us.

Presently I heard the old man conclude his prayer: "When the world
will be reclaimed through the kingship of the Almighty; when all
mortals will acknowledge Thy name. . . . on that day the Lord will
be One, and His name will be One!"

Out of the darkness came the devout words; they seemed to take wing,
as though to pierce the shrouding mist and scatter it; but they
themselves were finally dissolved in the triumph and blackness.
. . .

I did not have to urge the old man to continue his tale. His
prayers over, he picked up the thread of his narrative, as if
something were driving him to give a full account of what he had
passed through.--



The day I became acquainted with Jacob--continued the old man--I
consider the beginning of a new period in my life. I became
accustomed to consider him my superior, whose behavior had to be
taken as an example. Jacob spoke as an authority whenever he did
speak, and he never wavered in his decisions. Whenever he happened
to be in doubt, his father would "instruct" him in his dreams. Thus
we lived according to Jacob's decisions and dreams. I got used to
eating forbidden food, to breaking the Sabbath, and trespassing
against all the ordinances of the ritual without compunction. And
yet Jacob used to preach to us, to bear floggings and all kinds of
punishments rather than turn traitor to our faith. So I got the