"Parshas Truma"

Some complained--those that were too old or weak for such work.

"I--I--can't take it anymore."

"Worthless Jew!" Katzen hits maus on head w/ rifle.

"If you're unhappy--go back to the P.O.W. camp."

"It's ok--we'll help you when no one is looking."

We tried to help, but--what you think?--some went back to the tents to freeze and starve. But what happened to them, I don't know.

Still, eighty per cent stayed. There was enough to eat, and a warm bed. It was better to stay.

Always I went to bed exhausted. And one night I had a dream.

"Don't worry--don't worry, my child..."

A voice was talking to me. It was, I think, my dead grandfather. It was so real, this voice....

"You will come out of this place--free!...on the day of Parshas Truma."

I woke up right away. And when I went to sleep, again it was, "Parshas Truma! Parshas Truma!"

--from, "Maus" pp 56-57 Not exactly your Tom and Jerry tale....tbc