires,
the whole substance of their hopes, and yet they have bound them–
selves, locked their hands and feet in chains, and sealed their own
