Part 6 (1/2)

In front of the house was a bit of ground enclosed by a hedge of stones; and now as Simon stood in the recess a guest appeared.

”Reulah!” he exclaimed, ”the Lord be with you.”

And Reulah answering, as etiquette required, ”Unto you be peace, and to your house be peace, and unto all you have be peace,” the two friends clasped hands raised them as though to kiss them, then each withdrawing kissed his own hand, and struck it on his forehead.

Singularly enough, host and guest looked much alike. Simon had the appearance of one conscious of and strong in his own rect.i.tude, while Reulah seemed humbler and more effaced. Otherwise there was not a pin to choose between them.

To Simon's face had come an expression of perplexity in which there was zeal.

”I was thinking, Reulah,” he announced, ”of the rabbi who is to break bread with us to-day. His teaching does not comfort me.”

Reulah was unlatching his shoes. ”Nor me,” he interjected.

”On questions of purity and impurity he seems unscrupulously negligent. I have heard that he is a glutton and a wine-bibber. I have heard that he despises the was.h.i.+ng of the hands.”

”Whoso does,” Reulah threw back, ”will be rooted out of the world.”

Simon nodded; a smile of protracted amiability hovered in the corners of his mouth. For a moment he played with his beard.

”I think,” he added, ”that he will find here food in plenty, and counsel as well.”

Reulah closed his eyes benignly, and Simon, in a falsetto which he affected when he desired to impress, continued in gentle menace:

”But I have certain questions to put to him. Whether water from an unclean vessel defiles that which is clean. Whether the flesh of a dead body alone defiles, or the skin and bones as well. I want to see how he will answer that. Then I may ask his opinion on points of the ritual. Should the incense be lighted before the high-priest appears or as he does so. Is or is not the Sabbath broken by the killing of the Paschal lamb? Why is it lawful to take t.i.the of corn and wine and oil, and not of anise, c.u.mmin, and peppers? In swearing by the Temple, should one not first swear by the gold on the Temple? and in swearing by the altar, should one or should one not first swear by the sacrifices on it? These things, since he preaches, he must know. If he does not--”

And Simon looked at his friend as who should say: What is there wanting in me?

”If I may be taught another duty I will observe it,” said Reulah, sweetly.

At this evidence of meekness Simon grunted. Two other guests were approaching. On the edges of their tallith were ta.s.sels made of four threads which had been drawn through an eyelet and doubled to make eight.

Seven of these threads were of equal length, but the eighth was longer, and, twisted into five knots, represented the five books of the Law. The right hand on the left breast, they saluted their host, and placing in turn a hand under his beard, they kissed it. A buzz of inquiries followed, interrupted by the coming and embracing of newer guests, the unloosing of sandals, the was.h.i.+ng of feet.

As they a.s.sembled, one drew Simon aside and whispered importantly. Simon's eyes dilated, astonishment lifted him, visibly, like a lash, and his hands trembled above his head.

”Have you heard,” he exclaimed to the others-”have you heard that the Nazarene whom I invited here, and who pretends to be a prophet, allowed his followers to pluck corn on the Sabbath, to thresh it even, and defended and approved their violation of the Law? Have you heard it? Is it true?”

Reulah quaked as one stricken by palsy. ”On the Sabbath!” he moaned. ”On the Sabbath! Why, I would not send a message on Wednesday, lest perchance it should be delivered on the Sabbath day. Surely it cannot be.”

But on that point the others were certain. They were all aware of the scandal; one had been an eye-witness, another had heard the Nazarene a.s.sert that he was ”Lord of the Day.”

”This is monstrous!” Simon cried.

”He declared,” the eye-witness continued, ”that the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.”

”It is monstrous!” Simon repeated. ”The command to do no manner of work is absolute and emphatic. The killing of a flea on the Sabbath is as heinous as the butchering of a bullock. The preservation of life itself is inhibited. Moses had the son of Shelomith stoned to death for gathering sticks on it. Shammai occupied six days of the week in thinking how he could best observe it. It is unlawful to wear a false tooth on the Sabbath, and if a tooth ache it is unlawful to rinse the mouth with vinegar.”

”Yet,” objected Reulah, ”it is lawful to hold the vinegar in the mouth provided you swallow it afterward.”

No one paid any attention to him. Simon's indignation increased. Of the thirty-nine Abhoth he quoted twelve; he showed that the Nazarene had violated each one of these prohibitions against labor; he showed, too, that by his subsequent speech and bearing he had practically scoffed at the Toldoth, at the synagogue which had drawn it up as well.