"Hush, Ber! hush! they will be angry with you for your rash words."
Saul raised his head several times arid bent it down again. One might have said that gratitude for Ber's defence of his grandson struggled with his rising anger.
"Ber, your own sins have spoken through your mouth. You stand up for
Meir because you were once what he is now," said the passionate
Abraham.
Raphael, with his usual gravity, said:
"You say, Ber, that he has not sinned against the ten commandments. That is true; but you forget that the covenant does not stand alone upon the ten commandments which Moses brought from Sinai, but also upon the six hundred and thirteen which the great Tanaites, Amoraits and Gaons, with other Wise Men, have put down in the Talmud. We not only owe obedience to them, but also to the six hundred and thirteen of the Talmud; and Meir has transgressed many of them."
"He has sinned greatly," called out Abraham, "but the greatest and blackest sin be committed to-day, when he denounced a brother Israelite before the stranger, and thus broke the solidarity and faith of his people. What will become of us if we accuse each other before the stranger? Whom shall we love and shield if not our brethren, who are bones of our bones and our blood. He felt more sorry for a stranger than for a brother Israelite, and for that he ought to—"
The violent and impulsive man broke off his sentence in the middle and remained open-mouthed, like one turned to stone.
He sat opposite the window, at which he stared fixedly with stupefied eyes.
"What is that?" he called out in a trembling voice:
"What is that?" said everybody; and all except Saul rose from their seats.