The Rabbi's Power

In a tavern, three Jewish men, traveling to see a rabbi, hear the following tale, which was told to the teller by the Vilna Rabbi: Elijah the Prophet, when it is necessary, assumes guises of ordinary persons to see to it that people keep their vows. After wandering through villages and cities, Elijah reaches Vilna, "the Jerusalem of Lithuania," and assuming the role of a wanderer, witnesses two Talmud students, Chaym Kronberg and Boruch Mandel, vow before a rabbi that their children shall marry each other. Twenty years later, Boruch has moved with his wife and son Jacob to a small town to manage his family's forests, while Chaym has remained in Vilna with his wife and daughter Rachel. During World War I, a German entrusts Chaym with a jewel box for safekeeping. The jewels are hidden, and a receipt is given the soldier, with a copy kept in the box. Days later, upon reading a telegram that his son has died in the war, Chaym himself falls dead. After the war, the German tries to claim the jewels, but Rachel does not know where they are, so she is forced to sell the house to repay the man, and she and her mother become poor. Meanwhile, Elijah, in the guise of a teacher, visits Boruch and suggests he send Jacob to Vilna, where his good friend, Schmuhl Levine, who has bought the Mandels' house, will take care of him. At Schmuhl's home, Jacob sees Rachel through a window. As Jacob, a religious student, prepares to begin his prayers, Elijah, in a beggar's guise, appears in the courtyard, and Jacob watches as Rachel rushes down to give him alms. Jacob throws down a coin, and as he and Rachel see each other, the beggar disappears. Later, Rachel and her mother sell fruit at the yeshive , or religious school. Seeing that the students are poor, Jacob buys apples and distributes them to the others. Afterward, he cannot concentrate on his studies, as he thinks of Rachel. He imagines her as Rachel in the Bible and himself as the biblical Jacob. He also has a vision of two students personifying Good and Evil, and he follows the evil one, but Elijah comes and saves him. Schmuhl, while praying, accidentally bashes a hole in a wall and finds the box of jewels with the note. He plans to keep the treasure for himself, and when Rachel comes to visit Jacob, who is sick, Schmuhl attempts to flirt with her. Realizing that Jacob is his rival, Schmuhl writes to Jacob's father and tells him that Jacob, who has begun to associate with Schmuhl's assimilated son, is following the wrong path. Boruch travels to Vilna and, after seeing Jacob taking dancing lessons, brings him home. When Boruch insists that Jacob become engaged, Elijah, in disguise, warns him that bad luck that will befall him. Soon Boruch has to sell the family's forests. Elijah, now in the guise of a woodsman, breathes life into a bird that is killed and says, "So may the souls of Jacob and Rachel be free." Boruch then has a vision of Chaym and a forest fire, and realizes that the vow must be kept. When Rachel, who has become betrothed to Schmuhl, learns that Jacob is to be married, she faints. By her father's grave, she dreams that the dead rise from graves to dance at her wedding. She sees herself and Jacob, and when he turns into Schmuhl, she awakens and, embracing her mother, says she will never marry Schmuhl. When Jacob learns about Rachel's impending marriage, he travels to Vilna. At the wedding, Elijah, now in the guise of a wealthy citizen, pours a drink on his clothes, and from this sign, the rabbi understands his identity. When Boruch interrupts the wedding, Elijah convinces the gathering to let him speak. Boruch relates the promise he and Chaym made. Jacob says that Rachel is his and kisses her. Later, through Elijah's insistence, the box of jewels is returned to Chaym's widow. Elijah then disappears to fulfill other assignments. Back at the tavern, the moral of the story is stated: What the Lord ordains, no one on earth can change. A song about Elijah is then sung, which expresses the hope that he will come speedily "in our days" with the Messiah.