24. The Choice
24. THE CHOICE
ONCE there lived in Russia a very fierce race of people, called Kazars. They were very warlike all the time. So their kings went from country to country fighting with the people. All the nations feared them.
These rough people hardly had any religion at all, but on their travels they met Christians, Moslems, and Jews. When Bulan, one of their kings, met these people and learned about their religions, he became greatly dissatisfied with his own.
Day after day Bulan thought about it. One time when he was greatly worried, he dreamed a dream. It seemed to him that an angel came to him and said:
"You do not serve God in the right way. Send for a Jew, a. Christian and a Moslem. Let them each explain his religion to you. Then you will choose the best for your own."
The angel disappeared and Bulan awoke, He
ordered that one of his wise men should come to him at once. The wise man was tired and sleepy. Why should he be taken out of his bed at night? But the king's orders must be obeyed. Therefore he dressed quickly and came before Bulan.
Then Bulan spoke to him and said:
"Tell me, Wise One,
Tell me true,
What does your God
Mean to you?"
Answered the Wise Man:
"God is a Spirit,
Far removed is He,
How can He care
For you or for me?"
Bulan was not satisfied with this explanation.
"Bah," he said. "No--no. A god who does not guard over my kingdom, a god who does not care about me, can't be my God."
A few days later, Bulan ordered that a Christian monk should come to him. When the monk entered in his long black gown and three-cornered hat of the same color, Bulan was interested.
Again he said:
"Tell me Monk,
Tell me true,
What religion
Pleases you?"
[paragraph continues] Answered the Monk:
"My religion
As you see,
My religion
Pleases me."
Bulan asked: "If you had to choose between the religion of the Jew and that of the Moslem, which would you choose?" The Monk answered-. "I would choose the Jewish religion. It is the oldest, and our religion is based on it."
Bulan thanked the Monk for his advice. The next day Bulan said: "I shall call a Moslem and find out what he has to say."
So the next day, a Moslem came before Bulan. He had a very dark skin, darker than any skin that Bulan had ever seen. His long grey gown and the turban around his head made him very attractive. Bulan asked him the same question that he had asked of the others.
"Tell me Moslem,
Tell me true,p. 135
Which religion
Pleases you?"
[paragraph continues] Answered the Moslem:
"My religion
As you see,
My religion
Pleases me."
"If you had to choose between the religion of the Jew, and that of the Monk, which would you choose?"
The Moslem answered: "I would choose the Jewish religion. It is the oldest, and our religion is based on it." Bulan thanked him for his advice. The next day he called a Jew and put his question:
"Tell me Jew,
Tell me true,
Which religion
Pleases you?"
[paragraph continues] The Jew answered:
"My religion
As you see,
My religion
Pleases me."
[paragraph continues] Bulan asked:
"Tell me, Jew,
Tell me true,
What does God
Mean to you?"
[paragraph continues] The Jew answered:
"Love thy neighbor as thyself
And know the prophets too.
This, the message of the Jew
Forever will be true."
Bulan then turned to the Jew and said: "You will be happy to know that I asked the Monk this question: 'If you had to choose between the religion of the Jew and that of the Moslem, which would you choose?' He answered: 'The Jewish religion.' I then asked the Moslem a similar question. He answered: 'The Jewish religion.' Now, all religions seem good to me if they teach us that there is one God who is the Father of us all, and that all men are brothers. But as the Jewish religion is the oldest, my folk and I shall come to you."
"So Bulan and his people became Jews. And I am one of his great-great-grandchildren," the king of the Kazars wrote.
The story pleased Hasdai very much. It gave him courage to help the Jews of Spain to become greater and greater.