“I could conceive of another Abraham–to be sure, he would never get to be a pa-triarch or even an old-clothes dealer–, an Abraham who would be prepared to satisfy the demand for a sa-crifice immediately, with the promptness of a waiter, but would be unable to bring it off because he cannot get away, being indis-pensable; the house-hold needs him, there is always something or other to take care of, the house is never ready; but without having his house ready, without having something to fall back on, he cannot leave–this the Bible also realized, for it says: ‘He set his house in order.’”

• Franz Kafka