Everything Is Illuminated Page #4

My father would make us kiss

any book that touched the ground.

Cooking books. Books for children,

plays, even journals...

...and this was our Torah...

lt was their Torah.

...that had been in our synagogue...

...since the first rabbi brought it here

First was Yosef.

First man was Yosef.

He was a shoemaker.

They held a gun to his daughter's head...

...and commanded him to spit.

And told him to spit on the Torah.

He spit. They all spit.

And tore and kicked and whatever else

they were told to do.

Except...

...my father.

They all spit.

Except her father.

And then...

...my sister.

Augustine.

She was pregnant.

She was pregnant.

They put the gun

to her pregnant belly.

They said they would kill the baby

inside her if my father did not spit.

He could not.

He would not spit.

Her father would not spit.

He did not spit.

l made one for you.

They're from the riverbank.

The Brod.

Trachimbrod.

And where was his grandfather?

Safran was gone before they came.

He was gone before they came.

Where?

He left for America...

...to find a home for

Augustine and the baby...

...one week before they came.

He went to America to find a place

for them, and she was killed a week later.

Please tell her there's something

l want to give her.

l think it was her sister's.

Yes, it was.

One moment, please.

For you.

l can't.

He says he cannot.

But he must...

...he is a collector.

She says you must take it.

You're the collector.

ln Case

l didn't understand why my sister

hid her wedding ring in a jar...

...and why she said to me,

''ln case.''

ln case what?

ln case she was killed.

Yes, and then what?

Why did she bury it?

l do not know.

Ask him.

She wants to know why Augustine

buried her wedding ring...

...when she thought she would be killed.

So there'd be proof that she existed?

To remember her.

No. l don't think so.

ln case....

ln case someone should

come searching one day.

So they would have

something to find.

No, it does not exist for you.

You exist for it.

You have come because it exists.

She says the ring

is not here because of us.

We are here because of the ring.

Alex, tell her....

Thank you.

May l ask you a question?

Yes, of course.

ls the war over?

Yes.

lt is over.

Grandfather?

Look, there's something

l want you to have.

lt was my grandfather's.

lt was nice knowing you, Sammy.

Jonathan!

I have reflected many times

upon our rigid search.

It has shown me...

...that everything is illuminated

in the light of the past.

It is always along the side of us...

...on the inside, looking out.

Like you say, inside out.

Jonfen, in this way, I will always be

along the side of your life.

And you will always be along

the side of mine.

Our families will be with us,

and our families' families.

Your grandfather.

And perhaps, in some way,

my grandfather as well.

It is possible I will never know why

Grandfather did this to himself.

Perhaps he wished to bury his life...

...along the side of his past.

But I must tell you, Jonfen...

...in this moment, he seemed,

as if for the first time in his life...

...contented to be where he was.

Jonfen, I am sending you this...

...because we have shared something

to exist for.

And, of course,

in case anyone comes searching.

Alexander Baruch Perchov

Sammy Davis Jr. Jr.!

[ENGLlSH]

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