"He is rather slow about it," Eliav said, with a jeering smile and, as though in answer to him, Shammai's wail was heard:
"Behold I cry out of wrong but I am not heard; I cry aloud and there is no judgment! Why does God mock the torture of the innocent? Why do the wicked live and spend their days in wealth? Why is the earth given over to evildoers and God gives them countenance? If it is not His doing, whose doing is it?"
"Do you hear?" Eliav asked, looking straight into Issachar's eyes. "Shammai is right: there is no judgment of God in the doings of men. All your prophecies are empty babble. The earth is a paradise for evildoers and a hell for the innocent, a Sheol. You are wretched comforters, useless physicians, all of you, damnation upon you and your God!"
Aviezar looked at Eliav and said, "Do not blaspheme, my son. Woe to him who disputes with his Maker."
"And what do you say, brother?" Eliav asked, still looking straight into Issachar's eyes. "Is Shammai right?"
"Yes, he is."
"Who is to answer him, then?"
"The Redeemer."
"And who is the Redeemer?"
"You know yourself."