To Dust

I think it's been decided.

Baruch atoh adonoy, elohaynu melech

ha-olam, dayan ha-emes.

Amen.

Last night, it was her toe.

I dreamed the nail had browned and cracked,

bent back like a leaf.

The skin was peeled like petals.

Where does this stop, Shmuel?

There are 248 body parts spoken of in the Zohar.

When the Baal Shem Tov lost his wife,

do you know how he mourned?

He said, "How am I going to go to heaven

when half of me is left?"

Eventually, Shmuel, he remarried.

And when he lost his second wife,

the love of his life, he said, "Okay."

I fear for her, Rebbe, how she suffers now.

Tend to your children.

Take care of yourself.

It always begins at night.

Sometimes it's rotting skin.

Sometimes it's a pile of ash.

Tell me, Rebbe, how does she return to the earth?

Maybe you don't think of these things, Shmuel.

Did the neighbors see you?

No.

You need guidance, Shmuelie.

Talk to the Rebbe.

I've talked to the Rebbe.

There are two boys in there.

I know.

I'm not sure how, but get through this.

Leave your coat on the table.

I'll sew it up.

It's already been 30 days.

It's time you should mend it.

Can I help you?

Apologies, sir, but I don't believe we serve your kind.

I'm sorry, that sounded not right.

I mean, we're not equipped to handle the--

Perhaps it's best if we step into the showroom?

My wife died.

I'm very sorry for your loss.

And there are things I need to know.

Our burial societies are not very

forthcoming in these matters.

This line of inquiry is particularly not--

Kosher?

How does she dismantle, in the earth?

Uh, well, that depends.

Our unrivaled embalming specialists guarantee a pristine

and picturesque viewing experience.

After that, I can't really say we check up on their progress.

Stainless steel.

The discovery of chromium in the mountains of Russia in the late

1700s led to the development of the alloy

that we now know as stainless steel.

What about wood?

Wooden caskets are

a natural and environmentally sound choice.

Pine?

I can't say it's our best seller.

How long did it take for her casket to dismantle?

Okay, I don't know what your angle is here,

guy, but I'm sensing there's not a sale coming, am I right?

No sale.

Yeah, okay, all right, so here's the deal,

they're bodies, they decompose, okay?

And the ones in the hermetically sealed containers,

sometimes they even fucking explode.

Oh yeah; all the gas, trapped, nowhere to go.

Please, a body, in a box, pine, how does she--

Can I let you in on a little secret there, handsome?

See, I'm just a coffin salesman.

I'm not a fucking scientist.

Can I help you?

Sir?

Hi, hi.

I think I need--

May I speak with a man, please?

Mm, we appear to be out of those.

I see.

Maybe--

Oh, there you are.

Scientist.

Well, who doesn't, really?

So, what kind of--

You can't say.

You know, but you can't--you can't say?

You can tell me. Just--what do you need?

Do you need an astronomer, or a physicist,

geologist, ornithologist?

I'm sorry.

All right, come with me, okay?

Organisms feeding on organisms, feeding on

organisms, transferring that energy down the chain.

Ecosystems--ecosystems are evolved to,

simply and plainly, to create nourishment for new life.

But some of these systems are pretty gosh darn inefficient.

As the energy moves along, there's not enough of it left to

sustain these higher and higher trophic levels.

Tropic?

- Not today, Stanley. - Tropic.

Tropic?

Why tropic?

No, trofic--trophic.

Trophic, just like it's--oh shit.

God damn it, mother fucker.

Is that clear enough? Clear enough for everybody?

Trophic, trophic. Where was I?

Okay, okay, we are like--we're like leaky

bucklet--Jesus Christ.

We are like leaky buckets.

We drop our ice cream cones.

We lose crumbs in our flavor savors.

Very inefficient. Very inefficient ecosystems.

Eco.

Ecosystems.

How's that?

Can I help you?

You are a scientist?

I'm a science teacher.

I have questions.

I'm not sure that I'm gonna be able to be

of service to you, Rabbi.

I'm not a rabbi.

I have got a faculty meeting very soon.

I'm having some bad ideas in my head.

I just--my wife, she died.

Oh, I'm very sorry.

And these images I'm

having--having those, they just--

Things got you down?

They have me real down.

Well, I'm still not sure--

Last night, it was her toe.

The nail cracked, it browned.

Maybe you need a podiatrist?

Look, look, I'm sorry for your troubles, Rabbi, truly.

I'm not a rabbi.

But I have these papers to grade,

and I wish you luck, really, friend.

This is sinful that I'm here.

I've just sinned.

I've spent my whole day sinning.

I'm not sure if you can recognize that, Doctor.

Oh, it's not Doctor. I don't--just Professor.

Professor, please.

I don't even know what you're asking.

I fear for her.

I fear her soul is suffering till she returns to the earth.

What's to become of her body?

Sender!

Hey.

Hey.

Mordechai told Motel that Mendel talked to you.

Yeah?

And that you said--your dad said our dad was a dybbuk.

I didn't say that.

I said that your dad ate a dybbuk.

Why did you say that?

Have you seen your dad lately?

Yeah?

And do you know what a dybbuk is?

It's, like, a ghost.

Well, seems like he ate a dybbuk.

You don't eat a dybbuk, Sender.

Everyone knows it comes in and out of the big

toe on your left foot.

Fuck you, Moishe. How do you know?

- The dybbuk tape. - Dybbuk tape?

Dybbuk tape. You don't remember?

Last year, Fivel got caught with a tape.

What's on it?

All you need to know about dybbuk.

Here, this is it. This is the one.

Let's see. This is--yeah.

Pigs?

That's what you're gonna want, yep, pigs.

It says they use pigs because they most closely resemble

people when it comes to their fattiness,

and their hairiness, and general deliciousness

for insects, you know?

I mean, who doesn't like bacon?

Percy the piglet here, he was accidentally crushed by his mum,

so they gave him to science.

Okay, let's see. Let's see now.

Fresh, fresh, the fresh stage.

Okay, the body begins to degrade very early on,

cells die, tissues break down, and bacteria in the body begin

to digest the body from the inside out.

There's not too much visible from the outside in just yet.

Except for livor mortis, a pooling of blood thanks to

gravity, and rigor mortis.