It came out well, sounding almost not Jewish even. Except that he swayed from side to side and sometimes snivelled as was his wont when he prayed.
His concluding remarks were as follows:
If, in Comrade Tsupkoy’s opinion, no concession was to be granted Basin for his malicious anti-Soviet slander, then he, Zusel Tabachnik, hereby declared that first thing tomorrow morning he would hand himself in at the police station and write a statement that Basin was not the guilty party but that he, Zusel Tabachnik, was and he would face the harsh and implacable consequences up to and including execution by firing squad, for which he was prepared in advance. Because he was the one who had put Basin up to it. And the one who had forced him to spread his insinuations too.
Tabachnik finished speaking a
