When the Angels Left the Old Country

On the ship, both Rose and the angel fall ill. Little Ash takes them down into the boat. The angel leaves its body to sleep, and Rose asks Little Ash how he convinced the angel to go to America, as it is clear that the angel is hesitant to travel. Little Ash hesitates to answer her. While the angel and Rose rest, Little Ash, who does not sleep, goes through the angel’s bag and finds the books and letter that were found in Reb Fishl’s apartment. He reads the letter and learns that the books belong to the ghost of the Rebbe (rabbi) from Belz. The rebbe’s soon-to-be-married daughter sent him tickets through Reb Fishl and her boss in America, Mr. Boaz.

Rose wakes and finds Little Ash reading. He asks her if she knows the old rebbe from Belz. Rose does know him; he is Dinah’s grandfather and the teacher of her new husband. Rose complains about Dinah and her careless husband, claiming that she would treat Dinah better than her new husband will. When the angel wakes, it and Little Ash find a prayer group while Rose searches for food. Little Ash asks people about the shops in America, but no one has any answers for him. After their prayers, they find Rose at the bow. She tells them that she will work in a dress factory. She asks Little Ash again how he convinced the angel to come, and he tells her that he manipulated its sense of responsibility. She admits that although she tried to do the same with Dinah, her plan failed. Little Ash comforts Rose.

Rose wakes. Believing that the others are asleep, she writes a letter home, saying that she is making friends. She asks for news of everyone she knows in Shtetl except Dinah. Then she asks Little Ash to guard her belongings and goes looking for tasks. Little Ash listens to the devious intentions of others but is bored because the angel is sleeping. When the angel wakes to pray, Little Ash threatens it, telling it not to go back to sleep and leave him alone. The angel and Little Ash discuss Essie, looking at a picture of the girl. When Rose returns, the picture catches her eye. She tells them that she is now looking after a grandmother. Little Ash explains that they must find and help the girl in the picture. Rose does not think much of their plan, but she does think that the girl is very pretty.

The angel sleeps again despite Little Ash’s threats, feeling unwell because it is unused to being split in so many directions and undertaking so many tasks. Usually, angels are of a single mind and can only focus on one thing at any given moment. While the angel sleeps, the ghost of the Rebbe of Belz visits it in a dream. The rebbe says that the angel must take a name, the same one listed on the papers from Reb Fishl’s. If the angel takes a name, the rebbe will be able to grab onto its soul. The rebbe wants the angel’s help in getting his soul to America. He will hold onto the angel as an ibbur, a benevolent possession, so that he can find his daughter, who will be able to pray for his soul and allow him to move on. If this does not happen within a month of his death, he will turn into a dybbuk, a malevolent spirit that brings bad luck.

Rose returns, and the angel is awake. She is shocked when it speaks to her in Yiddish, as Little Ash told her that it cannot understand the language. The angel takes the name Uriel, fully adopting it so that the ghost can follow and latch onto it. Because of this new union with the rebbe’s spirit, the angel now understands everyone around it. In its conversations with the rebbe, it learns that the rebbe’s daughter is in the same trouble as Essie. The angel also learns that once they arrive in America, there will not be much time left before the rebbe turns into a dybbuk. Uriel is also upset to learn of the widespread suffering in America and of the deceptions that Little Ash engaged in to convince it to come on this journey. When Rose asks about the letters, the angel allows her to see them, and she worries that they are from Malke Pearl, Dinah’s aunt. She questions Uriel about its relationship to the rebbe. When Little Ash returns, the angel and Uriel argue in Aramaic over the angel’s sudden changes; the angel now has blood and can sleep and dream as a human does. The angel is becoming human, and Little Ash worries for its safety. When Rose interrupts them, Little Ash storms out.

Little Ash walks on the deck and thinks about the angel’s transformation. Little Ash loves change but is unsure about the effects that this change will have on his friend. The next morning, Uriel marvels at the experience of waking up and finds that it can pray and think of something else at the same time: an ability that it never had as a fully realized angel. While Rose is still asleep, the angel and Little Ash come up with a plan and a lie about their background—one that will hopefully satisfy Rose. When she wakes up, Uriel tells Rose the truth of the scam run by Reb Fishl and then spins a lie, claiming that it and Little Ash met the rebbe in Warsaw and that after the rebbe fell ill, he wanted them to bring a message to his daughter (Dinah’s aunt) in New York City. Wanting to make Dinah jealous of her new life, Rose promises to help them find Dinah’s aunt.

Little Ash looks through the rebbe’s possessions in hopes of finding something to convince Uriel to separate from the rebbe’s spirit. Suddenly, the rebbe appears to Little Ash and explains himself, promising nothing but good intentions in his arrangement with the angel. Little Ash threatens him, feeling very protective of his friend. Grandmother Rivke, the grandmother that Rose is helping, interrupts them and asks Little Ash to help her up to the deck. They discuss America, and she explains that her daughter and her family are moving there because her daughter will have a job in New York. She points out his feet, recognizing him as a demon, but she reassures him and says that she was once friends with a demon. Little Ash finds that he likes her, for he sees only well-intentioned sins in her. On deck, Grandmother Rivke teaches Rose some simple medicine, and Uriel admits to Little Ash that it can no longer use its magic. Little Ash is angry that the angel’s compulsion to do good deeds has led it to endanger itself, but Uriel defends its decision, saying that it can always depend on Little Ash’s protection and guidance.