silence. Throughout the
building everything was quiet, except in the portico, where some
twenty people surrounded a young man who, with a deathly pale face
and compressed lips, stood leaning against the wall.

Whisperers crowded around him.

"It is still time. Have mercy upon yourself and your family! Run
quick, quick, throw yourself at the feet of the Rabbi! Oh, Herem!
Herem! Herem!"

He did not seem to listen. His arms were crossed over his breast. The
contracted forehead, marked with the red scar, gave him the
expression of inward pain, but also of inflexible courage.

"In the name of the God of our fathers," sounded the loud voice of
Isaak Todros.

A long sigh like a tremor seemed to shake the whole congregation, and
then everything was silent.

Isaak Todros spoke slowly and impressively:

"By the force and power of the world, in the name of the holy
covenant and the six hundred and thirteen commandments contained in
the covenant; with the malediction of Joshua against the town of
Jericho; with the malediction of Elisha against the children who
mocked him; with the shamanta used by the great Sanhedrims and
Synods; with all the herems and curses used from the time of Moses to
this day; in the name of the God eternal; in the name of Matatron,
the guardian of Israel; in the name of the angel Sandalphon, who from
human prayers wreathes garlands for the throne of Jehovah; in the
name of the archangel Michael, the powerful leader of the heavenly
army; in the name of the angels of fire, wind, and lightning; in the
name of all the angels conducting the stars on their courses, and all
the archangels who are spreading their wings above the throne of the
Eternal; in the name of Him who appeared in the burning bush, and by
the power of which Moses divided the waters; in the name of the hand
who wrote the tables of the holy law, we expel, disgrace, and curse
the strong, disobedient, and blasphemous Meir Ezofowich, son of
Benjamin."

He paused a little, then, with a vehement motion, raised both his
arms above his head, and, amidst the deepest silence, he went on
faster and louder:

"Be he accursed by heaven and earth; by the angels Matatron,
Sandalphon, and Michael; by all the angels, archangels, and heavenly
orbs. Be he accursed by all pure and holy spirits which serve the
Lord; accursed by every power in heaven and upon earth. Let all
creation become his enemy, that the whirlwind crush him and the sword
smite him.