from A Short History of Israel, Notes and Glosses

XI A hundred generations, yes, a hundred and twenty-five, had the strength each day not to eat this and that (unclean!) not to say this and that, not to do this and that (unjust!), and with all this and all that to go about as men and Jews among their enemies (these are the Pharisees you mocked at, Jesus). Whatever my grandfathers did or said for all of their brief lives still was theirs, as all of it drops at a moment make the fountain and all of its leaves a palm. Each word they spoke and every thought was heard, each step and every gesture seen, by God; their past was still the present and the present a dread future’s. But I am private as an animal. I have eaten whatever I liked, I have slept as long as I wished, I have left the highway like a dog to run into every alley; now I must learn to fast and to watch. I shall walk better in these heavy boots than barefoot. I will fast for you, Judah, and be silent for you and wake in the night because of you; I will speak for you in psalms, and feast because of you on unleavened bread and herbs.