Since the day Herbst visited Anita Brik, he has noticed that his mind sometimes wanders in realms that were previously alien to him. True, the first time he saw her, in the restaurant, when she gave him paper on which to write to his daughters and inform them of their sister’s birth, he gave some thought to the factors that had led such a girl to leave her home and come to the Land of Israel, where she worked as a waitress. When he found her in a dingy room, on a sickbed, his soul was stirred by her plight, by the plight of German Jews, whose glory was stripped away, who were now displaced and forced to hire themselves out for a crust of bread. When the Jews of Germany were first beset by trouble, when they began to be oppressed and lose their footing, all of Israel was alarmed and asked, “Can it be that the world will stand by in silence?” The world was silent, as it had been silent in the face of Jewish misfortune in Russia and other countries. What is more, the world granted the villains recognition, making it possible for them to thrive. The Jewish community in Germany lamented and cried out. What did the Jews in other countries do? They went about their business and said, “A regime such as Hitler’s cannot possibly last.” It lasted. Seeing its increasingly disastrous effects, they tried to reassure themselves, saying, “New conditions will arise that it will be possible to live with.” The new conditions were more difficult than the previous ones. They were followed by conditions cruel and severe beyond what could be grasped or imagined. Yet most Jews still sat tight, reassuring themselves, saying, “When were we ever without trouble, and when was Israel unable to withstand it?” But whoever could, sought refuge beyond the range of the disaster, waiting for its force to be spent, which is to say, they took flight, intending to return. The Jewish dispersion in Germany dispersed itself to many countries. Some went up to the Land of Israel, bringing with them remnants of their wealth, and some of these were lucky, in that their money was not lost by benefactors who invited them to invest in flimsy ventures. This is a story that should be told. Many immigrants from Germany were innocent about the people in the Land of Israel, trusting them much as brothers would trust one another. But these brothers were worse than enemies, involving them in enterprises that were shady, dubious, or nonexistent. In some cases, this was done in all innocence by individuals who had faith in their business acumen and believed that, given some capital, they could make a profit for themselves as well as for the investors. Others acted with less conviction, on the chance that they might succeed; and, if not, what was there to lose, since the money wasn’t theirs? Still others acted deliberately — to get their hands on other people’s money. When the good Lord wants to degrade someone, not only does He strike out through some cruel and vile Gentile, but He degrades him through his own people as well. This was demonstrated in the case of the German refugees and, some years earlier, in that of refugees from Russia, who escaped the pogroms and came to the Land of Israel. Here, they were beset by unscrupulous individuals who took their money deceitfully, advising them to buy land and, when they were about to buy it, persuading the Arab landowners to raise the price, because, in the meanwhile, they had found other buyers who offered more. Though one shouldn’t mix misfortunes, I must note, in this context, that the people of Israel, forgetting how these swindlers had behaved, began to regard some of them as builders of the yishuv. Although their ill-gotten fortunes, which were left to the next generation, stemmed from an ignoble source, their children saw how much the yishuv valued and respected them, and did what they could to have them proclaimed founding fathers.
Dr. Manfred Herbst, as we know, had the good fortune to come to the country a few years earlier. He had the good fortune to arrive with his books and belongings, and to find a respected position that enabled him to support himself and his family, and to continue to devote himself to scholarship in the field he had chosen. Professor Neu had done well to recommend that he be appointed a lecturer, for Herbst was well suited to the job. And if he still hasn’t been appointed a professor, this is due to the laziness of the university trustees, who never bother to open their eyes and see who he is. It is also Herbst’s fault for not pulling strings.
When refugees began to arrive from Germany, among them several of his acquaintances, Herbst sought them out as best he could, insofar as his schedule allowed, for a proper schedule determines one’s capacity to work, and, what is more, a proper schedule determines the quality of everything a man produces. There is a big difference between work undertaken at intervals and work that is uninterrupted. This is evident in the product. The one is flawed by gaps and excesses; the other is correct and thorough. There are famous professors in the great European universities who go to the library between lectures, watching the clock as they browse for a given number of minutes. In the end, they too produce books. Herbst was convinced from the start that such books, which he called “watched books,” do not amount to anything. Academic work requires concentration, which brooks neither interruption nor distraction. I will repeat what I said: Herbst, knowing that his work requires concentration and order, doesn’t devote much time to immigrants from Germany, though he fulfills his obligations. He does as much as a man such as himself can do. What he does may be minimal; in any case, his acquaintances ask no more of him. People from Germany are not accustomed to being needy. Whatever help is offered they consider extraordinary, and are grateful for what they get. Herbst’s wife tends to overdo. Without regard for herself, she would take immigrants into her home and provide them with food and drink. She would often sacrifice her own routines, and, when a guest arrived at mealtime, she would insist that he sit at the table and eat. She puts up countless newcomers in her home and searches for apartments with them, rather than let them fall into the hands of agents who wear out their customers and then charge for the wear and tear. All this was in addition to Henrietta’s efforts on behalf of relatives she was trying to deliver from their suffering in Germany. Had it not been for those heartless officials in the immigration office, several members of her family would have been with us here. The country would have benefited from their presence, since most of them were intellectuals, active individuals who did useful work in Germany. In fact, many German Gentiles were whispering among themselves, “Too bad that these good people were relieved of their jobs.” When Henrietta sees the sloppiness of officials in this country, her heart begins to cry out: If this or that relative of mine were here, he would teach them not to be idle; he would teach them that clerks were not invented to waste the public’s time. The plight of his brethren in Germany did not disrupt Dr. Herbst’s routines. I don’t mean to suggest that a photostat of some Byzantine document or the discovery of some trivial Byzantine practice was more important to him than the fate of his brethren. Nonetheless, he gave more thought to Byzantium than to Israel. He was certainly pained by the plight of his relatives, acquaintances, and fellow scholars who lost their positions, yet these heartfelt sentiments did not alter his preoccupations. The day he saw Anita Brik lying on a broken bed in a dingy room and reaching out for the flowers Shira brought her, he was suddenly confronted with an embodiment of the calamity. Herbst was not one of those who delude themselves with the thought that they can change anything. He therefore turned from what he couldn’t do anything about to something he could affect: his academic pursuits, his book. Between chapters, he filled his notebook with phrases and snatches of dialogue for the tragedy he planned to write. Herbst was planning to write a great tragedy about Antonia, woman of the court, and Yohanan the nobleman, which I mentioned earlier in this book.