Chapter 3: A Wedding in Brownsville

Answer. Dr Margolin’s past was a blend of recognition and sadness. As a child, he was lauded as a prodigy. He always felt he was a failure. Everyone in their home town assumed he would grow up to be a genius in his childhood days, but he faced difficulties. The loss of his true love, Raizel, affected his mental health, and he lost complete faith in humanity. His family had been tortured, burned and gassed. He also suffered from fear of death. All these incidents shaped Dr Margolin’s existing state of mind.  However, on the professional front, he was successful and had a promising career. He had an office in West End Avenue and wealthy patients. He was highly regarded and respected by his close associates and everyone else.

Answer. Dr Margolin was very dedicated to his profession. He never broke his oath and was always respectful of his patients. He was very successful in his professional field. People around him held him in high esteem. He treated rabbis, refugees and Jewish writers without a penny and even though he had wealthy patients, he also supplied them with hospital beds and medicines if required.

Answer. Dr Margolin did not accept nor appreciate the kind of life the American Jewish community led. Jewish laws and customs were utterly distorted, according to him. He did not like their celebrations, and he felt annoyed and irritated. Those who had no regard for Jewishness wore skullcaps. He disliked Anglicised Yiddish, the Yiddishised English, the ear-splitting music and the unruly way of dance. He felt ashamed and did not like taking his wife to a wedding or any such gatherings.

Answer. Dr Margolin, son of a poor teacher of Talmud, was a self-taught man. In his childhood days, he was lauded as a prodigy. He studied Talmud and commentaries independently and could recite long passages of the Bible by himself. He also learnt algebra and geometry by himself. At the age of seventeen, he attempted a translation that led him to be considered a genius.

Answer. All the curious experiences at the wedding hall were due to his death. On the wedding day, Dr Margolin met with an accident on the way to the wedding hall and died.  He could probably explain his strange meeting with Raizel through his past. Dr Margolin’s one true love was Raizel, whom he had loved for life, but he never had an opportunity to marry her. She married away to someone else and was later killed by the Nazis.

6. Was the encounter with Raizel an illusion or was the carousing at the wedding-hall illusory? Was Dr Margolin the victim of the accident and was his astral body hovering in the world of

Twilight?

Answer. Yes, the carousing at the wedding hall was illusionary. Dr Margolin met with an accident on the way to the wedding hall and was the victim of the accident. Raizel, who the Nazis shot, was dead for a long time now, and Dr Margolin could see her because of his death. His astral body was hovering in the twilight world. Both were missing their physical appearance, and in fact, were in spiritual forms.