building. I gave [Hesia’s parents] a letter of recommendation from a doctor and I managed to worm a handful of information out of them. The room was quite big, but strikingly empty. In the centre was a giant bed with a number of “mattresses,” or actually various kinds of bedding. A woman with a tragic but peaceful expression was bustling near the stove. Even though she was still young, she looked totally ruined. Her husband was standing by the window. He still looked normal, but the dark circles under his huge eye and his somehow cowardly gaze [. . .].[5] Standing by his window, he crumpled bread crumbs in his hand, rocked monotonously, prayed apathetically and mechanically, and frowned at me and the whole room. In the corner three children were napping on the floor in a sitting position. An older boy, about 10, was bustling near the table. Three more children were sleeping on the “pallet” bed, and the mother was holding a baby in one arm.
Well. Nothing extraordinary. Fanatically religious, the husband had spent his whole life praying. He did not work or earn any money. Respected as a well-known Talmudist [during the day], at night he transformed into an insatiable beast. They had had a baby every year. Nine had survived. The eldest son was in exile in Russia, in Arkhangelsk, as a refugee. There were seven [children] at home. Hesia died last night. The wife—a mother hen, sow, or bitch—was focused on how to feed so many children.
Before the war they had her father, who provided for the whole family. His son-in-law, a Talmudist,48 impressed him with his knowledge and religiosity. Besides, they had had as many as fourteen children, but four died before the war and one [died] last year. And now, without the father, the family has no means of subsistence.
“Well, you know, we sold out [our possessions]. We went to our relatives for support. [We eat] soups from the soup kitchen. [6] My husband,” the wife gave him a hateful look, to which he reacted with total apathy, as if with leniency and incomprehension, “has not earned a penny.”
He takes no interest in the fate of the children. He takes in their starvation, diseases, and death in a thoughtless and indifferent way, without any interest, as if it were not his concern. He does not starve because “followers” bring him food, which he immediately gobbles up, refusing to share it with his family. Overtaken by carnal, uncontrollable male desire, he molests his
