not consume our reins? Shall the lovers of the Law respect the person of their brother or kinsman? Has the divine word completely gone away? Has instruction failed? Shall it be said unto my children, as these men actually say in our presence: ‘Let the Law return to Sinai’? Now when we saw that the fire was kindled, we feared lest the fire should break out, and catch in thorns, namely, a man whose soul is empty, who will be smitten through ignorance. God forbid that the earth should become empty, and void, and waste! When we saw that the generation had become corrupted and ready to treat religion lightly, we made a fence, and strengthened the wall round our perfect Torah. Had we not made a strong hedge round the vineyard of the Lord of hosts, we would have shared in the blame for their deeds. We have therefore interdicted in a perfect manner of interdiction, as ye see recorded with writing of truth in the book of the covenant which we made with our God,[201] any one to teach or to learn these sciences, until the student and the teacher are twenty-five years old, and until they have become full of the delicacies of the Law, so that they will not remove it from being queen; for he who espouses it in his youth will not turn away from it even when he grows old. And indeed we shall not have done our duty, until we have pursued them, and brought them low, and removed the abominations from between their teeth; the books which they composed should be burned in the public place in their presence. It is about three years now since we have endeavored to carry out our wish in accordance with our aim; we have made many supplications, asking, requesting, and praying, to restore the crown of the Torah to its pristine glory, in its place. All this did we, so that the sword should not be against the dove which is foolish and without understanding, and that we should not afterwards be reviled by the mouth of the reviler. Our words, however, did not enter into their ears; they made their words, which are directed against us, harsher still, because of their ability to write and to speak. Nevertheless we did not cease to write to them. But many strict communities of those provinces inscribed their name to God, and decided to ban and excommunicate them, and they acted wisely after us, as ye see from the copies of their letters.