One of my favorite novels when I was in my early teens was Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe. In 1952 Hollywood came out with a lavish movie based on the book, starring Robert Taylor as Ivanhoe, a breathtakingly beautiful twenty-year-old Elizabeth Taylor as Rebecca, and Joan Fontaine as Rowena, with George Sanders as the heavy, Brian de Bois-Guilbert.

Early in the movie, a group of Norman nights seek lodging in the home of Cedric the Saxon (Ivanhoe's father). Cedric is not happy about their presence, but courtesy demanded he provide sanctuary to wayfarers on a stormy knight, so he offered them his hospitality nevertheless.

As Cedric's household, along with the Normans, were sitting at the long table and eating, a herald announced that one Isaac of York and his daughter Rebecca were outside requesting sanctuary for the night.

Bois-Guilbert objected to their being allowed in, saying "Isaac of York is a Jew!" and further objected to their presence among a group of Christian knights recently returned from the Crusades to free the Holy Land from the infidels.

Wamba, Cedric's jester spoke up. "Sir knight, for every Jew you show me who is not a Christian, I can show you a Christian who is not a Christian!"

The Normans didn't think it was funny.

I think there's a moral in there somewhere.

Don Firth