Brains did not
seem to be in their line. That this young man, who was so well
supplied with this world's goods, should possess a wonderful mind
as well jarred on me as an injustice to us poor boys
I would seek comfort in the reflection that "the essence of
scholarship lay in profundity and acumen rather than in the ability
to rattle off pages like so many psalms." Yet those "five hundred
leaves" of his gave me no peace.
Five hundred! The figure haunted me. Finally I set myself the task
of memorizing five hundred leaves. It was a gigantic undertaking,
although my memory was rather above the average. I worked with
unflagging assiduity for weeks and weeks. Nobody was to know
of my purpose until it had been achieved. I worked so hard and
was so absorbed in my task that my interest in girls lost much of
its usual acuteness. At times I had a sense of my own holiness.
When I walked through the streets, on my way to or from the
synagogue, I kept reciting some of the pages I had mastered. While
in bed for the night, I whispered myself to sleep reciting Talmud.
Pages:
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