See Under by David Grossman (famous ebook reader TXT) 📕

semen is more than a drop of semen …” “It is?” “Absolutely so! It, too, contains a divine spark! And the organ, the smitchick, all the more. And we find in the compilation of Rabbi Nachman that the whole world was created for the sake of Israel, and even for the lesser ones of Israel, such as I, for instance, and even for the least of organs, and all this so that Israel may be redeemed and build the chariot, and his honor has perhaps heard about the cabalists of Safed in the Land of Israel, who wrote in the Zohar that every movement made in the lower spheres sets the higher spheres in motion! And what of the cobbler, even the cobbler, yes, who sews the sole and fastens high to low, then how much more so is it with me!” Fried: “Please, I beg you, stop rubbing yourself when you talk to me. And talk like a human being! What are you doing here in my zoo!!” Munin: “But I already explained to your honor! It, sperm, that is, shoots out of the body with a terrible force! Whewww! And I am not speaking in vague generalities either! No, I, Pani, am familiar with the most learned scientific journals! And I read therein that the force of sperm flying is equal to the piston head on an airplane in the sky! Relatively speaking, of course.” Fried: “Of course … and what about—Will you stop rubbing!” Munin: “Now I discovered such a thing, and I, sir, am a simple man. The least in Israel. Vinegar begot of wine. Baba Yaga’s cat. I have not received much learning in my life. In my father’s house—nu, of course, the psalms by heart, and later, here and there, the compilations of the Moharan, and a little of the Zohar, and someone let me peek at The Angel Raziel, and the book of Transmigrations; nor did I forswear secular learning often deemed forbidden, treif, yes, in Warsaw, thecapital, my eyes were opened to the wonders of creation, and I also read many a scientific journal and looked upon wonders and miracles therein! And in the libraries I sat and read the latest scientific studies! Of Tsiolkovsky has your honor heard? He hasn’t heard. Nu, yes. I have heard. This man was the greatest Russian naturalist and scientist. The meekest and humblest of men! And he invented the idea of flight in space through the use of rockets! Nu, admit: a genius, no? Rockets! And I also read, of course, the complete writings of Goddard the American and Obert the German, and out of these hints gleaned—” Fried: “Maybe you would be good enough to explain so that I can finally understand?” Munin: “But I already explained! Why don’t you listen instead of watching me down there! I told you that sperm leaves the body with a terrible force, but perhaps, that is—if I saved this force … Now do you understand, your honor?” Fried, weakly: “No.” Munin: “The doctor is joking, of course, heh heh! Not once, but hundreds of times. Thousands of times, yes yes! And it is known that a man, even the least of men, has many thousands of sperm in his body, numerous as the stars in the sky, as it is written, and if I saved them up and stored them inside, and if once, just once, I let myself go, that is, a kind of let my people go, what a great and mighty people it would be! For this powerful thrust alone could send even a lightweight such as I—sixty kilograms or less on account of, begging your pardon, the food here—in short, it could send me all the way, you see?” Fried: “All the way where?” Munin: “Nu, wherever it takes me … and the sons of light will fly high …” Fried: “But where? Where will you fly—to God?” Munin: “Who is wise enough to know? If He takes me to Him, I will go. Whither He sends me, I will fly. Perhaps to God, and the important thing is that I will fly high. Above these mortals here called men. It is a mistake. And I know there is a different place for me. Not here. Here not.” Fried: “You mean to say you’re going to fly up like that? To God?” Munin: “Nu, have you ever seen anyone so stubborn? I have told you a thousand and one times already: He, blessed be He, is contained in every seed. In the soul of every living being.” “And you really believe it? That you’ll get there, that you’ll be able to ascend a single centimeter?” “With all my heart, your honor, like a homing pigeon returning to its master.” “But God—is holy! Transcendent and all that, while you—foo! It’s too revolting!” Munin: “Only seemingly, your honor! Seemingly indeed it is revolting, but God’s glory is everywhere,as they say in the Zohar, Munin’s commentary—there is no place where God is not, He pervades even that which is called sin, and the sparks that fell from on high are tarnished now and sullied in every kind of corruption, in the drop of semen, too, and we, the children of Israel, are commanded to worship the Holy One, blessed be He, with devotion, in order to bring those sparks back to their rightful place, and even the most terrible sinners will be His support, for who if not He, may His name be praised, tempted the heart of King David to count the people? As it is written in the Book of Samuel: ‘God tempted him,’ but the Book of Chronicles says, ‘Satan!’ Does your honor understand? And I, I have the soul of a beast, already in my childhood they called me ‘the calf,’ but even the bestial soul of someone as lowly as I has its roots in the luminous shell, and can turn from bitter to sweet, and here on this map I