—what is truly astonishing are the statutes you see him adopt and the new rites he inaugurates. No one objects; rather, they yield to him completely, while he milks them—first their produce, then their purses (1).

If word reaches him that some Jew has criticized him, he lets it pass until he can catch the man sitting by the roadside on the Sabbath, or learns that he purchased milk or wine from a Muslim, or departed in any way from the rulings of the Mishnah and the Talmud. He then pronounces the man forbidden before the whole assembly of Jews, makes his honour fair game, and accuses him of having left Judaism. Under such pressure the town becomes too tight for the offender, who sees no way out but to patch things up with the rabbi on whatever terms circumstances require. The rabbi will thereupon tell the congregation, “So-and-so has come to his senses, returned to the truth, and abandoned what he was doing; today he is a Jew in good standing.” Immediately they resume treating the man with veneration and respect (2).

Let me mention for you one ruling from their altered—or abrogated—Law, known as the question of “biyyama and halus” (3). They hold that the Torah states: if two brothers live in the same place and one of them dies without leaving a child, the widow may not marry a stranger; instead, her brother-in-law must marry her, and the first son she bears is to be reckoned as the offspring of the deceased brother. Should the brother-in-law refuse, she brings a complaint before the elders of his people, saying, “My brother-in-law has declined to raise up a name for his brother in Israel; he does not wish to marry me.” They summon him and oblige him to stand and declare, “I do not wish to marry her,” whereupon she takes