A legend tells when the emperor Hadrian boasted that he was greater than Moses. After all, Moses is dead while Hadrian was alive. Rabbi Joshua thought and asked Hadrian to prohibit anyone in the empire from lighting a fire for three days. Hadrian agrees, but that evening they see smoke rising in the distance. A sick Roman official needs hot water. Rabbi Joshua has made his point: Hadrian cannot enforce his own command even for one night while still alive, while Moses prohibited Jews from lighting fire on Shabbat centuries earlier and they still obey him.
What makes us who we are is both our lineage and fidelity to an eternal faith.
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