On one occasion, the teacher of youth received a package from the land of Israel. He brought it to his office and opened it with excitement. The package contained a photocopy of a manuscript in a beautiful hand. Together with the copies was a letter. A scholar in the land of Israel sent a copy of the manuscript for the teacher’s interest, in the hope that the teacher would seek support for the preparation of a printed edition with commentary. The manuscript was a rare find from a library in London or Parma or Budapest. It described conversations with Elijah and an account of the world to come.
The teacher of youth was filled with excitement to read the book. He began by looking at each page. The hand was beautiful, the letters well-spaced and legible from first page to last. The teacher found himself becoming drowsy and resolved to sit down soon and read the book through from the first page. In any event, he had to stop reading in order to meet with several people and respond to his electronic mail.
Two weeks later, the teacher of youth carved out some time in his day to begin reading the manuscript. Again, he soon found himself becoming drowsy. However, he continued to read. After ten pages, he noticed that the text was becoming dim. Indeed, several pages of the manuscript were blank before the hand reappeared clearly. He put the manuscript away.
More time passed before he returned to the manuscript. He had to look for the manuscript on his desk under a small pile of new mail that he had received. He was surprised to see that the pages that had previously appeared dim were clearly visible. He read them with an intense joy. Soon, however, the letters appeared to dim again and he was overcome by sleep.
In this way, he made his way through the manuscript.