54
PARTISAN REVIEW
But the four rabbis were still standing there. " Where am I?" said
Lunl. "It smell s like herring. "
Verble told him . "It used to be th e Chancellory. But not any more.
Ha, hal We've resigned! "
Rabbi Wolf-Kitzes refused to get out of the way. "You cannot
resign . You can't leave, either."
"Why not?" Nomberg, his colleague, wanted to know .
"Look out the window. "
The Ministers ran to the shut windowpanes. They leaned over
each other to get a look out the g lass. Then they recoiled, they
staggered backward, wringing their hands. There was not a single Jew
on the street below. No wonder: a Totenkopfer battalion stood at
intervals of two meters the whole length of Dworska, on both sides of
the street. Between those two lines, in command of everything, was the
Mighty One, Grundtripp himself.
Surrounded .
Gutfreind, still by the window, cried out in alarm, "Look! It's
falling! "
The Ministers knew immediately what those words portended.
The sun, which had been at the peak of its orbit, was now like an egg
yolk slipping down the glossy side of the sky.
Urinstein looked at his wristwatch . " Not much lime!" h e groaned.
"Not much time for what?" asked Rabbi Lunl. "What's going on?
Everything is completely dark. "
The one-eared Nomberg stepped forward. " Fellow rabbis , we need
your guidance. You must make a decision for the J udenrat. "
The descendant of Yaakov-Yitzhak, the Pshiskher, stroked from
habit the missing half of his beard. "On what subject do you wish a
ruling?"
"The Others have given us until sundown to give them a list, "
Nomberg explained . "On this list there must be fifty Jewish names.
These citizens wil1 be transported to the fath erland of th e Race of
Masters. "
"Reduced from on e hundred! " cri ed Verbl e. "Don't leave that
out! "
"Oh!" There was a tiny, high-pitched shriek and Lunt, original1y
from Yambol , fell flat on the floor.
"He's fainted! "
The members rushed over and began
to
slap at the Rabbi's bruised
face. "Wake up! Wake up! " shouted the Minister of Water and Power.
"It's not what you think! They are on ly going to work on a farm! "
