to my husband; he is
his own master, God be thanked; no one can turn him away."

"They can insult him."

Zussmann shook his head gently. "No one can insult me!" he said
simply. "When a dog barks at me I pity it that it does not know I love
it. Now draw to the table. The pickled herring smells well."

But the Red Beadle was unconvinced. "Besides, what should we make it
up with the Christians for--the stupid people?" he asked, as he
received his steaming coffee cup from Frau Herz.

"It is a question of the Future of the World," said Zussmann gravely,
as he shared out the herring, which had already been cut into many
thin slices by the vendor and pickler. "This antagonism is a
perversion of the principles of both religions. Shall we allow it to
continue for ever?"

"It will continue till they both understand that Nature makes
herself," said the Red Beadle.

"It will continue till they both understand my husband's book,"
corrected Hulda.

"Not while Jews live among Christians. Even here they say we take the
bread out of the mouths of the Christian shoemakers. If we had our own
country now--"

"Hush!" said Zussmann. "Do you share that materialistic dream? Our
realm is spiritual. Nationality--the world stinks with it! Germany for
the Germans, Russia for the Russians. Foreigners to the devil--pah!
Egomania posing as patriotism. Human brotherhood is what we stand for.
Have you forgotten how the Midrash explains the verse in the Song of
Solomon: 'I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and
by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love till
he please'?"

The Red Beadle, who had never read a line of the Midrash, did not deny
that he had forgotten the explanation, but persisted: "And even if we
didn't kill Christ, what good will it do to tell the Jews so? It will
only make them angry."

"Why so?" said Zussmann, puzzled.

"They will be annoyed to have been punished for nothing."

"But they have not been punished for nothing!" cried Zussmann, setting
down his fork in excitement. "They have denied their greatest son.
For, as He said in Matthew, 'I come to fulfil the Law of Moses,' Did
not all the Prophets, His predecessors, cry out likewise against mere
form and sacrifice? Did not the teachers in Israel who followed Him
likewise insist on a pure heart and a sinless soul? Jesus must be
restored to His true place in the glorious chain of Hebrew Prophets.
As I explain in my chapter on