Even a lean rooster, to be killed, roasted, and garnished for the devotee's own table at the breaking of the fast, seemed to be considered a more respectable sacrifice than a groschen to increase the charity fund.

All this was so illogical that it unsettled my faith in minor points of doctrine, and on these points I was quite happy to believe to-day one thing, to-morrow another.
As unwaveringly as I believed that we Jews had a God who was powerful and wise, I believed that the God of my Christian neighbors was impotent, cruel, and foolish.

I understood that the god of the Gentiles was no better than a toy, to be dressed up in gaudy stuffs and carried in processions.

I saw it often enough, and turned away in contempt.

While the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob--my God--enjoined on me honesty and kindness, the god of Vanka bade him beat me and spit on me whenever he caught me alone.