[Enter the Rabbi; Aaron hastily puts away the letters.
Oh, the Rabbi! [Whispers.] We must get rid of him. I want to talk to you.
Rabbi.
Good evening! How is that girl? Is she still crying her eyes out? It's pitiful! It is dangerous! I must see her!
[Aaron nudges Sachel.
Sachel.
She's all right. I have not heard her stir since she went to bed.
Rabbi.
Oh, she's gone to bed—good! Sachel, Rafael had my promise to protect that girl; and I will protect her. Last Saturday we were all overwrought; we were taken by surprise. But now that we all realise it, it comes to this: Rafael has married a Christian girl; she knows what an affront this is to the religion in which Rafael was reared, and to which inevitably he must return his full devotion when he grows an older and wiser man. Now there is but one remedy: Rosa must become a Jewess. Not to-night or to-morrow; but she must be influenced to open her heart to the faith of her husband; and she must be urged to welcome a future day when she shall enter the synagogue and come forth from there with all the hatred, all the revulsion which she has seen in our faces to-day, buried for ever! Teach her to be thankful that this is Holland, where a Christian may become a Jewess.
Aaron.