Dear Editor,
The year is 3834 (34 CE) +/-. I’m a local Hebrew constable trying to keep the peace during tumultuous times in Jerusalem. Roman soldiers gather in my station house to carry out Emperor Tiberius’s execution order for a man called Jesus. Dispatched to a confrontation point, I remind myself of the lesson learned as a child when I was punished for violating the dietary law by using the meat plate to serve the dairy produce. When I asked my father why this is wrong, he said: “Once you compromise, the whole thing will break down.”
Struggling with my obligation to serve and protect, my loyalty to the law, my allegiance to G-d, I compromise by dutifully working to contain the protesters while surreptitiously opposing the Romans. When called out for my covert acts, I am dismissed from the constabulary.
The next day, I seek consolation from my Rabbi, who tells me: “The uncertainties of these times will produce life-changing challenges to scriptural adherence. Though those separating from us will work to decimate us, they eventually become our greatest ally against a common, evil threat. The seed of Abraham, the covenant kept; we will endure because we will not compromise.”
Chuck Klein
Cincinnati, OH