Mourners
Amen. [ continues praying in Hebrew ] amen. Amen.
Season 4 · Episode 15
Kaddish
Character-labelled dialogue prepared from the official DVD subtitle track.
Production code4X12Original airdate · February 16, 1997
271 dialogue entries
Scene 01
Opening scene
[ man speaking in Hebrew ]
[ all praying in Hebrew ]
Scene 02
GROCERY STORE
Tony Oliver
Get the tape. Get it. It's in the back. Come on!
Scene 03
CEMETERY
Jacob Weiss
It's all right. You don't have to do this.
Ariel Weiss
No, I want to.
Scene 04
GROCERY STORE
Isaac Luria
Why are you doing this?
[ thunderclap ]
Scene 05
CEMETERY
Jacob Weiss
Come.
[ thunder rumbling ]
[ thunderclap ]
[ thunderclap ]
Scene 07
X-FILES OFFICE
Dana Scully
His name was Isaac Luria. He lived in the williamsburg section of brooklyn. Home to a sect of hasidic jews who've lived there since the late 19th century.
Fox Mulder
It's an area also known for its history of racial tension and hate crimes-- yankel rosenbaum, tawana brawley--
Dana Scully
And now Isaac Luria. He was murdered two days ago in the market that he owned. Severely beaten and shot five times at point-blank range. Police ruled out robbery 'cause the only thing that was missing was this videotape... From the surveillance camera. Police found it early this morning.
Fox Mulder
Where?
Dana Scully
In the v.c.r. Of a 16 year old named Tony oliver. [ turns on TV ] that's him on the upper right.
Fox Mulder
Has he been arrested?
Dana Scully
No, because he's dead. Apparently he'd been watching this tape when he was strangled to death.
Fox Mulder
Very old testament.
Dana Scully
Yeah, but with a new twist. The brooklyn homicide detectives contacted the FBI's civil rights branch... With an interesting set of fingerprints that they pulled off of the boy's body.
Fox Mulder
Interesting how?
Dana Scully
Interesting in that they belonged to Isaac Luria.
Fox Mulder
Risen from the grave to avenge his own death?
Dana Scully
Some people might assume that. It's probably what someone would like us to think.
Fox Mulder
But you have your own idea.
Dana Scully
I think that this is a crime of hatred, like the crime that spawned it. A hatred that goes back 4,000 years. But masquerading as something else here... And a callow attempt at murderous retribution... Disguised as spectral justice.
Fox Mulder
A resurrection hoax?
Dana Scully
And not a very good one.
Fox Mulder
Yeah. Spectral figures are not often known to leave fingerprints. Casper never did.
Dana Scully
Somehow the killer got a hold of Isaac Luria's fingerprints. And we have been asked to prove how.
[ knocking ]
Scene 08
WEISS RESIDENCE WILLIAMSBURG, NEW YORK
Dana Scully
Excuse me, sir. We're with the FBI we'd like to speak with Ariel Luria. Is she home?
Jacob Weiss
I'm Ariel's father, Jacob Weiss. Why are you bothering her again? She's already spoken with the police.
Ariel Weiss
It's all right. Let them in. Please, come in. Thank you. We can talk in the study.
Scene 09
STUDY
Jacob Weiss
This is why you are here? This is what you come to ask in this house of mourning?
Ariel Weiss
What is this?
Dana Scully
We would like your permission to reopen Isaac's grave.
Jacob Weiss
No! The answer's no!
Ariel Weiss
Why does this have to be done?
Dana Scully
We're looking for evidence in the murder of this young man. His name is Tony oliver. He is one of three suspects in the murder of your husband. We believe it was an attack of retaliation and that the other two suspects are targets.
Ariel Weiss
He's just a boy.
Jacob Weiss
He's an animal. A monster, just like the others who killed Isaac-- whose grave you're asking us to desecrate so you can now protect them.
Ariel Weiss
Tata, please.
Jacob Weiss
But where were you when Isaac needed your protection? When we called the police, they said that we were paranoid. That there was nothing to worry about. They always say that when someone threatens the jews.
Fox Mulder
So there was a specific threat of violence?
Jacob Weiss
The threat is always there. Just this morning... This is what I found under our door. And now you've come here not to help us, but to ask our help so you can impose your justice... On the only man who's taken justice into his own hands.
Fox Mulder
We would be happy not to disturb the grave site if you could tell us who that man is.
Jacob Weiss
Even if I knew, why would I tell you?
Dana Scully
Because this is a homicide investigation, sir, and you are required by law to assist us.
Jacob Weiss
I know all about your laws.
Dana Scully
Sir, I'm afraid that even without your consent, we can get a court order to exhume Isaac's grave.
Ariel Weiss
Do what you feel is necessary. But leave us alone. Let us mourn in peace.
Scene 11
CAR
Dana Scully
I have a feeling he knows who killed Tony oliver, Mulder. I think he doesn't want us disturbing Luria's grave because he knows what we'll find.
Fox Mulder
Maybe. But it's hard to fault his attitude when you see something like that. And anybody delivering justice to a people who have known that kind of persecution and hatred, why wouldn't they protect them?
Dana Scully
Justice or revenge?
Fox Mulder
I'm not saying those kids don't warrant full prosecution under the law, but the hate mongering goes both ways.
Dana Scully
But the right to free expression doesn't extend to murder.
Fox Mulder
I bet whoever published that knows the boys who killed Isaac Luria, and probably has a good idea who killed Tony oliver too.
Scene 13
BJUNES COPY SHOP 1525 AVENUE J
Curt Brunjes
Sure I knew him. The man owned the store right across the street. But I'd be lying if I said I was surprised it happened.
Fox Mulder
Why is that?
Curt Brunjes
Well, you know how they are. They're always trying to find ways to make money off of honest folk who work for a living.
Fox Mulder
Can you think of anyone who might have held a grudge?
Curt Brunjes
I can't think of anyone who didn't.
Fox Mulder
Did you?
Curt Brunjes
Why? I'm not under any kind of suspicion, am I?
Dana Scully
No, not directly, but these young men are. We have reason to believe you know them. Their names are Derek banks and Clinton macguire.
Curt Brunjes
I'm sorry. I'm not familiar with them.
Fox Mulder
Well, are you familiar with this? We think those kids are familiar with it. Enough to incite them to the murder of Isaac Luria.
Curt Brunjes
You work for them too, don't you?
Fox Mulder
Who?
Curt Brunjes
You know who. You look like you might be one yourself.
Dana Scully
We work for the FBI, sir.
Curt Brunjes
Who's the FBI work for? That's right. You call me paranoid, 'cause that's exactly what they want you to do. But there is one thing you can't call me and that is a zionist collaborator.
Dana Scully
You take a long look at these photos. It may be your last chance to save their lives.
Scene 14
BACKROOM BJUNES COPY SHOP
Dana Scully
One of their accomplices, a young man named Tony oliver was found murdered this morning.
Curt Brunjes
Why are you telling me this?
Dana Scully
You haven't heard the rumors?
Curt Brunjes
What rumors?
Dana Scully
That Luria is back from the dead. That he's risen from his grave.
Scene 15
COPY SHOP
Curt Brunjes
What kind of jew trick is this?
Fox Mulder
A jew pulled it off 2,000 years ago.
Dana Scully
We're just relating the evidence, sir. You can draw your own conclusions. But I know you wouldn't want to be responsible for... Endangering these young men's lives.
Curt Brunjes
Derek?
Scene 16
CEMETERY - NIGHT
Clinton Bascombe
Are you sure about this?
Derek Banks
I heard them, man. I'm not waiting around to find out if it's true. [ grunts ] damn!
Clinton Bascombe
What's wrong?
Derek Banks
It's nailed shut.
Clinton Bascombe
There's some tools in the trunk.
[ gasping ]
[ grunting ]
Derek Banks
I got it open, man! Get down here. Hey, Clinton. Check it out. Clinton. Hey, Clinton. Check it out. Clinton? You trying to mess with me? [ gasping ] oh, man.
Scene 17
LATER
Dana Scully
The ligature marks on the victim's neck are consistent with our vigilante's m.o. Forensics come up with anything?
Fox Mulder
Yeah, a second set of footprints, but the mud was too soft to take a mold.
Dana Scully
My guess is Clinton was here with Derek banks.
Fox Mulder
Looking for what?
Dana Scully
Maybe they came to desecrate the corpse as retribution for Tony oliver's death.
Fox Mulder
That seems pretty redundant, doesn't it? Messing up somebody you've already killed? I think they came here because they were afraid.
Dana Scully
Afraid?
Fox Mulder
Afraid that the man they hated enough to kill wasn't really dead. Look. There goes your theory of how Luria's fingerprints found their way onto the victim's body. What does that look like to you?
Dana Scully
Well, the body wasn't embalmed, as according to custom. Maybe it's postmortem lividity or some kind of tattooing. It's hard to tell at this stage of decomposition.
Fox Mulder
What's this? A little bedtime reading?
Scene 19
COPY SHOP
Derek Banks
You owe me for two weeks.
Curt Brunjes
Where have you been? Is it true? You and your friends killed the jew?
Derek Banks
Just give me my money.
Curt Brunjes
What the hell were you thinking? I never told you to kill anyone. I never said to do that.
Derek Banks
No? What did you expect me to do? Hide back here like you, licking envelopes in the dark, calling them names?
Curt Brunjes
We're working to spread the truth.
Derek Banks
The truth? Man, you're as pathetic as they are.
Curt Brunjes
What? I am exposing their lies.
Derek Banks
Man, those are just words. You think they killed my friends with words? That's right. Clinton's dead too. Now I'd like my money.
Scene 20
JUDAIC LIBRARY
Kenneth Ungar
It's called the Sefer Yezirah, the book of creation. The earliest known Hebrew text on man's mystical communion with the divine.
Dana Scully
Is it ever buried with the dead?
Kenneth Ungar
No. In observance with Jewish belief that with death comes equality, the corpse is buried only in its shroud. No personal symbols of class or worldly position are allowed.
Fox Mulder
Has it ever been known to spontaneously combust?
Kenneth Ungar
Uh, no. No, it hasn't. It's a book on mysticism, not mysticism itself.
Fox Mulder
Is it printed on any special paper or with any special ink?
Kenneth Ungar
No, it's just a book. Leather and paper. Now, I suspect somebody might be trying to play a trick on you.
Dana Scully
There is a possibility that moisture may have leeched into the coffin, into the binding and the pages of the book. If the groundwater was contaminated, arsenic or arsine gas could have created a combustible mixture.
Fox Mulder
Is there anything that distinguishes this particular Sefer Yezirah from other books?
Kenneth Ungar
Yes, but it's barely legible because of the burning. It's a name engraved in the leather, or stamped into the leather.
Dana Scully
A name?
Kenneth Ungar
Yes, a Hebrew name. Weiss. Jacob Weiss.
Dana Scully
Jacob Weiss.
Scene 21
WEISS RESIDENCE
Ariel Weiss
Why do you want to see him?
Dana Scully
There's been another murder. Another suspect in your husband's death has been found dead last night.
Ariel Weiss
Where was this?
Fox Mulder
It was next to your husband's grave.
Ariel Weiss
How does this concern my father?
Dana Scully
Yesterday he expressed some strong feelings towards this latest victim.
Ariel Weiss
He was angry. They were just angry words.
Dana Scully
And we found evidence placing him at the crime scene. This is escalating into something else, Ariel. Something that has to stop.
Ariel Weiss
My marriage to Isaac, you have to understand how much it would have meant to my father.
Fox Mulder
What do you mean, "would have meant"?
Ariel Weiss
We got our marriage license a few weeks ago, but the wedding wasn't until today.
Dana Scully
I'm sorry.
Ariel Weiss
I'd like to show you something. It was a communal wedding ring made in kolin, a village near prague. My father was an apprentice to the man who designed it.
Dana Scully
It's beautiful.
Ariel Weiss
Mm-hmm. Every woman who got married in the synagogue wore this ring as a symbol that... She was a queen, her husband a king, and the home they made a castle, not only on their wedding day, but for the rest of their lives together. But most of those lives ended in one day in the spring of 1943. Nine thousand jews were massacred after digging their own graves.
Dana Scully
But your father survived.
Ariel Weiss
Because he was ten years old and he was a jeweler's apprentice. He had small fingers to make bullets at a munitions factory.
Dana Scully
And through all this he hid the ring?
Ariel Weiss
Even after the war, he hid it. Even from my mother.
Dana Scully
Why?
Ariel Weiss
Because to him it was a dead relic from a forgotten place, until the day that I told him I was getting married. And for the first time in 50 years, he took out this ring. He said he felt his village was born again. He knew how much I loved Isaac.
Dana Scully
Ariel, tell us where your father is.
Ariel Weiss
I know my father. He would never kill anyone.
Dana Scully
What if you're wrong?
♪♪ [ man chanting in Hebrew ]
♪♪ [ congregation chanting along ]
Scene 22
PARK STREET SYNAGOGUE
Dana Scully
Do you see him? I'm sorry. We don't mean any disrespect.
Man
Who are you?
Dana Scully
We're with the FBI we're looking for Jacob Weiss.
Man
Why?
Dana Scully
Mulder. Don't move! Federal agent! You okay, Mulder?
Fox Mulder
Yeah.
Dana Scully
Put your hands in the air where I can see them. And turn around slowly.
Fox Mulder
We got him, Scully.
Dana Scully
Mr. Weiss, we're placing you under arrest.
[ locking handcuffs ]
Dana Scully
Come on. Let's go.
Scene 23
TWENTY-FIRST PRECINCT HOLDING AREA
Ariel Weiss
Where is he? Where's my father?
Dana Scully
We've arrested him, Ariel, under suspicion of murder.
Ariel Weiss
I don't believe you. It can't be him. Did he-- did he tell you he killed this person?
Dana Scully
I think that's the direction it's going. Agent Mulder's in there with him right now.
Ariel Weiss
I need to see him.
Dana Scully
Ariel, I suggest that you get him an attorney. He's refusing legal representation.
Ariel Weiss
I need to see him.
Dana Scully
[ sighs ] okay. You can ask detective bartley down the hall. He'll give you a place to wait until your father's been processed. Ariel. I'm sorry.
Fox Mulder
Why'd you kill him, Jacob?
Scene 24
INTERROGATION ROOM
Jacob Weiss
Our synagogue has been vandalized 13 times in the last year. I heard a noise in the attic. I went up to see what it was and he attacked me. It was self-defense.
Fox Mulder
Hanging a man in self-defense?
Jacob Weiss
Is it any worse than what they did to Isaac?
Fox Mulder
Is it any better? They found your book, your Sefer Yezirah in Isaac Luria's grave.
Jacob Weiss
So?
Fox Mulder
So that puts you at a second crime scene.
Jacob Weiss
I'm guilty. What more do you want from me?
Fox Mulder
The truth.
Jacob Weiss
I have given you the truth.
Fox Mulder
There was someone else in that attic with you. Who was it?
Jacob Weiss
There was no one else.
Fox Mulder
Then you're a liar.
Jacob Weiss
And you know nothing about nothing. And I have no more to say about this. I would like to see my daughter.
Scene 25
OTHER ROOM
Dana Scully
You wanna see the background check I ran on him? He emigrated to Israel after world war ii where he joined the irgun-- the Jewish military underground. He was arrested in 1959 by the british for a bombing that killed seven civilians. He was a terrorist, Mulder. A killer. What do you mean? I-- he just gave a confession. I stood here and listened.
Fox Mulder
I think there might have been a second person in that attic, Scully. Weiss knows it too. And he's protecting whoever it is.
Dana Scully
Well, who? His daughter?
Fox Mulder
It was somebody big enough and strong enough to knock me down.
Dana Scully
Well, who do you think it was?
[ door opens ]
Fox Mulder
You should stick around. This could be interesting.
Dana Scully
Where are you going?
Fox Mulder
To see a man about a burning book.
Scene 26
INTERROGATION ROOM
Ariel Weiss
They say you confessed. Why are you doing this?
Jacob Weiss
To protect you.
Ariel Weiss
From what?
Jacob Weiss
I think you know. They found my book in Isaac's grave.
Ariel Weiss
It can't be true.
Jacob Weiss
No?
[ door closes ]
[ door closes ] [ shuts off printing press ]
Scene 28
JUDAICA ARCHIVES UPPER EAST SIDE MANHATTAN
Fox Mulder
There's something you didn't tell me... About the contents of this Sefer Yezirah.
Kenneth Ungar
What is you want to know?
Fox Mulder
I want to know about the myth of the golem.
Kenneth Ungar
I told you, mr. Mulder. This is a mystical text. These pages are filled with golems and dybbuks and demons of every size and shape.
Fox Mulder
It's the golem that I'm interested in.
Kenneth Ungar
And I'm interested in why an FBI agent would be so interested in such a thing.
Fox Mulder
That's what I was hoping you could tell me.
Kenneth Ungar
The early kabbalists, they believed that a righteous man could actually... Create a living being from the earth itself. Fashioned from mud or clay. But this creature could only be brought to life by the power of the word. In-in-in practical terms, by the direct application of certain secret letter combinations.
Fox Mulder
Combinations found in that book?
Kenneth Ungar
Look, look. See? See? These pages. They're basically instructions... For animating the inanimate. You see, and this-- yeah, and this passage here... Talks about inscribing a single word on the golem itself.
Fox Mulder
On the back of his hand?
Kenneth Ungar
I'm impressed.
Fox Mulder
What is the magic word?
Kenneth Ungar
Emet. See, these three letters, "alef, men, tav," creates the word emet.
Fox Mulder
I don't speak Hebrew. I don't know what that means.
Kenneth Ungar
Truth. Emet means "truth." but you see, mr. Mulder, therein lies the paradox. Because the danger of the truth is contained in the word "golem" itself, which means "matter without form, body without soul."
Fox Mulder
So the golem is an imperfect creation.
Kenneth Ungar
A kind of monster, really. Unable to speak or feel anything... But the most primitive emotions. In the legends, it runs amok... And has to be destroyed by its creator.
Fox Mulder
Destroyed how?
Kenneth Ungar
By erasing the first letter, "alef," "emet" becomes "met," which means "dead." again, mr. Mulder, the power of letters. Not just to create, but to kill.
Fox Mulder
[ cell phone ringing ] yeah?
Dana Scully
Mulder, it's me. There's been another homicide.
Fox Mulder
Who?
Dana Scully
Curt Brunjes. I'm on my way to the print shop right now.
Fox Mulder
Okay, I can be there in ten minutes.
Scene 30
INSIDE
Fox Mulder
He was a man on a mission. Look at all the energy he spent spreading his hatred.
Dana Scully
He certainly wasn't toiling in obscurity. This mailing list has hundreds of names, including our three murder victims.
Fox Mulder
At least we know Jacob Weiss didn't kill them.
Dana Scully
Yeah, I'll call the precinct and have him released.
Man
Agent Scully?
Detective
The image is fuzzy, but I think we've got a hit. There.
Dana Scully
Oh, my God. It's Isaac Luria. He's still alive.
Fox Mulder
I'm not so sure about that.
Scene 31
LATER
Dana Scully
No, thank you. That won't be necessary. Well, the coroner matched Luria's dental records. It was definitely his corpse that was in that grave. You know, Mulder, this videotape, it must have been altered somehow. Planted by whoever is staging this hoax.
Fox Mulder
It's not a hoax, Scully. It never was.
Dana Scully
But if Luria is dead, Mulder--
Fox Mulder
This is not Luria. Not really.
Dana Scully
Well, who do you think it is? Do you think it's some kind of a ghost?
Fox Mulder
No, a ghost is spirit without form. But I believe what we're looking for and what we're seeing here is form without spirit. Something called a golem.
Dana Scully
A golem?
Fox Mulder
Yeah, it's-- it's a kind of a manmade monster described in Jewish folklore. It's fashioned from mud, and then animated through mystical incantation.
Dana Scully
Mud? Mulder, what are you talking about? And for what purpose? Exacting revenge?
Fox Mulder
I don't think it was hate that created this golem, Scully. I think it was love.
[ knocking ]
Scene 32
WEISS RESIDENCE
Fox Mulder
Ariel, it's agent Mulder. Open the door.
Dana Scully
It's not locked. Ariel?
Scene 33
INSIDE
Fox Mulder
She's not here, Scully.
Dana Scully
How do you know?
Fox Mulder
'cause it's her wedding day.
Jacob Weiss
Ariel?
Scene 35
UPSTAIRS
Jacob Weiss
I know you're here. I know you can hear me. Ariel?
Ariel Weiss
Leave us alone, tata. You don't belong here.
Jacob Weiss
I'm your father.
Ariel Weiss
Please go.
Jacob Weiss
Not without you. I'm not leaving without you.
Ariel Weiss
I want to see him.
Jacob Weiss
He's dead. Isaac is dead.
Ariel Weiss
No.
Jacob Weiss
The boys that killed him, their hate took him from you, and you tried bringing him back with your love. But what you brought back-- you have to understand, Ariel, it isn't him. It's an abomination. It has no place among the living.
Ariel Weiss
He said he'd call me back, tata. We were talking on the phone... About the wedding. Isaac said he had to go. That a customer needed him, and that he would call me back. But when I heard the phone ring later, something told me not to pick it up. A woman's voice was on the line. I didn't hear what she was saying. I didn't have to. I knew Isaac wasn't calling me back. I was just wanted to say good-bye, tata.
Jacob Weiss
I know. I know.
Ariel Weiss
I didn't think-- it was just a wish. They were just... Words.
[ floorboards creak ]
Jacob Weiss
Stay here.
Ariel Weiss
I want to go with you.
Jacob Weiss
No. No!
Ariel Weiss
Tata.
[ banging ]
Scene 37
INSIDE
Fox Mulder
Wait, I got a knife.
Dana Scully
His pulse is thready.
Fox Mulder
Will he be all right?
Dana Scully
If we get him to a hospital. Call the paramedics. Where are you going?
Fox Mulder
To find Ariel. Ariel? We found your father. He's alive. He's gonna be okay. I know about Isaac. Where is he?
Ariel Weiss
I don't know.
Fox Mulder
Okay. All right, come on. We've got to get out of here.
Ariel Weiss
No.
Fox Mulder
Come on, Ariel. Let's go.
Ariel Weiss
No.
Fox Mulder
We have to go.
Ariel Weiss
No.
Fox Mulder
Come on, Ariel. Come on.
[ floorboards creak ]
Ariel Weiss
Isaac?
Fox Mulder
Stop or I'll fire!
Ariel Weiss
No! No! No! Stop! No.
Scene 39
UPSTAIRS
Ariel Weiss
Isaac.
[ speaking in Hebrew ]
Ariel Weiss
I am to my beloved as my beloved is to me. I loved you.
Dana Scully
Mulder? Are you okay? I heard shots fired. What happened?
[ Ariel speaking in Hebrew ]
Dana Scully
What is she doing?
Fox Mulder
Saying good-bye.
No matching dialogue
Try another character, phrase, or keyword.
About this transcript
The dialogue comes from the official DVD subtitle track supplied by Boggsfiles. Speaker and scene attribution was cross-checked against character-labelled reference material. Subtitle wording is preserved while capitalization and spacing are standardized for easier reading.