3
At fourteen years old, I was studying Gemoreh with the commentaries, and, as luck would have it, under Zerach Kneip.
To this day I don't know if that was his real name, or whether the boys gave it him because he used to pinch (kneipen) without mercy.
And he did not wait till one had deserved a pinch; he gave it in advance. "Remind me," he would say, "and by and by we shall settle up our accounts."
He was a Mohel, and had one pointed, uncut finger nail, and every pinch went to the heart.
And he used to say: "Don't cry; don't cry about nothing! I only pinch your body! What is it to you if the worms have less to eat when you are in your grave?"
"The body," said Zerach Kneip, "is dust. Rub one palm against the other, and you will see."
And we tried, and saw for ourselves that the body is dust and ashes.
"And what is the soul?" I asked.
"A spirit," answered the rabbi.