The Ancient Witnesses

246 • The Ancient Witnesses: A Journey to Discover Our Sacred Roots

witnesses’ many negative judgments on the Jews, Cesar had become offended on my behalf. Being ethnically Jewish, I was embarrassed at not having raised the issue myself, but as a Christian believer I was not sure what to say. Suddenly, a loud imprecation was screamed from a distant corner of the Athenaeum—someone pronounced a curse on the Jews! I felt myself flush with emotion. Preacher looked as if he was ready to find the man and fight him. We heard the noise of a scuffle as other witnesses subdued the man who had shouted the curse, and calm was restored. Mentor, collecting himself, reminded the gathered witnesses that they must be called upon to speak. Any recognized witness, he explained, would be welcome to state his view regarding the Jews. A line quickly formed at the front. Mentor, however, went to the pre-Nicene choir and led an elderly witness to the lectern. The man’s voice, in contrast to the ancient lines of his face, was youthful. “As one who loves you as my own soul, brothers,” the ancient witness began, “I beg of you to take care not to be like those who claim that their covenant with God remains valid, when in fact they forfeited it through disobedience. For when Moses was fasting on the mountain top for forty days and nights and receiving the covenant from the Lord—the tablets of stone written with the finger of God—they turned away to idols and lost it. For the Lord said to Moses, go down quickly, for the people you led out of the land of Egypt have sinned. And Moses cast the two tablets from his hands and their covenant was broken. But this was in order that the