Chad Gadya

Do You Even Fight, Bro?

Marzipan looked balefully at Lilith. "Did you have to interrupt us now? We were in the middle of a reunion."

    I couldn't believe she was being so bold. Then again, she hadn't had the dreams of Lilith as Kuni and I had. Lilith wrinkled her nose and her eyes flashed. "Such insolence from a barnyard animal."

    Marzipan snorted. "I speak to Adonai. I've guided them on this quest."

     Lilith laughed. It was a deep laugh full of terrible mirth. "So your God had gone so low as to employ goats for help? In my youth, your kind was only fit for dinner and sacrifices."

     Marzipan pawed the ground. "That's where you're wrong. Adonai has always cared for animals whether you saw it or not."

    Kuni nodded. "In the story of Jonah, Adonai tells him that he cares for the souls of the animals as well as humans and the Noahic covenant was established with all living creatures — including goats."

    Lilith's eyes travelled from Marzipan to Kuni. "So, the chronically ill Torah scholar."

    Kuni was trembling beside me, but he raised his chin. "You say that like it's a bad thing."

     "If your God really cared for you, would they not cure your illness?" Lilith asked.

    Kuni blinked. "Do you think my life is less valuable because of my disability? I might not have as good as health as some, but that does not mean I cannot enjoy the pleasures of the world and see the beauty in things great and small."

    I nodded in agreement. I'd been asked before if I'd take a pill if it would cure my Gaucher's and I'd said yes, but that didn't mean life wasn't worth living with it. Lilith's eyes narrowed. "I know your fate Kuni," she said. "You'll die before you're old enough to have a family or be an ordained rabbi. Is that fair?"

     I felt a lump riding in my throat. "What do you want from us?" I asked.

    Lilith turned towards me. "Oh, Breina. Daughter of a human and a demon. Do you find it fair that your little friend here cannot live a long and healthy life?"

    "Stop it!" I shouted. "Why are you tormenting us so?"

    Lilith's lips narrowed in a smile. "I'm not the one who made this so. Just as your God. Was God not the one who gave you this fate? If God is do poseful, Why did you have to go on this quest?"

    I blinked, my mind was crammed full of questions. Why indeed? Why was it that good people sometimes lived short lives? Why was it that Adonai decided to make Job suffer despite his righteousness? Why was it that there were so many horrible things in the world: slavery, murder, genocide, hate, war, and famine?

      Kuni lifted his chin. "Why do you hate God so much?"

     "God made me before Eve," Lilith said, "and when I refused to submit to Adam, I was cast aside."

     "Yet you lived, didn't you?" I challenged. "God didn't kill you even after you founded a race of demons?"

"God didn't kill me?" Lilith sneered. "Your God cannot kill me because I am more powerful."

I shook my head. "You cannot be more powerful than what has created you."

"Golems are more powerful than humans," Alexandros reminded me.

I blinked. Were they right? Lilith seemed to think so. Just why had Adonai let her live if she did such evil? "That doesn't matter," Kuni said. "Safety first, theodicy second."

"Brave words young scholar," Lilith said, "but do you really want to fight me?"

He blinked. "You captured our rabbi and have kept him prisoner."