Leeches
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], and in the left corner read that Eleazar had once been angry at God and told him he had seen through his explanation that it had not been possible to create a perfect world because in doing so he would have been making a copy of himself, in which case there would have been two identical gods, and if there could be two, why not three or four? You are talking in vain, Eleazar upbraided God, you should at least know that the truth cannot be hidden. A perfect world was not created because in a perfect world there would be no need for any god, not for one, nor for a whole multitude, ranted Eleazar, or else the world is perfect, because the evil is as much yours as the good is, just as the night and all its living and not living creatures are as much yours as the day full of radiance and serenity, then in that scheme of things you appear as someone who can offer protection, though in moments of great testing you hide like a bashful bride or a child who has broken a bowl and, fearful of being punished, points at whoever is standing nearest him. There was no indication as to whom Eleazar had in mind, who was bowing down under the weight of God's index finger, because that fragment, as kept happening with the manuscript, turned into a copy of a document of the Royal War Council of November 1781, communicating the emperor's will that the Zemun Jews, like all the Jews in the empire, would be allowed to use their language for religious services, but that within two years' time they'd have to expunge it from their business ledgers and documents, including their wills and contracts drawn up for regulating business. I closed the manuscript and opened it again to [>