"Do you mean to say I can't marry Hannah?" he asked almost in a whisper.
"Such is the law. A woman who has had Gett may not marry a Cohen."
"But you surely wouldn't call Hannah a divorced woman?" he cried hoarsely.
"How shall I not? I gave her the divorce myself."
"Great God!" exclaimed David. "Then Sam has ruined our lives." He stood a moment in dazed horror, striving to grasp the terrible tangle. Then he burst forth. "This is some of your cursed Rabbinical laws, it is not Judaism, it is not true Judaism. God never made any such law."
"Hush!" said Reb Shemuel sternly. "It is the holy Torah. It is not even the Rabbis, of whom you speak like an Epicurean. It is in Leviticus, chapter 21, verse 7: 'Neither shall they take a woman put away from her husband; for he is holy unto his God. Thou shalt sanctify him, therefore; for he offereth the bread of thy God; he shall be holy unto thee, for I the Lord which sanctify you am holy.'"
For an instant David was overwhelmed by the quotation, for the Bible was still a sacred book to him. Then he cried indignantly:
"But God never meant it to apply to a case like this!"
"We must obey God's law," said Reb Shemuel.
"Then it is the devil's law!" shouted David, losing all control of himself.