Shechita

“ There was an element of the mysterious in her advent that had taken hold of the superstitious Arabs, and the baby was looked upon as something more than human and was adored by all the tribe. The Sheik himself, who had never looked twice at a woman before in his life, became passionately attached to her. My father says that he has never seen a man so madly in love as Ahmed Ben Hassan was with the strange white girl who had come so oddly into his life. ”

“ They were nearer civilisation than Ahmed Ben Hassan's camp at the time, but with true native tendency to avoid responsibility they thought that the disposal of her was a matter more for their Sheik than themselves. She could give no account of herself, as, owing to the effects of the sun or other causes, she was temporarily out of her mind. Arabs are very gentle with any one who is mad—'Allah has touched them!' She was taken to the tent of one of the headmen, whose wife looked after her. ”

“ She who had been proud Diana Mayo and now—the mistress of an Arab Sheik? She laid her face on her knees with a shudder. The ordeal before her cut like a knife into her heart. The pride that Ahmed Ben Hassan had not yet killed flamed up and racked her with humiliation and shame, the shame that still seared her soul like a hot iron, so that there were moments she could not bear even the presence of the man who had made her what she was, in spite of the love she bore him, and, pleading fever, prayed to be alone. ”

“ Rabbeinu z"l concluded: Because at the end of days when there will be a flood [of apostasy] , and the Shekhinah will find no escape or shelter except with the simple people doing some kind of simple service for instance saying a chapter of Tehillim, or doing some mitzvah, and they'll enliven her more than all the luxuries, then specifically these simple people will walk her to the kingship. (Even those who don't at all feel that they're travelling with the king, like this gentile who drove with his oxen and shouted, "Dya!" Nevertheless they will crown him (the Mashiach) with the royal crown. ”

“ Ahmed Ben Hassan did not go back through the defile, he turned into a little path that Diana had overlooked and which skirted the hills. In about half-an-hour the troop met them, riding slowly from the opposite direction. She did not raise her eyes as they approached, but she heard Yusef's clear tenor voice calling out to the Sheik, who answered shortly as the men fell in behind him. Back over the ground that she had traversed so differently. She knew that it had been madness from the first. She should have known that it could never succeed, that she could never reach civilisation alone. ”

“ Once a sudden halt seemed to stop her heart beating, but it was only to give a moment's rest to the Arab whose strength was taxed to the uttermost with the Sheik's inert weight, but who refused to surrender his privilege to any other. Moments of semi-unconsciousness, when she swayed against the arm of the watchful tribesman riding beside her, and his muttered ejaculation of "Allah! Allah!" sent a whispered supplication to her own lips to the God they both worshipped so differently. He must not die. God would not be so cruel. ”

“ One special group, distinguished both by its size and by the peculiar shapes of the pillars of stone, has such terrors for the Arabs that they dare not pass it at night, from their firm belief in the legend which gave the place its name of the Accursed Baths. For once there was a sheikh, a rich and powerful man, who had one only sister, beautiful as a flower. He loved her with an exceeding great love, and thought her so supremely fair that no man could be found worthy of her. ”

“ These people, over whom the Sheik seemed to possess great control and authority, are quite pastoral in their pursuits, and own such enormous flocks and herds as would astonish any ordinary mortal. These are every night driven in from grazing to a large zareeba on the river-bed. I was irresistibly reminded here of the patriarchs of old. Here was this Sheikh with four wives and I don’t know how many children, the leader or petty sovereign of a large and powerful tribe, over whom he possessed absolute power, and, as I said before, owning these flocks and herds. ”

“ But even in your own country it may be that sanctity of the mind and grace of the dust created body do not always match. Indeed, the Sheik's beard was scanty and of a mottled color; he was not over-clean, especially when you consider that as a most holy man he was supposed to be most rigorous in his daily ablutions. He had grown fat and bulky with years of good living; for tell me, should not a holy man live well so that he may reach a ripe old age, and that many growing generations of disciples may drink the clear drops of honeyed piety which fall from his lips? ”

“ But with the strangling clasp of Ahmed Ben Hassan's hands upon him the love of life waked again in Ibraheim Omair and he struggled fiercely. Crouched on the floor Diana watched the two big figures swaying in mortal combat with wide, fearful eyes, her hands still holding her aching throat. Ibraheim Omair wrestled for his life, conscious of his own strength, but conscious also of the greater strength that was opposed to him. The Sheik let go the hold upon his throat and with both arms locked about him manoeuvred to get the position he required, back to the divan. ”

“ Before they erred, the Shekhina was a crown on their heads, it was (constantly) for their sake resting on the world. Once they erred, as it were, its strength wore out and it departed and ruled no more. And the Holy Blessed One started mourning and said, Eikhah, what's going to be of her, she's lost rule. So too with the ruin of the Beit haMikdash, it's lost rule, and the Holy Blessed One starts eulogizing and said, Eikhah, what's going to be with her. ”

“ It is one of the oldest directions of the ancient Wisdom-Religion that the macrocosm should be interpreted according to the plan revealed by Malchuth, and that Shechinah should be accepted as a guide to the interpretation of the constitution of the microcosm. I use the Kabbalistic names, though not precisely in the Kabbalistic sense, as I am not at liberty to use the Sanskrit equivalents. This Shechinah is an androgyne power, and is the Thureeya Chaitanyam of the cosmos. Its male form is the figure of man seen on the mysterious throne in the vision of Ezekiel. ”

“ We learned that the sheik, Si Hassan, was waiting for us some way lower down in the valley, and without halting we pushed on to meet him. Long waiting in cold and wet does not mend any man’s temper, and the sheik, already much annoyed that his injunctions not to let us go beyond the Saint’s tomb had been ineffectual, was doubtless in a savage humour when we at length appeared, after successfully breaking through all the restraints he had contrived. ”

“ Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak says, "To do evil from a good motive is better than observing the law from a bad one" (e.g., Tamar and Zimri, Lot and his daughters) .
Nazir, fol. 23, col. 2.
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The Rabbis have taught that the text, "And when it rested, he said, Return, O Lord, to the myriads and thousands of Israel" (Num. x. 36) , intimates that the Shechinah does not rest upon less than two myriads and two thousands (two being the minimum plurality) . Suppose one of the twenty-two thousand neglect the duty of procreation, is he not the cause of the Shechinah's departure from Israel? ”

“ He was pitiless in his arrogance, pitiless in his Oriental disregard of the woman subjugated. He was an Arab, to whom the feelings of a woman were non-existent. He had taken her to please himself and he kept her to please himself, to amuse him in his moments of relaxation.
To Diana before she had come to Africa the life of an Arab Sheik in his native desert had been a very visionary affair. The term sheik itself was elastic. She had been shown Sheiks in Biskra who drove hard bargains to hire out mangy camels and sore-covered donkeys for trips into the interior. ”

“ She had been a fool ever to imagine that she could win through. The chance that had thrown her again into the Sheik's power might just as easily have thrown her into the hands of any other Arab. Luck had helped Ahmed Ben Hassan even as she herself had unknowingly played into his hands when he had captured her first. ”

“ As long as Ibraheim Omair remained within his own territory Ahmed Ben Hassan held his hand and kept in check his fierce followers, whose eyes were turned longingly towards the debatable land, but once let the robber Sheik step an inch over the border, and it was war, and war until one or both of the chiefs were dead. And if he died who had no son to succeed him; the huge tribe would split up in numerous little families for want of a leader to keep them together, and it would be left to the French Government to take over, if they could, the vast district that he had governed despotically. ”

“ They have been a race apart for generations. They have beliefs and customs peculiarly their own. You may, for instance, have noticed the singular absence among them of the strict religious practices that hold among other Mohammedans. Ahmed Ben Hassan's tribe worship first and foremost their Sheik, then the famous horses for which they are renowned, and then and then only—Allah."
"Is Monseigneur a Mohammedan?"
Saint Hubert shrugged. "He believes in a God," he said evasively, turning back to his writing.
Diana studied him curiously as he bent over his work. ”

“ Diana slipped off the couch and went to the open doorway. A detachment of men were already waiting for him, and, close by the tent, Shaitan of the ugly temper was biting and fidgeting in the hands of the grooms. She scowled at the beautiful, wicked creature's flat-laid ears and rolling eyes. She would have backed him fearlessly herself if the Sheik had let her, but she was nervous for him every time he rode the vicious beast. ”

“ It lies well out to sea, and on the sheltered side the Seshahts lived. The chief of the tribe was Shewish. His house was large, so large that when he called his people to a great potlatch, they all could find within its walls an ample space to feast and dance. His house like all the old time dwellings was built on simple lines, the three great roof-logs each of single trees, upheld by posts of ample girth. The sides and roof of wide-split cedar boards were adzed to lie close, and fastened into place by twisted cedar rope. ”

“ The tall lad laughed and salaamed profoundly, then straightened himself, posing magnificently until a curt word from the Sheik recalled him to his errand and his swagger changed swiftly to a deference of which the significance was not lost on Diana. The Arab might unbend to his people if it so pleased him, but he kept them well in hand. ”

“ Really, it is a sin for the sheik to free him! He is the handsomest slave in the whole country. Only look at his courageous face, his sharp eye, his noble form! He might give him some light duties, such as fan or pipe-bearing. It would be an easy matter to provide such an office for him, and truly such a slave as he would be an ornament to the palace. And the sheik has only had him three days, and now gives him away? It is folly! It is a sin!"
"Do not blame him--he, who is wiser than all Egypt;" said the old man, impressively. ”

“ In the Atzilatic luminous world is the divine majesty, the Shechinah. In the Briatic world are the souls of the saints, all the blessings, the throne of the Deity, he who sits on it in the form of Achtenal (the crown of God, the first Sephira) , and the seven different luminous and splendid regions. In the Jetziratic world are the sacred animals from the vision of Ezekiel, the ten classes of angels with their princes, who are presided over by the fiery Metatron, the spirits of men, and the accessory work of the divine chariot. ”

“ She had never been aware of anything any time when she was riding that seemed to justify the Sheik's order. The oasis was not on a caravan route, and if she ever saw Arabs at any distance from the camp they always proved to be Ahmed Ben Hassan's own men. She had thought of remonstrating with him, but her courage had failed her. His mood, since the coming of Saint Hubert, had been of the coldest—almost repellant. ”

“ King Shishak of Egypt invaded the land with a powerful army, conquered all the fortified cities, penetrated to Jerusalem, and would probably have put an end to the kingdom of Judah, if God had not had compassion upon him, and saved him from destruction, in consequence of the humiliation of the king and of the chiefs of the nation, caused by the admonition of the prophet Shemaiah, so that after the conquest of Jerusalem Shishak contented himself with withdrawing, taking with him the treasures of the temple and of the royal palace. ”

“ How dare men and women trifle with the Shekinah of their lives? And when it has been dulled by abuse, what a pitiful Shekinah it appears to the one who approaches it reverently, confidently expecting it to be the uncontaminated holy of holies! ”

“ The Sheik was a most venerable man, deeply versed in the winding paths of sectarian theology and of a transcendent wisdom which his many disciples declared to be greater than that of all the other sheiks—greater even than the wisdom of the supereminent Mohammad ibn Idreesesh-Shafeiy'ee, of whom even you feringhees must have heard. ”

“ The noise outside the tent was growing louder as the fighting rolled back in its direction, and once or twice a bullet ripped through the hangings. One that came closer than the others made Diana turn her head and she saw what Ahmed Ben Hassan, absorbed in the fulfilment of his horrible task, had not even thought of—the three big negroes and a dozen Arabs who had stolen in silently from the inner room. For once, in the intoxication of the moment, the Sheik was careless and caught off his guard. Agony leaped into her eyes. The fear of him was wiped out in the fear for him. ”