death has been decreed us, unless we remain awake all this
night."

They sat, mutually vigilant against sleep, but at last towards dawn
the fated man's eyelids closed, and he fell into that sleep from which
there could be no waking.

So the Baal Shem departed thence, and settled in a little town near
Brody, and became a teacher of children, in his love for the little
ones. Small was his wage and scanty his fare, and the room in which he
lodged he could only afford because it was haunted. When the Baal Shem
entered to take possession, the landlord peeping timidly from the
threshold saw a giant Cossack leaning against the mantelpiece. But as
the new tenant advanced, the figure of the Cossack dwindled and
dwindled, till at last the dwarf disappeared.

Though Israel did not yet reveal himself, being engaged in wrestling
with the divine mysteries, and having made oath in the upper spheres
not to use the power of the Name till he was forty years old save
four, and though outwardly he was clad in coarse garments and broken
boots, yet all his fellow-townsmen felt the purity and probity that
seemed to emanate from him. He was seen to perform ablutions far
oftener than of custom; and in disputes men came to him as umpire, nor
was even the losing party ever dissatisfied with his decision. When
there was no rain and the heathen population had gone in a sacred
procession, with the priests carrying their gods, all in vain, Israel
told the Rabbi to assemble the Jewish congregation in the synagogue
for a day of fasting and prayer. The heathen asked them why the
service lasted so long that day, and, being told, they laughed
mockingly. "What! shall your God avail when we have carried ours in
vain?" But the rain fell that day.

And so the fame of Israel grew and reached some people even in Brody.

One day in that great centre of learning the learned Rabbi Abraham,
having a difference with a man, was persuaded by the latter to make a
journey to Rabbi Israel for arbitration. When they appeared before
him, the Baal Shem knew by divine light that Rabbi Abraham's daughter
would be his wife. However, he said nothing but delivered adequate
judgment, according to Maimonides. So delighted was the old Rabbi with
this stranger's learning that he said:

"I have a daughter who has been divorced. I should love to marry thee
to her."

"I desire naught better," said the Baal Shem, "for I know her soul is
noble. But I must make it a condition th